July 2015 - Oberon - mailman3.inf.ethz.ch

Astrobe for FPGA RISC5 Oberon
by Chris Burrows 04 Oct '15

04 Oct '15

I am currently developing a version of the Astrobe IDE which hosts the Project Oberon FPGA RISC5 compiler on Windows. With the work done so far I can now develop RISC5 Oberon software on Windows using all the Astrobe IDE features. When the edit / compile cycle is complete the resulting code can be synchronised with the Project Oberon system running on FPGA hardware via the RS232 connection. A single Astrobe command (Build / Rebuild) can be used to automatically recompile ALL 23 core modules of the Project Oberon operating system - about 9000 lines in total. The whole process (including generating disassembly listings) takes 700 millseconds on my PC. The eventual aim is develop a minimal embedded version of the Project Oberon OS e.g. just the Kernel, loader, filesystem, SPI, RS232 and SD card support. As development is done on Windows the higher-level layers of the OS with the user-interaction features e.g. GUI, display, VGA, mouse, keyboard, compiler, editor etc will not be required. This should be easier to port to simpler FPGA development boards than those currently supported by the full Project Oberon OS. When it is publicly released later this year the software will be made available for no cost. Anyone who is interested can get the latest progress reports and release announcements by following the forum "Astrobe for FPGA RISC5" on the Astrobe discussion forum: http://www.astrobe.com/forum/ Regards, Chris Burrows CFB Software http://www.cfbsoftware.com

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Re: [Oberon] Windows 8.1
by Chris Burrows 10 Aug '15

10 Aug '15

> > From: John R. Strohm [mailto:strohm@airmail.net] > Sent: Monday, 27 July 2015 4:44 AM > To: Oberon(a)lists.inf.ethz.ch > Subject: [Oberon] Windows 8.1 > > Does anyone have the appropriate set of magickal incantations > necessary to get Oberon running under Microsoft Windows 8.1? > > I have the old Windows Plugin version running under Windows 7 Home, > by running it in NT 4 compatibility mode. (Without compatibility > mode, it would start, opening the desktop, but the directories > weren't mapped properly, so most files couldn't be found.) It won't > even open the desktop on 8.1, at all. Windows 8.1 Home (presumably) > never heard of NT compatibility mode. > I have had the Windows PlugIn version running for some years on my Windows 7 Pro system without requiring compatibility mode and without any problems. I just tried installing it on Windows 8.1 without any special compatibility settings. I tested listing directories, editing a file and compiling a file without problems. All that I can think of is that you have an older version of the software. The version I have displays as "ETH PlugIn Oberon for WindowsTM / Win32 2.5 (7.2.2009)" I just checked the ETH download site and there is a later version that displays "ETH PlugIn Oberon for WindowsTM / Win32 2.5 (18.12.2010)": ftp://ftp.ethoberon.ethz.ch/Oberon/ETHOberon/Win95NT/PlugIn/ If are using an older version then I recommend that you try with this one - the ftp date shows as 05/12/2011. Good Luck! Chris Burrows CFB Software http://www.astrobe.com

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Re (2): new symbol file
by peter＠easthope.ca 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

From: Felix Friedrich <felix.friedrich(a)inf.ethz.ch> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 09:46:26 +0200 > Strictly speaking, the necessity to recompile a file is a question of > conistencies of the information used in object-files and not that of > symbol files. ... > > R.B.J. Crellier describes in his Thesis "Separate Compilation and Module > Extension" ... I should have mentioned that the current work is in Native Oberon. > If, for > example, Module Display defines a datatype extended or reused for other > exported datatypes of modules M2, then indeed the fingerprint of M2 will > change and depending modules of M2 have to be recompiled. Yes, this revised Display exports a new Pattern which M2 must import and use. I'll compile upstream enough to verify that Display is working as intended. After that a rebuild of the system with Native.Tool is quite tolerable. > ... fine grained fingerprinting can be used in order to avoid > recompilation even of immediately importing modules when they only refer > to unchanged information of the imported module. This mechanism is used > in the compilers currently used at ETH for A2, ... Good to be aware of that in case I progress to A2 later. > Hope this helps. Very helpful, thanks, ... Peter E. -- 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 12 Tel +13606390202 http://easthope.ca/peter.html Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Oberon/Linux Revival and Emacs.
by Jan de Kruyf 29 Jul '15

29 Jul '15

Here is a little something to be able to edit source-files in Emacs. (No doubt there is a Vi version also) open any source file and strip the cruft at the beginning and the end of the file (otherwise the file will not edit anymore in Oberon) and add beyond the end of the source code: (BTRees.Mod as an example) ----- . . BEGIN Init() END BTrees. (* Local Variables: *) (* coding: mac-roman *) (* tab-width: 2 *) (* End: *) ------------ the first time you will have to set the coding temporarily to mac-roman yourself, or add this stanza under Oberon. Thereafter it will all be done automatically, just remember to strip the cruft before you save in Emacs. Cheers, j.

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Re: [Oberon] new symbol file
by peter＠easthope.ca 29 Jul '15

29 Jul '15

From: peasthope at shaw.ca Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:23:53 -0700 > Is recompilation of all modules importing Display... essential? From: chris at cfbsoftware.com Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:46:16 +0930 > Read section 12.6 'Searching the symbol table, and symbol files' in Wirth's > 'Project Oberon' book for a thorough explanation. You will probably find the answer ... It is quite dense but this is my tentative answer. Consider Display imported by M2 which is imported by M3 which is imported by M4. Any change to the symbol file of Display requires recompilation of M2. According to the sentence "... a chain reaction can be avoided by making symbol files self-contained, ...", recompilation of M2 changes the symbol file of M2. Therefore M3 must also be recompiled. Similarly M4 must also be recompiled. Therefore when the symbol file of Display is changed, recompilation of the whole system using Native.Tool is appropriate. Contradictions invited thanks, ... Peter E. -- 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 12 Tel +13606390202 http://easthope.ca/peter.html Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re (2): Windows 8.1
by peter＠easthope.ca 28 Jul '15

28 Jul '15

Dieter, > Eventually, I expect to break down and buy a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, > a monitor, a USB disk drive, and another mouse, and throw it together > to make a basic Linux system, Almost any discarded laptop or desktop machine encountered these days is adequate. Really no need to buy new hardware. For a machine lacking an SD socket, adapters costing under $3 are available on eBay. Regards, ... Peter E. -- 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 12 Tel +13606390202 http://easthope.ca/peter.html Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re (2): Windows 8.1
by peter＠easthope.ca 28 Jul '15

28 Jul '15

From: Dieter <d.gloetzel(a)web.de> Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 15:26:06 +0200 > What do we expect for Windows 10? More trouble than ever before? =8~) Another approach is to put NO or AosUnix or OLR on a spare machine and connect it to the MS system with an Ethernet crossover cable. Regards, ... Peter E. -- 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 12 Tel +13606390202 http://easthope.ca/peter.html Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re: [Oberon] Windows 8.1
by John R. Strohm 27 Jul '15

27 Jul '15

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Windows 8.1
by John R. Strohm 27 Jul '15

27 Jul '15

Does anyone have the appropriate set of magickal incantations necessary to get Oberon running under Microsoft Windows 8.1? I have the old Windows Plugin version running under Windows 7 Home, by running it in NT 4 compatibility mode. (Without compatibility mode, it would start, opening the desktop, but the directories weren’t mapped properly, so most files couldn’t be found.) It won’t even open the desktop on 8.1, at all. Windows 8.1 Home (presumably) never heard of NT compatibility mode. Or is it time to abandon hope of running Oberon on Windows, and build a Linux box? --John R. Strohm

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Oberon/Linux Revival
by Peter Matthias 26 Jul '15

26 Jul '15

Hi all, latest version now is available on http://oberon.wikidot.com . It runs native on MIPS, ARM and X86 with Linux kernel and should include now all modules from latest Native Oberon Alfa version with Gadgets except for networt. It is now at a stage where I wanted it when I started the project. Unless bugs are reported development will calm down. Regards, Peter

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