Documentation

They work fine for me with !PDF 3.00.1.15. The !PDF website hosts copies of the old versions – try downloading the version I’m using and see if you have any luck.

http://www.pdf.iconbar.com/

They work fine for me with !PDF 3.00.1.15. The !PDF website hosts copies of the old versions – try downloading the version I’m using and see if you have any luck.

Just tried version 3.00.1.15. I’m still getting 988 pages of rubbish! I am using !PDF on the Beagle Board, I assume !PDF normally works okay?

It needs recompiling to get it to work correctly on the Beagle Board. One of the source files needed a small change to stop an internal compiler error. I can send you the !RunImage or the change I made.

It needs recompiling to get it to work correctly on the Beagle Board. One of the source files needed a small change to stop an internal compiler error. I can send you the !RunImage or the change I made.

That would be great! Any chance of sending the !RunImage and the change? I would like to try and compile it myself, but if I can’t, at least !PDF will work!!

My address is: rob at robheaton dot co dot uk

Thanks Chris, !PDF works perfectly now!

Thanks Chris, !PDF works perfectly now!

Well, I wouldn’t say that. I’m sure it works as far as it goes on BB now, but it’s still based upon a very old version. Work is underway to address this. More here:

http://www.riscos.info/pipermail/gcc/2010-January/005106.html (The entire thread this belongs to)

Thanks for the link Peter.

Can you clarify the legal position of the documentation at www.iyonix.com/32bit please.

Any news on this?

• Would it be best on its own page or within How to get started with a BeagleBoard ?
• What official Acorn/Castle documentation is relevant to the BeagleBoard (user and dealer docs)?
• Info from the following forum discussions would also be included – have I missed anything?
  • ShareFS on BeagleBoard
  • System Modules
  • Tips ‘n’ tricks for the OMAP port – Networking
  • Networking With Beagle Board

Would it be best on its own page or within How to get started with a BeagleBoard ?

I think adding it on a new page would be the best idea. Also it doesn’t make much sense to describe it as being BeagleBoard-specific – the only Beagle-specific stuff that the page would cover would be anything that’s temporarily broken due to ARMv7 compatability issues. The main content of the page would be applicable to anyone who wants to use EtherUSB, whether on Beagle, Iyonix, or anything else with the Castle USB stack.

What official Acorn/Castle documentation is relevant to the BeagleBoard (user and dealer docs)?

The only thing I can think of would be the network setup section of the Iyonix welcome guide (and any predecessors, e.g. RiscPC network setup guides).

ShareFS on Beagleboard

The ShareFS binary blob was recompiled sometime after the last post to that thread was made. So it should hopefully work without crashing or needing alignment exceptions turning off (although I’m not sure if anyone’s tried it yet)

The only thing I can think of would be the network setup section of the Iyonix welcome guide (and any predecessors, e.g. RiscPC network setup guides).

Of, course! This Configuring Networking on RISC OS 5/Iyonix Computers looks like a good starting point… and it would’ve saved me a bit of time last night!

In fact, it looks pretty comprehensive at first glance. So apart from the hardware notes (USB ethernet adapter) and module installation, perhaps all that’s needed here is a link to this guide! And besides, it has images – which the wiki doesn’t do ATM AIUI.

And there’s RO3.7 manual too.

Edit: I’ve made a start on a Configuring Networking page. Unless someone thinks it’s a bad idea, I’m intending the page to form part of a larger Welcome Guide (which I wouldn’t want to state a timescale for doing further work on myself).

I’ve made a start on a Configuring Networking page. Unless someone thinks it’s a bad idea, I’m intending the page to form part of a larger Welcome Guide (which I wouldn’t want to state a timescale for doing further work on myself).

Having a new Welcome Guide on the wiki sounds like a good idea to me.

Although I suspect you’re still in the middle of working on the page, I thought I’d point out that I have a feeling that the modules you list as needing to be installed (taken from this thread) are only relevant for people who want to use old browsers like !Browse. As far as I know newer browsers (i.e. NetSurf and Firefox, the only two likely to run on OMAP at the moment) don’t need any of those modules at all. Of course I could easily be wrong about this, since I don’t think I’ve actually tried running a browser yet!

Also on the subject of documentation, I’ve tidied up the Cortex-A8 docs page a bit. This should make it easier for people to seperate the important stuff (i.e. the TRM & ARM ARM) from the not-so-important stuff (e.g. all the random links to the TI sites that Trevor keeps adding ;)) Also the link you had to a mirror of the 35xx MPU subsystem document wasn’t necessary, since that was just a (slightly old) copy of one of the chapters from the full TRM. TI seem to distribute the TRMs both as one big PDF and as lots of little ones, but the way their website is structured doesn’t seem to make it easy to spot which TRM (if any) a particular pdf came from :(

the modules you list as needing to be installed (taken from this thread )are only relevant for people who want to use old browsers like !Browse.

Hadn’t really thought about that and just erred on the side of caution. Is EtherUSB on its own all that’s needed then (except for on-board RJ45, e.g. DevKit8000)?

Also on the subject of documentation…

Thanks for tidying up the Cortex-A8 docs page and for explaining the MPU subsystem doc situation. Yourself and countless others are bound to be more abreast of current technical docs than me, so I’ll steer clear of editing it for the moment!

It’d also be great if the Style Guide legal situation could be clarified before (new?) developers begin writing dreadfully non-conforming applications. This has been discussed at some length in this and other threads in the past but are we now any nearer resolving things?

Is EtherUSB on its own all that’s needed then (except for on-board RJ45, e.g. DevKit8000)?

Yes, EtherUSB should be all that’s needed.

...tidied up the Cortex-A8 docs page a bit… (e.g. all the random links to the TI sites that Trevor keeps adding ;))

Digi’s Wi-i.MX51 docs page lists a few too. I’ve resisted the urge to add any of them under “Machine-specific documentation”, especially as they’re not even needed (yet)!

...there is a getting started guide… and it needs updating for the -xM anyway.

Jeffrey, with the getting started page being linked to from the Cortex-A8 port page, what do you think about its status? Should it be further tidied, or perhaps pared down with relevant bits moved to the Generic OMAP port setup page¹?

As a result of queries on c.s.a.hardware I’ve recently added a couple of things² to the ‘getting started’ page, but they can just as easily go elsewhere.

¹ I’m happy to do this… for you or someone else to correct/fine tune.

² Links to your ARMv7-safe ‘unzip’ and OPP.bas programs.

Jeffrey, with the getting started page being linked to from the Cortex-A8 port page, what do you think about its status? Should it be further tidied, or perhaps pared down with relevant bits moved to the Generic OMAP port setup page?

I think the best course of action would be to get rid of the SD card/harddisc4 setup section of the beagleboard page and link to the “generic OMAP port” page instead. That way we won’t have to worry about keeping two sets of setup docs up to date (e.g. I still haven’t gotten round to updating the beagleboard page to talk about using SDCreate), and we won’t pollute the “generic OMAP port” page by adding too much extraneuous information.

And speaking of things which need tidying up:

• The “Using the Cortex-A8 port” page probably needs all its content moving to a new page (“Generic OMAP port setup” or similar), since it’s unlikely that other Cortex-A8 ports (if/when they appear!) will need the same setup instructions as the OMAP port. Of course there’s only the one Cortex-A8 port at the moment, so having a slightly misleading page title isn’t a particularly big problem. Especially since we may decide we want to rename the page again in the future! If only Textile was half as good as mediawiki when it comes to making it easy to maintain content :(
• Your taskexec file (nice work on that, by the way!) should probably be moved into CVS so that it will get included in the OMAP ROM downloads. This will allow us to freely tweak and improve the script without worrying about having a big scary block of code on what’s meant to be a user-friendly wiki page.

...get rid of the SD card/harddisc4 setup section of the beagleboard page and link to the “generic OMAP port” page instead…

I’ve had a go, but haven’t had time yet to either proof-read the page or tidy the ‘Other things to do once you’re up and running’ section. (Included in the rearrangement is a replacement of the term ‘USB Ethernet dongle’ with ‘Ethernet over USB adapter’ , which is my inference from wikipedia¹.) I’ve also tried to retain some of the authenticty of original page, as it was written at the time of “getting stuck in” and will probably strike a few chords with new users.

...The “Using the Cortex-A8 port” page probably needs all its content moving to a new page… other Cortex-A8 ports (if/when they appear!)...

I’ve not touched this, as it may be better left until Pandoras are delivered :-)

...If only Textile was half as good as mediawiki when it comes to making it easy to maintain content :( ...

Well, that’d be just too boring ;-)

...taskexec file…

I freely consent to the taskexec script being distributed, etc. etc. Sorry your updated instructions were only current for a day or so, but they were useful in helping me to automate the process and arrive at the current arrangement. (Thanks for your BPUT advice there :-) And regarding the ‘big scary block of code’, it’s a good job I’ve not recorded the video yet!)

...freely tweak and improve the script…

Yes please – there must be an improvement on my *FX138 solution, which was borrowed from ‘80s Micro User listings… and I must remember to check whether <key10> still maps to <break>

¹ But doing a little more research a couple of hours after this post was originally made, I see that perhaps the previous term is more widely recognised… so apologies and it can be reverted with no problem.

Ethernet over USB is included in James’ EtherUSB module but unfortunately is still not working yet. He has tried to port CDC-Ethernet but got stuck there.

It does sound like a viable solution for those who don’t have a Ethernet USB dongle.

...James’ EtherUSB module…

It’s marvellous as it is, but I’m sure we’ll all be applauding when the on-board port is working too :-)

I’ve now moved the taskexec file to CVS and rewritten the appropriate bits of the wiki guide. So if you feel like making any future changes to the script, remember to send the changes to someone with CVS access :)

...any future changes to the script, remember to send the changes to someone with CVS access :)

I can see at least one to be thinking about already: an error check connected to the naming of ‘HardDisc4/util’, which you’ve pointed out in the updated wiki page.

• Programmer’s Reference Manuals
  • Part 15 – SWI Calls
    • OS
      • OS_ChangeDynamicArea

In considering whether *changedynamicarea ought preferably to be replaced with the SWI OS_ChangeDynamicArea

On which page(s)?

Is it a correct assumption that this space should be removed to tie in with most of the other SWI OS calls?

Yes.

On which page(s)?

Sorry for the ambiguity. I’m only referring to the InstallHD4 script ...I can also refer to this RiscWorld series and a few books + the printed PRMs I have if I need to.

...and also OS_BreakCtrl erroneously lists OS_BinaryToDecimal

Given that it’s been deprecated for twenty years, I shouldn’t lose sleep over it…

(And who ever used OS_BinaryToDecimal anyway?)