In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 420, Issue 10, Message: 17 On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:54:27 -0600 Modulok <modu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry for the off-topic post. There are a lot of technically adept people on > this list, so I thought I'd try my luck here: On recent volcanic form, this scarcely measures on the OT scale :) > I want to get started programming for hardware. Motors, sensors, actuators, > etc. > I have a programming background, (python, PHP, C++) but no experience with > code > that drives hardware. (Motors, sensors, etc.) > > I *don't* want closed-source "kit robots" where the point is to build the > robot > the book and thats it. I also don't want ladder logic-based PMC's. Some kind > of > micro-controller that runs a *nix flavor (or a BSD flavor!) would be great! > (If > that's what I need.) Basically, I want to do stuff like "if input1() is True > then apply_voltage_on_output3()", etc. Build my own traffic light, coffee > maker, mars rover, automatic-plant waterer, whatever. Sure. Fun and potentially profitable stuff. Wish I had a spare life .. > What do you call this? Embedded programming? Generic hardware programming? > Robotics programming? Are there prefabricated, standard embedded boards and > hardware specs that play together like PC parts do? In short, I don't even > know > where to start. Try browsing from http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-embedded/ to see if that's of interest. Getting FreeBSD up on various embedded platforms is the focus there, but I've seen robotics references too. I see also, but haven't explored these (both look moderately busy): http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-arm/ http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-mips/ > Even general pointers to books/websites would be great. Once I know what it's > called I can google much more effectively ;) I think once you find a platform you're interested in, you'll google up a perhaps bewildering array of support websites and forums, with books to suit. For me it's about the processor instruction set and hardware functionality, but I gather you're looking for higher level language implementations, so you'll want to sniff and taste a few. I thought I saw something somewhere (maybe just wishful thinking) about FreeBSD on the Arduino, which normally runs a sort of embedded Linux, that could be very interesting; the hardware is cheap (kits at Jaycar stores in Australia anyway), very modular design, and there are heaps of fascinating projects. I want the quadricopter to follow me around the room at parties - at my age I need something really impressive :) On the FreeBSD side there's advanced work, I gather, on ARM and Atmel MEGA 32-bit and MIPS platforms at least. Personally I consider these 'big iron' and far prefer writing in macro assembler for little Atmel Tiny25s and such, but that's strictly "Look Ma, no OS!" programming. cheers, Ian _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
