1) I’ve updated my resume for those of you who care about such things. It’s at http://www.sheer.us/resume/SheerResume-ascii-wa.txt

2) Below please find a bootloader for a Atmel AVR AtMega8 which accepts a binhex file uploaded via windows terminal (or however else you would like). I’m releasing this code to the public domain at this point. Feel free to do whatever you like with it, or not, as appropriate. It could probably easily be modified for any AVR CPU

start_bld:
cli
ldi ZL, LOW(RAMEND)
ldi ZH, HIGH(RAMEND)
out SPL, ZL
out SPH, ZH ; set up the stack

rcall init_bld ; set up some hardware stuff
rcall idle_timer2_bld ; start timer2 ticking
rcall set_system_clock_bld ; setup the system clock for 7.2738Mhz

; check and see if there is a serial console present

sbis RS232_INVALID_IN_PORT, RS232_INVALID
rjmp bld_do_boot ; if no console, boot

ldi uart_char, XON ; send welcome banner
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ldi uart_char, ‘B’
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ldi uart_char, ‘l’
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ldi uart_char, ‘d’
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ldi uart_char, ‘>’
rcall uart_put_char_bld

rcall uart_get_char_bld_to ; get a char, or timeout and fall through
brts bld_do_boot
cpi uart_char, ‘B’ ; if ‘B’, then boot right now
breq bld_do_boot
cpi uart_char, ‘U’ ; if ‘U’, then go into upload mode
breq bld_do_upload ; todo: authentication

bld_do_boot:
jmp ivec_reset

; ‘stubbies’ used to make short relative jumps work okay

bld_do_upload_crc_special1:
rjmp bld_do_upload_crc_special

bld_do_flush1:
rcall bld_do_flush
rjmp bld_do_upload

bld_do_upload_err1:
rjmp bld_do_upload_err

; ******* Upload routine. Decodes lines of Intel Hex, writes them to the flash
; displays a error for bad lines

bld_do_booty:
rcall bld_do_flush
rjmp bld_do_boot

bld_do_upload:
; for now, fetch a line, check its checksum, report back good or bad, wash, rinse, repeat
rcall crlf_bld
ldi ZL, LOW(STRING_SCRATCH)
ldi ZH, HIGH(STRING_SCRATCH)

rcall uart_get_string_bld
ldi uart_char, XOFF ; send XOFF in case this
rcall uart_put_char_t_bld ; takes a while
rcall crlf_bld ; debugging
ldi ZL, LOW(STRING_SCRATCH)
ldi ZH, HIGH(STRING_SCRATCH)

clr XL
clr sample_cnt

ld uart_char, Z
cpi uart_char, ‘:’
breq bld_do_upload_ok
cpi uart_char, ‘F’
breq bld_do_flush1
cpi uart_char, ‘B’
breq bld_do_booty
cpi uart_char, CR
breq bld_do_upload
cpi uart_char, LF
breq bld_do_upload
rjmp bld_do_upload_err1
bld_do_upload_ok:
rcall ascii_to_bin_hex_bld ; convert first 4 bytes of input
; (should be length and high addr)

sts LINE_LEN, TempH ; save length in RAM
mov Temp2, TempH ; store byte count in temp register

sub XL, TempH
sub XL, Temp ; compute checksum

sts LINE_ADDR_H, Temp ; store high byte of address

rcall ascii_to_bin_hex_bld ; convert second 4 bytes of input

sts LINE_ADDR_L, TempH ; store low byte of address
sts LINE_TYPE, Temp ; store line type

sub XL, TempH ; compute checksum
sub XL, Temp

; fetch data, store in line

; hopefully data is even, but no guarentee

ldi YL, LOW(LINE)
ldi YH, HIGH(LINE)

cpi Temp2, 0
breq bld_do_upload ; if zero length record, skip

dec Temp2 ; LENGTH is +1, from dec standpoint

bld_do_upload_loop:
rcall ascii_to_bin_hex_bld ; translate ascii to binary

st Y+, TempH ; store bytes (high)
st Y+, Temp ; store bytes
sub XL, TempH ; compute checksum
sub XL, Temp

dec Temp2 ; LEN was given in bytes
breq bld_do_upload_crc_special1 ; special case: odd number of bytes
dec Temp2 ; but we do words so need 2 decs
brne bld_do_upload_loop ; go around again?

rcall ascii_to_bin_hex_bld ; grab CRC
sts LINE_CHECK, Temp ; store CRC
bld_do_crc_check:

lds TempH, LINE_TYPE

; ldi uart_char, ‘0’
; add uart_char, TempH
; rcall uart_put_char_bld

cpi TempH, LINETYPE_HDR
breq bld_do_upload

cp Temp, XL ; compare CRC to stored
brne bld_do_upload_err1 ; if it doesnt’ match, err

; matches, so program part

ldi YL, LOW(LINE) ; use Y ptr to access
ldi YH, HIGH(LINE) ; stored data for this line
lds Temp2, LINE_LEN ; Temp3 contains countdown
lds ZL, LINE_ADDR_L ; Z ptr is address in flash
lds ZH, LINE_ADDR_H
ldi XL, LOW(BOOTLOAD_START*2) ; X ptr is max flash addr to write
ldi XH, HIGH(BOOTLOAD_START*2) ; keeps us from writing bootloader
; which would put is in NWRW state
; and be bad

bld_do_program_loop:
cp XL, ZL ; check to see if we’re
cpc XH, ZH ; outside of the bootloader
brlo bld_do_program_loop_end ; do not program bootloader
; even if it is in file
mov TempH, ZH ; grab the page
mov Temp, ZL ;
andi Temp, 0xC0 ; skip off the byte address
; leaving only the page address

lds Temp3, LAST_PAGE_L ; compare against
cp Temp, Temp3 ; the last page that
lds Temp3, LAST_PAGE_H ; we used and
cpc TempH, Temp3 ; if it’s different
breq bld_do_program_skip_write ; then we need to write that page

; if we get here, then we must
push ZL ; preserve Z
push ZH

lds ZL, LAST_PAGE_L ; restore previous Z (page we
lds ZH, LAST_PAGE_H ; want to write)

rcall wait_spm_bld ; wait for SPM to clear

ldi Temp, (1<=? Then non-digit char, end

ascii_to_bin_hex_cont_bld:

adiw ZH:ZL, 1
movw mp16uH:mp16uL, YH:YL

ldi mc16uL, 16 ; load 16
clr mc16uh ; into multiplier

rcall mpy16u_bld ; and multiply

add m16u0, XH ; Add current value to stack
clr XH
adc m16u1, XH ; carry as needed

movw YH:YL, m16u1:m16u0

dec XL ; This keeps us from
brne ascii_to_bin_hex_loop_bld

ascii_to_bin_hex_end_bld:
movw TempH:Temp, YH:YL
pop YH
pop YL
pop Temp2
pop XL
pop XH
ret

uart_put_string_bld:
; put a null-terminated string to the uart
; Z should be pointing to the beginning of the string in RAM
clr uart_char
st Z, uart_char
ldi ZL, LOW(STRING_SCRATCH)
ldi ZH, HIGH(STRING_SCRATCH)

uart_put_string_loop_bld:
ld uart_char, Z+
cpi uart_char, 0
breq uart_put_string_done_bld
rcall uart_put_char_bld
rjmp uart_put_string_loop_bld

uart_put_string_done_bld:
ret

crlf_bld:
ldi uart_char, CR
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ldi uart_char, LF
rcall uart_put_char_bld
ret

uart_put_char_t_bld:
sbis RS232_INVALID_IN_PORT, RS232_INVALID
rjmp uart_put_char_t_done_bld

push Temp
in Temp, UCSRA
sbr Temp, (1<

6 Responses to “…”

  1. randomdreams Says:

    I’ve never worked with Atmel stuff: is that an 8051? What do you use for the physical programmer? I’ve only done PIC but there are a number of things that would be better done using 8051.

  2. sheer_panic Says:

    It has some things in common with the 8051 and some things in common with the venerable 8080. You can see the instruction set in the datasheet for the part – just go to digicrime’s web site (http://www.digikey.com) and type in AtMega8, then click on the data sheet. The programmer I use is the $50 STK500, which connects to the serial port of any wintel. There are several other programmers and combination programmer/ICEs, in varying price levels. The AVR is definately the poor man’s microcontroller – it’s got a lot of example code at http://www.avrfreaks.net, it’s a fairly cheap part, the programmer for it is very cheap, and it’s got a free C compiler (Gcc-avr).

    On the other hand, it doesn’t have the noise immunity of the PIC parts, and is less hardy in some other ways. But the instruction set is much easier to read, and it’s much less of a PITA to make it do things. It’s very easy to code for, actually.

    If you want to learn a new chip, I’d suggest the TI MSP430 – there’s a much larger future for this part – the AVR is more a hobbyist part (although you certainly can do some pretty advanced things with a high end AVR) and it’s ill suited to things like 3 phase motion control.

  3. randomdreams Says:

    any three axis motion control I’m going to be doing will be software in teh computer pushing drivers via the parallel port, a la the Enhanced Machine Controller. The AVR-style stuff I’m interested in would be interfacing with hard disc drives to make small, portable data acquisition systems with enormous storage space (so they can stay in the field for six months.) Alas, that relies on available 8051 IDE libraries, so probably the AVR isn’t the right thing for me currently. Still: that’s very cool. Not too many people can write a bootloader.

  4. sheer_panic Says:

    certainly you will find AtMega IDE libraries.. avrfreaks.net has rather a lot of that kind of thing. Compact flash IO, LCD IO, whatnot.. there’s lots of goodies to pick from.

  5. randomdreams Says:

    I was just looking at that, actually. I might get an AVR and play some games.

  6. brassratgirl Says:

    Your comments in this code read, to my ear, like a kind of avant-garde beat poetry, Gertrude Stein-esq. Witness, semicolon poetry, in five stanzas:

    1)
    translate ascii to binary / store bytes (high)
    store bytes, compute checksum
    special case: odd number of bytes
    but we do words so need 2 decs
    go around again?

    2)
    grab CRC, store CRC

    compare CRC to stored —
    if it doesnt’ match, err
    matches, so program part

    use Y ptr to access: stored data for this line
    (Temp3
    contains
    countdown)

    (… max flash addr to write)
    keeps us from writing bootloader
    which would put
    us in NWRW state
    and
    be
    bad

    3)
    atmel did a binary sweep
    but we do a slower
    and less
    reliable upward rise
    because it’s simpler

    4)
    This is a little more complicated than the straight case
    because we need to determine if the digit is 0-9 or A-F
    The basic idea here is that for each digit we read,
    we subtract ‘0’ from it..
    try and see if it is 0-9
    … then do your stuff

    if not, load again
    make uppercase
    try with a ‘A’
    subtract
    add 10 to get correct value
    add 10 to get correct value

    and multiply
    Add current value to stack
    carry as needed

    5)
    wait for space
    (I’ll be ba-ack)
    wait for complete transmissionnn1

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