I just had a brainstorm the other day! I have an [Olimex LPC2148 Proto Board, which has a small prototyping area on it. This area is just large enough to add a 40 pin socket and some headers.
I want to add a [Hammer to the prototype area, with some headers. The [Hammer would connect to the LPC2148 using I2C. I2C #0 is brought out to headers near the prototype area, and the LPC2148 has two I2C buses. The [Hammer would naturally be the I2C Master, with the LPC2148 running [FreeRTOS/uIP as the slave.
I think this would be the PERFECT new “brain” for [W.A.L.T.E.R.! :D:D I will have the much desired complete ARM9, full Linux (not uCLinux) capable controller (Hammer) with a nice ARM7 (LPC2148) slave MCU running a nice little multitasking kernel.
I’m already starting to learn how to use [FreeRTOS, and have been starting to flesh out the routines I will need to run a true subsumption behavioral based system with it. I am in the process of searching out and grabbing up as much of the needed code (Open Source, of course!) I can to use in this project. My [FreeRTOS v4.7.0/uIP builds clean using [Crossworks for ARM (Linux version) and works on my LPC2148 board now. I just have to add more tasks, initialization for I2C and other hardware, etc.
stevech:
Crossworks with IDE and libraries is GCC based but apparently not open source/free, right?
Correct. [[Rowley Associates](http://www.rowley.co.uk) does have a Personal License available though, which is significantly less than a full commercial license. I will be getting a Personal License next month. :)
I have decided to go a little bit different direction. I need two quadrature encoder modules, so am going to add two Microchip dsPIC30F4012’s ,an MCP23017 I2C GPIO expander, and my Bluetooth DIL module to the prototype area of my LPC2148 board.
This will allow me to use the proto board as a stand alone controller for [W.A.L.T.E.R. as well as allow the board to become an I2C slave to a more powerful processor like the [Hammer, which I will be getting much sooner than I expected.
I will put the Hammer on a separate board, with the same form factor as my proto board, where I will have plenty of room for connectors and other stuff I want to add, including my Bluetooth DIL module. I will hopefully be able to use perfboard for the Hammer board to start out with. I don’t want to have to make a custom PCB if I can help it.
It’s real nice, and I have everything working now. I am creating my buildroot now, so I can make custom filesystem images with just the software I want on Hammer, such as the full Python language and whatever else I need for W.A.L.T.E.R. I will be exploring Hammer to see what software it already has on it.
I am planning to rewrite the code for W.A.L.T.E.R. in Python. I have not gotten that far yet though. I have to get buildroot setup before I can build a custom file system or kernel for Hammer. I can console to my Hammer now, and JTAG programming is working properly.
I really like Hammer, and am looking forward to having it be the new main controller for W.A.L.T.E.R.
I’ve had my [Hammer Kit for a few days now and am liking it a lot! I just have to learn the software side of it and how to use the hardware peripherals of the [Hammer.
I’ve decided to program two versions of the new software for W.A.L.T.E.R. I will use [Squeak (SmallTalk) for one version, and [Python for the other version. [Tin Can Tools is working on a port of [Squeak for the Hammer now. Several of the [PARTS members will be using [Hammer and Squeak on their robots.
I am converting my [Hammer Carrier Board to run on either walwart power OR battery power and will be adding two dsPIC4012’s, an MCP23017 (at least 1, perhaps 2), and my [Bluetooth DIL module. The Hammer Carrier Board has a nice sized prototype area.
I just have to add more tasks, initialization for I2C and other hardware, etc.