RISC Processors

[bigbear]

Aight all that crap from the P4 vs AMD thingy is going in here.

Yeah I was reading up on PIC tutorials online and I was like "This is EXACTLY the same as a STAMP." Neither of those would have the clock speed to compute/transmit 240x320x16 bits @ near 30fps for stuff that moves, without Alpha. I looked up mouser.com for "processor" and found 16 bit RISC processors, which led me to StrongARM and the SH3. They definately have the clock speed [400-500mhz for a good one], and shit the dreamcast ran 3D Sonic the Hedgehog at insane speeds @ 400mhz.

So I looked back at the Imageon 100. It said it supported both those and the NEC MIPS. When you asked ASM(MIPS) in C I knew you were writing Assembly in C, but no idea what MIPS was. That Imageon is pretty banging, I think it'll do well for what I need. I might just call ATI and talk to them and ask them what the best one to use would be. It's got an 8MB SDRAM controller, MPEG decoder, and TFT display, I couldn't ask for more. A Touchscreen controller, interrupt controller, ADC's, and some RAM later I should be able to do what I need to do.

I can't freakin wait.

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Just so you know, programming in MIPS is natively just pure assembly. There are ways to program these in C and have it compiled in ASM though. If you don't know assembly yet, that's probably the way to go. They do a fairly good job, but if you want the best optimized, you probably are going to want to hard code the ASM yourself. I'd probably start by using C and if that doesn't work well enough, go from there. These compilers also support using ASM code inline with the C code, which is what I'm doing now on an Atmel uc.

[bigbear]

Yeah Visual C++ has an ASM directive that allows you to write Assembly and stuff. Does it support #Define macros and classes though? That would be CRAZY if it did. Do you know if VC++ supports compilation to ASM? The only thing I use VC++ for is editing .cpp and .h files. It only has project workspaces for MFC and Win32 console and windowed applications. It has a binary file option... but I doubt that's the same as ASM.

ASM isn't that difficult, it's just manual labor. I don't mind doing it if you can tell me where I can get ASM exporting compiler and can I start working with RISC's now? What do I need to do that?

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Well, I can say #DEFINE blah blah in C and it will compile -> ASM.
Unfortunately, I use mostly programs that will work with Atmel ucs.
I use AVR studio for the Atmel, but that won't help you. - http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=2725

Ugh, there are others, but I'll have to look in the school lab next time I go.

There is a program called Codevision C compiler, and there is a free version floating around, but I'm NOT sure if its AVR (atmel) specific or not. Look into that though.

Other than that, I'm now usually programming in Linux and compiling with add-in modules specifically for the Atmel. I'm sure you could find modules for what you want to use. *nix is the best programming environment IMO.

[IALuder]

wow i have created such a controversy it got its own thread.