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Homebrew Microcontroller Laptop, Made of Wood
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:33 AM
from the logically-if-she's-made-of-wood dept.
from the logically-if-she's-made-of-wood dept.
Brietech writes "This is a homebrew laptop project based on a Picaxe microcontroller. It has 16kb of RAM, 256kb of storage, sound and a self-hosted development environment! It has a simple CLI, file-system, 'EMAXE' text editor and a programming language called 'Chris#.' Oh, and yes, it runs Linaxe."
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Pretty fast! (Score:5, Insightful)
CPU: Picaxe 28X-1 Microcontrollers. The main CPU runs at a blistering 16 Mhz, and has a whopping 4 kilobytes of onboard storage for the processorâ(TM)s firmware/OS.
That's faster than my 11 or 12 MHz 286... of course, that was 17 years ago.
Re:Pretty fast! (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, it probably isn't. It's probably not even close. The site is slashdotted badly, but I'm guessing this is an 8-bit CPU. Most microcontrollers of this sort take several clocks per instruction. And the instruction set is probably more limited in capability than x86.
Also, I have to wonder why use an obscure part rather than the Atmel chips that are wildly popular with open source enthusiasts, or even the Microchip PICs (not quite as popular as the Atmels, but still has a strong hobbyist following). Having a development community and existing software base is useful.
Parent
Re:Pretty fast! (Score:5, Informative)
If you check out the Coral Cached version of the site [nyud.net], you can see that the guy is not after something with an existing development community or software base. He's written his own everything, and seems to have a sense of humor about it. He even implemented Pong, and says that he someday hopes to achieve parity with an early 80s computer :)
Parent
Re:Pretty fast! (Score:5, Informative)
Again, read the link:
He's doing it as a hobby, and he's not pretending that it is useful. He compares it to a "square wheel"!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
OK. So you're criticizing someone for not being as lazy as you? Way to go. This is a new level to revelling in laziness.
I remember fondly one of my udergrad design classes in which we built an 8088 system from scratch by wire-wrapping the crystal, interrupt controller, memory controller, etc. and then programmed it to make some kind of control system. I made an infusion pump controller.
The professor was a surly drunk, but I learned a lot in the class.
It may be a "waste of time" but I'm sure he'll benefi
Re:Pretty fast! (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, it probably isn't. It's probably not even close. The site is slashdotted badly, but I'm guessing this is an 8-bit CPU. Most microcontrollers of this sort take several clocks per instruction. And the instruction set is probably more limited in capability than x86.
Well, the site is woefully uninformative, and this "manufacturer" looks just as a repackager who has burnt a specific microcode on a PIC microcontroller .... OR an Atmel AVR. Now, what you said above is true for PIC microcontrollers, as well as the older Intel 8051 and Motorola 68HC11. But it's not true for Atmel's AVR, which are 8 bit, but with a RISC core, so each instruction is executed in one cpu clock. And AVRs are indeed pretty fast beasts. The PICs are more popular among some hobbists, but not in the industry.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There seems to be a very helpful community [google.com] willing to help, and it seems to be a fantastic product to learn with.
Atmel is SO much better than any PIC (Score:3, Informative)
Atmel is SO much better than any PIC. Atmel AVR microcontrollers are individually cheaper. They run at least four times faster for the same clock speed (one instruction per clock cycle instead of one instruction per four clocks for the PIC). They have a vastly more versatile and flexible instruction set. The AVRs are designed to be used with high level languages like Open Source GCC, not kluged BASIC for high school kids that the PICs use in their absurdly overpriced 'training' packages. Most AVRs now
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
This is cool but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Oh...Homebrew electronics. (Score:4, Funny)
I thought it was a beer thing.
Already down. (Score:2)
Re:Already down. (Score:4, Informative)
Click the 'cached' link on the first result
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Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
So... (Score:3, Funny)
Catching fire (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Catching fire (Score:5, Funny)
I for one welcome cleaner burning laptops.
Parent
I kind of like the case.. (Score:2)
A nicely finished wooden case for a laptop would be nice. I f we could get around the microwave radiation issues and the heat issue.
He says he's going to get it up to roughly the same power that an early 80's home computer had. It looks like he's not far off.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I f we could get around the microwave radiation issues and the heat issue.
I may be way off, but aren't most cheap laptops made of plastic? Plastic is a terrible conductor of heat or electricity.
Whoops! (Score:5, Funny)
It looks like he tried to host the link from his laptop :(
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
His server is petrefied.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I've seen smaller systems stand up to a slashdotting. Perhaps he overclocked the Picaxe and the wood caught on fire.
TG (Score:4, Funny)
I should switch to Chris# solely for the TG instruction: play "Eye of the Tiger".
Re: (Score:2)
I should switch to Chris# solely for the TG instruction: play "Eye of the Tiger".
I agree in that it's the "best ... opcode ... ever."
Seems kinda low-spec as a starting point (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know much about the PICaxe, but for $8 (single unit qtys) you can buy an 80MHz MIPS microcontroller [microchip.com] with a lot going for it. [microchip.com] This one has 32KB of onboard RAM and 512K of flash. [microchip.com]
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Probably because PICAXE Microcontrollers can be programmed in a simple subset of BASIC.
It is very easy to write code, program and debug (they don't require a special programming interface). They are **really simple** to use, very powerful and versatile.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, I see. I guess I'm accustomed to writing for microcontrollers, so I never saw that as a barrier. I've even done a design [spatula-city.org] with a related PIC part (PIC16 instead of PIC32), which is why I wondered about the specs on this PICaxe.
If it were me making this sort of laptop, I'd just write my "OS" in C and compile with GCC and be on my merry way. :-) I guess to get to the "self-hosting development" level, though, I'd be wise to get some sort of interpreted language on there, a'la the old BASIC computers of t
Re: (Score:2)
Are you to tell me that it's impossible to run a BASIC interpreter on an 80MHz MIPS core with 32k of RAM?
I mean, honestly: I remember the VIC-20 and the TRS-80 model 1. This whole modern concept of "it can't run BASIC" seems positively absurd on so many levels. But if that's really how things are...
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's more of an "end-to-end simplicity" thing vs. raw power.
If you buy the PIC32 I mentioned, it's a powerful low-cost machine, but it's a bit like buying a crate engine, tranny and chassis to build a race car. You better be, or have access to, a competent mechanic to put it together, and you'll have your purpose-built race car.
It sounds like the PICaxe is more like buying a Camry off the lot. It's got all the accoutrements and is ready to go. Turn the key, put it in gear, and you're on the road.
Re: (Score:2)
Picaxe chips are good fun. I didnt know a damned thing about electronics until i started playing with these, which get you impressive results for CHEAP.
basic stamp kit is ridiculously expensive next to these.
Re: (Score:2)
I have one of MikroElektronika's boards. It hasn't been a perfect experience, but it got me started quickly. You can see some of my Mad Scientist stuff here [spatula-city.org]. I used the dsPIC33 to emulate video game cartridges in software. :-)
People use microcontrollers in homebrewing? (Score:2)
Damn. Kinda goes against the ethos, doesn't it? Or are they trying to replicate Budweiser?
The next version (Score:2)
what's all this then (Score:3, Interesting)
Is Slashdot turning into Hack a Day [hackaday.com] today, or what?
Made of wood (Score:2, Funny)
So, it weighs the same as a duck?
Re: (Score:2)
Burn it! Burn it!
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If you wonder WHAT is a Picaxe microcontroller... (Score:4, Informative)
I just found out that, as the name clearly suggests, it's a preprogrammed PIC microcontroller.
See for yourself at http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/ [rev-ed.co.uk] in the Technical Frequently Asked Questions PDF file:
What is a PICAXE microcontroller?
A PICAXE microcontroller is a Microchip PIC microcontroller that has been pre-
programmed with the PICAXE bootstrap code. The bootstrap code enables the
microcontroller to be reprogrammed without the need for an (expensive)
conventional programmer, making the whole download system a very low-cost
simple serial cable!
The bootstrap code also contains common routines (such as how to generate a
pause delay or a sound output), so that each download does not have to waste time
downloading this commonly required data. This makes the download time much
quicker.
I'm sure this "laptop" would have been much faster if based around an AVR. But that would have required more work.
I had one of these wooden laptops (Score:3, Funny)
I'll just be going then <shame>
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I saw a video of Joe Rogan doing standup. The guy is a total loon, but he made a really interesting point about our technological society, and how smart we tend to think we are.
He posed the question, if you were in the woods with nothing but a hatchet, how long before you could send an email?
This device may not compare favorably with commercially available computing platforms, but having people in our society with curious minds and an ability to make things is invaluable.
I'd rather be a Morlock than an Elo
Re:Nobody needs more than 16k... (Score:5, Funny)
Depends, how many people do I have to kill to get to the PC?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
if you were in the woods with nothing but a hatchet, how long before you could send an email?
Even if you knew everything - it would literally take decades to do it "right." It took the entire human race with practically unlimited resources about 132 years once we had the most basic understanding of electronics (telephone). Even knowing every concept doesn't put you ahead by much without an existing manufacturing base.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Unfortunately, it would have only been able to send messages to Princes in Nigeria, thus not being able to render them help in getting of the island.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"Unfortunately, it would have only been able to send messages to Princes in Nigeria, thus not being able to render them help in getting of the island."
Give the guy a break! He was already to the point of sending to SOMEONE. In a few days he probably could've sent an email to anyone. Too bad that idiot Gilligan knocked over and broke the Professor's coconut e-mailer. Funny how the idea was workable expect for one flaw not associated with the actual plan and instead of trying again they just abandoned it
Re:Nobody needs more than 16k... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, that would be doable fairly quickly.
First, you need to find some pigeons or some other suitable birds. You will also figure out how to make something resembling paper (shouldn't be too difficult with all the wood in the woods), and some means to write (something suitable should be available as well)
Once you managed to train some of them to deliver messages, you send one asking for RFC791 and RFC793, unless you're a networking expert and know them from memory. RFC 792 would be also recommended. You will also need RFC 1149, but that one is short and is best memorized before you get lost in the woods. Optionally, RFC 2549 could provide better service.
The next thing to do is to implement RFC 1149, and use that to talk to a mail server. Anybody with some mail experience should know how to use mail over a telnet session. Just make sure to memorize the IP addresses of a SMTP and a POP3 server (no problem if you run your own server and remember the address). Then just connect and send something like:
Then to read email:
Latency could be a bit annoying with having to send all those pigeons back and forth, and a good spam filter would be needed server-side if you don't want to spend weeks getting rid of it before you get anything useful, but in a couple of weeks it could be done.
Once this is going, the next step would be starting an open source project to implement IP over smoke signals, or optical telegraph, in case something happens to the pigeons, and to reduce latency. Also implementing DNS would help with talking to the rest of the net.
Once all this is working you can start really improving your tech, by requesting pages from wikipedia on anything you don't know enough about.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Step by step.
The hatchet would make constructing the iron smelting furnace easier. I could use heel of the hatchet as a hammer at first.
Then I could build a waterwheel powered sawmill and lathe.
With the sawmill and lathe I could fashion a crude, steam engine powered, carriage.
With the carriage I could drive to Fry's and buy a laptop.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Now for something totally different... (Score:5, Insightful)
He built a laptop with his time. All you've done is post a whiney comment on slashdot. On the whole, I think it's you who needs some better things to do with their time.
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