-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 3/28/2012 3:40 PM, Jan de Kruyf wrote: > On the down side: there is going to be some major hacking and > breaking, both in the parser (obviously) and also real-time motion > will not be the same at all after this surgery. On the up-side: al > our wishes will come true if and when this is pulled off.
I am new here as well, and am still digging into the code. I was going to hold off on asking this, but since the "crazy talk" has apparently started... :) I design FPGA systems for a living, and am looking at starting with a system based on the FPGA boards from Mesa. Review of their HDL code and the HAL manual, however looks shows the low-level stuff to be pretty simplistic. It looks like all the real complexity (including most of the timing critical bits) is handled by the main system CPU (or am I missing something?). Questions: 1) How separable are the real-time and non-real-time parts of the software? 2) How portable is the real-time code (ie: can it be compiled for Arm or PowerPC)? 3a) Is there any existing support for multiple independent processors (ie: multiple processor, but running multiple kernels vs. a single linux kernel running on multiple cores/chips)? 3b) What about separating the real-time and non-real-time code onto two different computers? Ideally, I would like to craft a multi-core machine, with (several) optimized real-time controllers instantiated in an FPGA along with the hardware required to interface to the servo drivers, encoders, etc. Modern FPGAs can instantiate multiple 32-bit CPUs, ideally something fully open (like the OpenRisc core from OpenCores), but just about anything is possible as a soft core (newer FPGAs are also available with hard PowerPC and Arm cores). Once I get something running, I will probably try to port the Mesa HDL to something I'm more familiar with (Altera PCIe based card), then I can start making some serious modifications. For now, I'm still just trying to wrap my head around the existing code. :) Who I am: I'm new here, but I've been designing real-time electronic systems for over 25 years, and am responsible for most of the custom hardware that goes into the NewTek TriCaster line of video editing gear: http://www.newtek.com/ My experience with CNC and motor control stems mostly from BattleBots (two lightweight rumble wins!) where I got to play with both! :) We're working on starting a Makerspace in my town, which I am helping with. Everyone (myself included) is interested in CNC, and I have a few old Bridgeport mills that are in need of new controllers (hence my interest in LinuxCNC). - -- Charles Steinkuehler char...@steinkuehler.net -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk902sgACgkQLywbqEHdNFzgmgCeIRr1oLOr5WYXHgpIsodT52hq aFEAoIbtCslhkVRpzzE6SM0mYd6ZbE8/ =slZ6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
