[HN Gopher] Foundations of Embedded Systems
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Foundations of Embedded Systems
 
Author : blindm
Score  : 96 points
Date   : 2021-01-10 18:24 UTC (4 hours ago)
 
web link (f-of-e.org)
w3m dump (f-of-e.org)
 
| lrossi wrote:
| Sorry to be off topic. Just want to say that the font used by
| this website looks terrible on my tablet. Why don't people just
| use a normal sans font?
 
| RMPR wrote:
| This is actually pretty great. I was looking for a way to dip my
| toes into low level stuff. After skimming a bit it seems very
| focused on hardware though. Out of curiosity how does it compare
| to https://jaycarlson.net/embedded-linux/ ?
 
  | petee wrote:
  | Check out "Introductory Microcontroller Programming" by Peter
  | Alley (to be clear, not me.) for Wocester Polytech; I came
  | across this by accident the other day -
  | 
  | [pdf]
  | https://web.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-042811-095908/unr...
  | 
  |  _Over the period of being the TA for these courses multiple
  | times, I learned a great deal, but also noticed several
  | recurring issues the students seemed to face. In addition to
  | furthering my own knowledge on the care and feeding of
  | microcontrollers, this thesis is an attempt to provide students
  | with a resource to overcome some of their difficulties, to
  | provide a better understanding of the hardware level operation
  | of a microcontroller, and as instruction into improving their
  | knowledge and code._
  | 
  | edit: in addition, for really low level hardware, check out Ben
  | Eater's series on YouTube building a breadboard 6502
 
  | jimmyswimmy wrote:
  | Most of what embedded is, is hardware. To build the low level
  | software and drivers requires a detailed understanding of the
  | hardware and its datasheets. It would be pretty hard to give a
  | generic overview of the software side these days, because there
  | is just so much out there. I mean you have the TI parts for the
  | beagle bone which have a pair of microcontrollers on them each
  | having access to the same memory as the main processor. There's
  | the video processor on Broadcoms chip in the raspberry pi.
  | Understanding any of the details of these components requires
  | understanding most of thousands of pages of documentation. Most
  | people wait for someone else to do it for them!
  | 
  | In the old days the only peripherals were timers and ADCs. You
  | could make a generic and useful tutorial for those. Not
  | anymore!
 
    | diydsp wrote:
    | After a few decades in the biz I'm seeing things change.
    | Almost all drivers these days are written. Embedded is more
    | about integration. It's also interconnected with many web-
    | based tools and operating systems.
 
      | m-ee wrote:
      | I wish all drivers were written. Aside from things like
      | arduino/pyboard the choice in my experience has been using
      | some massively bloated questionably tested vendor code or
      | just going to the data sheet and writing it yourself.
 
| sircastor wrote:
| This is a bit of a side step to the article, but I recommend
| anyone who wants to really learn low level programming try to
| write a simple piece of software for the NES. The 6502 is well
| known, how the NES operates is likewise well known. Is not easy
| by any means, but I found it to be very rewarding and
| instructional to how computers work. Alternatively, following Ben
| Eater's 6502 computer videos is likewise instructional.
| 
| I admit this may have had the effect on me because the NES had a
| special place in my childhood.
 
  | user-the-name wrote:
  | I would go for the GBA, which has a much more comfortable
  | processor, and some very nice graphics hardware. It really hits
  | a sweet spot for capability vs. constrainedness.
 
  | molticrystal wrote:
  | Or you could go from an even more fundamental level with a
  | simple course https://www.nand2tetris.org/
  | 
  | You build up a computer from simulated logic gates,
  | constructing the ALU, CPU, Ram, I/O etc. The opcodes are
  | comparable to those in the CPUs you mentioned, but you have the
  | added benefit of the magic that occurs when it is able to
  | process those opcodes. The best part is, thanks to the courses
  | exceptional guidance and streamlining, it only takes about half
  | a day or so to get it to that point.
  | 
  | After that you can follow the rest of the course to making a
  | compiler, etc. Or you could move to an NES emulator as you
  | mentioned. The nand2tetris halfway mark would also be a good
  | jumping point for the principles, compiler, and RISC equipment
  | mentioned in the OP's course.
 
| hvasilev wrote:
| Why are so many videos not available until November 2021?
 
  | ldx1024 wrote:
  | Upcoming events. They are not doing the livestream until then.
 
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