Stack of mixed questions

Technical discussions around xCORE processors (e.g. xcore-200 & xcore.ai).
Sciencefiction68
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:01 pm

Stack of mixed questions

Post by Sciencefiction68 »

Hi XMOS. Im trying to design a new development board using XMOS for the design contest going on in my country. I have some experience with Atmel and Microchip MCU s but totally new to XMOS and multi core architecture. New board is tend to be used primarily for robotics applications but should be expandable for other types of applications too. It should support as many sensor types as possible which means needs to have good set of analog and digital GPIOs plus UART , SPI and other types of connections. It must be programmed via usb port which is going to be on board without using any other hardware. Also support ETHERNET and USB communications.

question 1: Do L series have analog IO? ADC, DAC and other common analog functialities ? I have looked to many datasheets in L series but couldn't find info about anolog specs. if yes how many pins can be used for analog purposes.

question 2: How do i achieve startkit like programming with usb cable only ? Do i have to program one of my cores to work as programmer?

question 3: Which device would u comment for this purpose?

question 4: Are there any video tutorials on programming XMOS devices ?

Thats it for now . Thanks for reading and input:)


User avatar
Bianco
XCore Expert
Posts: 754
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:56 pm
Contact:

Post by Bianco »

1) no
2) The startKIt implements a complete debugger (similar to the XTAG2) on its second tile.
You can of course make some kind of bootloader to update the firmware (USB DFU, Serial, whatever you like)
Sciencefiction68
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:01 pm

Post by Sciencefiction68 »

Bianco wrote:1) no
I was afraid of this:S And i suppose Analog series doesnt have digital capabilities plus USB Ethernet and other connectivity solutions?
User avatar
pstnotpd
XCore Addict
Posts: 161
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:47 am

Post by pstnotpd »

You can always go fancy and go for a multi chip design which combines L,U and A series.

I have never done board design myself but I would love to see something like that!
User avatar
Folknology
XCore Legend
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:20 pm
Contact:

Post by Folknology »

You could do something like the startkit (based around a dual tile U series chip) only without the slice socket and with Ethernet built in, you should still have enough GPIO header pins for sensors and such like. One tile handles usb and or debug and the other handles Ethernet and IO

regards
Al
Sciencefiction68
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:01 pm

Post by Sciencefiction68 »

Folknology wrote:You could do something like the startkit (based around a dual tile U series chip) only without the slice socket and with Ethernet built in, you should still have enough GPIO header pins for sensors and such like. One tile handles usb and or debug and the other handles Ethernet and IO
Which of these drives tasks on MCU ? Tiles or Cores ? I mean if an mcu has 2 tiles and 8 cores does it mean it can run 2 or 8 independent programs? Im not assuming using RTOS or any kind of scheduling technique.?

Do analog series have DAC ?

any ideas what would be the price of XA series?
pstnotpd wrote: You can always go fancy and go for a multi chip design which combines L,U and A series.
Can i combine XS1-U8A-128-FB217 and XS1-A6A-64-FB96 in one PCB ? Lets say i did connect these two on board and used u series chip as a programmer. Can it program A series to? or do i need to ad something else? And can share data between two?
User avatar
segher
XCore Expert
Posts: 844
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:31 am
Contact:

Post by segher »

L series devices are one or two digital tiles. U series devices
are one or two digital tiles plus an analogue tile; A series
devices are that, minus the USB functionality.

A digital tile is a processor plus an interconnect switch.
Each processor has up to 8 hardware threads (confusingly
called "cores").

The analogue tile has an ADC (for 8 channels), but no DAC.
It also has DC-DC converters, making U and A board designs
much simpler than L.

You can connect any of these devices together (via links).

You want to use an XSYS connector and an XTAG2 unless
you really know what you are doing. Debugging your debugger
is "fun" :-p
Sciencefiction68
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:01 pm

Post by Sciencefiction68 »

segher wrote:A digital tile is a processor plus an interconnect switch.
Each processor has up to 8 hardware threads (confusingly
called "cores").
So then tile is what runs the program not cores which mean only 2 programs can run at the same time ? i got confused :S
User avatar
Folknology
XCore Legend
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:20 pm
Contact:

Post by Folknology »

Terms:

Tile = physical silicon (XS1)
Core = hardware thread (up to 8 per tile) think hyperthread
Tasks = software threads or think protothread

A tile can be divided into number of cores (max 8) and each core can run any number of tasks. Many tiles can be connected together using Xmos links to increase multi processing capability.

regards
Al
Sciencefiction68
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:01 pm

Post by Sciencefiction68 »

Thanx for description Folknology and Folknology :) Ill probably use XS1-U10A-128-FB217-C10 for my design.
Sciencefiction68 wrote:You want to use an XSYS connector and an XTAG2 unless
you really know what you are doing. Debugging your debugger
is "fun" :-p
Isnt source files for USB program debug used in startkit available for users ? For example Michrochip provides such example source code . You just download it and customize for your board design and it works out of the box. Do we have something like that here?:)
Post Reply