August 2019 - Oberon - mailman3.inf.ethz.ch

Wanted: Oberon Syntax in TextMate, Sublime Text or Atom Grammar
by Treutwein Bernhard 01 Jan '22

01 Jan '22

Does somebody have grammars for Oberon / Oberon-2 / Component Pascal / Active Oberon as grammar for TextMate / Sublime Text / Atom Background: Github wrongly classifies Oberon / Oberon-2 / Component Pascal / Active Oberon as Modula-2. I opened quite some tiome ago an issue in the github/linguist project (https://github.com/github/linguist/issues/3888) and they don't accept EBNF grammars. -- Bernhard Treutwein

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Debugging FPGA oberon via serial line?
by Michael Schierl 29 May '20

29 May '20

Hello, while I was adding UTF-8 support to Fonts and Texts (and almost rewriting Fonts so that a font can be loaded partially and not all glyphs at once), I noticed that debugging such a system can be cumbersome (as you cannot read the TRAP output any more, as well as you have to reset the system to a previous state to be able to fix your mistakes if the screen is too garbled to be useful, or if the system TRAPs during boot). By the way, here is Oberon running in the browser with UTF-8 support for Texts (and Tahoma font): http://schierlm.github.io/OberonEmulator/emu.html?image=UnicodeDiskImage >From other (older) systems, I know it is possible to debug them via serial line, so I was thinking how much the FPGA oberon system needs to be changed (hardware side/software side) to accommodate this. RS232 is supported, so you could use one FPGA system (or emulator) to debug the other one. And I was wondering if anybody already tried doing something like this. I know that Colby Russell worked on debug support in the emulator, but no idea about how far he got. A minimal feature set to be useful (in my opinion) would be - Read and write memory and disk via serial port while the system is running/idle (already possible today via ORC / PCLink) - Set and remove software breakpoints while the system is running/idle - When software breakpoint or trap is hit, save processor state and allow debugging via serial port (-> suspended) - Read and write registers and memory while the system is suspended - Set and remove software breakpoints while the system is suspended - Continue execution when the system is suspended More advanced features would be single stepping (can be emulated by having a look at the instruction and setting software breakpoints at all following locations), or memory breakpoints. Also to be able to enter the debugger by pressing a hardware button on the FPGA (similar to the current reset functionality, but not resetting). And of course symbolic debugging :) Software breakpoints should be easy, just replace instruction by BL to a fixed address. Restore the instruction before returning. For catching TRAPs, overwrite the TRAP address. Saving processor state might be tricky, especially SYSTEM.H and the flags, and maybe you have problems since you need at least one spare register to be able to save the registers to a fixed location in memory. You will also need to switch stack to a second stack before the stack is accessed by the code. Probably solvable by using a special compiler that leaves a register or two unused. Restoring SYSTEM.H and Flags is also not supported (except by searching for instructions that will result in the desired flags or results). Also the question is whether returning to the code will not destroy some flags again. And you need to make sure not to set breakpoints or break at points where a BL has happened but the link register has not been saved yet. So (similar to interrupt) probably some hardware support is needed for this. Entering the debugger by button also needs hardware support (since the current Reset button forgets the PC and some other state). Once in suspend mode, it might be hard to avoid allocating memory, since you cannot run the GC which might collect objects that are still used by the suspended program. But that should be feasible if the functions are basic enough to work with a fixed buffer (e.g. number of breakpoints is limited). I guess memory breakpoints are only possible with hardware support for them (I have no idea how to emulate them except emulating or setting breakpoints at all LOAD/STORE instructions). For symbolic debugging, the compiler would have to write some more debug symbols. For a start, <https://github.com/schierlm/OberonXref/blob/master/ORG.Mod.patch> annotates the code position for every instruction; I currently use it for creating combined source/assembly listings like <https://schierlm.github.io/OberonXref/ProjectOberon2013/ORP.html#both>. But you would probably also need some information about the stack layout (variable names and types) and register contents for every code locatoin, as well as information about module/global variables, and not-exported record types and record members. And you would also need some client to utilize all this information so that you can do something like "Debugger.Inspect F.vwr.dsc" :) So I guess for my own needs, that's too much work for the benefit (especially since I don't know if I will ever try to rewrite any of the core modules again). But perhaps I'm missing something? Any better ideas? Regards, Michael

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Re: [Oberon] Oberon online (code snippets sharing)
by peter＠easthope.ca 19 Dec '19

19 Dec '19

From: Erik Terpstra <erterpstra(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2019 10:00:04 +0200 > I have asked the maintainer of tio.run (Try It Online, a code snippet > sharing site) if Oberon-07 could be added, he agreed and added support for > it (using the OBNC compiler). Thanks Erik. > You can see a Hello world snippet here: > > https://bit.ly/2Mic0NN A click on Oberon-07 in the list of languages leads to https://tio.run/#oberon-07 . Is there any harm in referring to that URL? Thanks, ... Lyall E. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Oberon online (code snippets sharing)
by Erik Terpstra 09 Sep '19

09 Sep '19

Hi All, I have asked the maintainer of tio.run (Try It Online, a code snippet sharing site) if Oberon-07 could be added, he agreed and added support for it (using the OBNC compiler). You can see a Hello world snippet here: https://bit.ly/2Mic0NN A current restriction is that a module for a snippet must be named 'M', the maintainer proposes that he can improve on that if needed: https://github.com/TryItOnline/tryitonline/issues/59 Let me know if this is useful (my proposal to add it is mostly because I couldn't stand the fact that Oberon can't be tried online anywhere). Regards, Erk Terpstra

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Re (2): Characters 80H to FFH.
by peter＠easthope.ca 24 Aug '19

24 Aug '19

From: =?UTF-8?B?SsO2cmc=?= <joerg.straube(a)iaeth.ch> Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 19:14:28 +0200 > The keyboard handling is OS-specific, ... Just confirmed that in S3, keying is exactly as described in http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/keyboard.html . Should work in A2O with some programming. > ... native ProjectOberon doesn't handle dead keys at all ... 7 bit ASCII would be enough in most embedded systems. Beyond that, take S3 and V4 as examples. Thanks, ... L. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Medical_Machines https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Characters 80H to FFH.
by peter＠easthope.ca 24 Aug '19

24 Aug '19

For S3, http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/keyboard.html explains how accented characters 80H to FFH are typed on a US keyboard using dead keying. Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_key . At present I don't have S3 at hand but try in A2O. To obtain eacute, for example, dead key Alt+' and then e. OK, except that in A2O I get apostrophe e; not eacute. Does dead keying work in A2O? Am I misinterpreting the instructions? Is a configuration required? Thanks, ... Lyall E. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Medical_Machines https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re: A2 Repository
by peter＠easthope.ca 13 Aug '19

13 Aug '19

From: Felix Friedrich, Wed Jul 3 09:30:57 CEST 2019 > We are currently investing effort into cleaning up A2 (portability ...) > ... > But we will make sure that native versions are properly supported again. Thanks Felix. Of possible interest: A few years ago I found that S3 started up OK on a Tatung tablet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon_(operating_system)#Gallery The tablet has RS232 and USB connectors. (In S3, no USB mouse has worked. The RS232 is via an unusual connector I haven't fully made sense of. With the pins connected properly, it still might need a native serial driver. I'm not sure a S3 compatible driver is available in the BIOS.) At that time a few years back I compiled an A2 boot image and put it on a CF card. In attempting to boot from it the tablet gave an error message I didn't understand. Once A2 is polished up, I should make another try. Thanks again, ... Lyall E. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re: [Oberon] Announcement: v7.0 Astrobe for RISC5 is now available
by Chris Burrows 08 Aug '19

08 Aug '19

We've now ported Embedded Project Oberon to another 48-pin DIP form factor breadboardable module from Digilent. This is the CmodS7, which features a Xilinx Spartan-7 XC7S25 FPGA: https://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13 <https://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=648> &t=648 Regards, Chris From: Chris Burrows [mailto:chris@cfbsoftware.com] Sent: Wednesday, 3 July 2019 9:12 PM To: ETH Oberon and related systems (oberon(a)lists.inf.ethz.ch) Subject: Announcement: v7.0 Astrobe for RISC5 is now available Hi All, The latest version v7.0 of the free Astrobe for RISC5 development system, including the IDE, Windows Oberon-07 compiler and Embedded Project Oberon operating system is now available. The initial v7.0 release supports both the Artix-7 and Spartan-7 FPGA devices as used on the Digilent Arty development boards. New hardware capabilities include Arduino shield-compatible SPI and I2C interfaces and support for up to 32 GPIO pins. See the announcement on the Astrobe forum for links to a full summary of What's New and information on how to obtain a copy: http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3 Regards, Chris Burrows CFB Software http://www.astrobe.com/RISC5

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Re (2): File comparison in V5.
by peter＠easthope.ca 06 Aug '19

06 Aug '19

From: Joerg <joerg.straube(a)iaeth.ch> Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2019 13:54:08 +0200 > The issue with diff as we know it from eg Unix is, that they expect > ASCII texts. ... and also that the differences are presented in sequence rather than in parallel. For me, the parallel presentation in Oberon is significant. > As Oberon texts are more than pure ASCII files. Often I move files from Linux to Oberon to allow use of Diff.Do. The extra step is justified (for me). Probably my preference is just a symptom of a reading disorder. Most professionals must rate diff as good as Diff.Do. > I have a draft version of diff working on ProjectOberon. No doubt it's a very useful tool. Regards, ... P. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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Re: [Oberon] Description of Experimental Oberon & etc.
by peter＠easthope.ca 06 Aug '19

06 Aug '19

From: Andreas Pirklbauer <andreas_pirklbauer(a)yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2019 08:05:40 +0200 > EO is a revision of FPGA Oberon, therefore it works wherever FPGA > Oberon runs, i.e. on the RISC processor as defined on > www.projectoberon.com. Thanks for the reply. The original entry in the table was for EO on an emulator; the De Wachter emulator. Now it refers to the RISC processor or the emulator. For every person with suitable hardware at hand, there must be 100 or 1000 individuals who might fire up an emulator. Therefore, seems best to include mention of the emulator case. Probably obvious to most readers here but the wikibook should help a naive student. > PS: EO does not modify the RISC processor, only the Oberon system ... Also a helpful statement. I've stolen your sentence almost unchanged into a footnote; currently [12]. If you have any objection, fire away. Use Cases > Educational Workstation (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon#Educational_Workstation) remains barren of content. I guess there are two possibilities to address. (1) Nobody is using Oberon as a workstation OS in an educational setting. If so, I should change or remove the heading. Can anyone cast light? (2) V5 is used in teaching about embedded systems. If so, the Use Cases section needs reorganizing. I don't know about any specific curricula. A URL for a favourite institution will help. Thanks! ... Lyle E. -- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca

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