[fpc-devel] MIPS

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Michael Schnell wrote:
> There even is a Linux for PIC32
> 
> http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=2519&param=en546018 
> 
> 
> No idea if this is really useful ?

Although despite my enthusiasm for Linux, for hardware like that I find 
myself asking /why/. I think there's a fairly clear demarcation between 
projects/products which really do need a multitasking OS with networking 
etc., and those that quite simply need to fiddle a few inputs and outputs.

The real problem is memory size: I remember a development job a few 
years ago that was basically well-specified and well-planned, but by the 
time the multitude of UI screens had been roughed out it was painfully 
obvious that it wouldn't fit in the targeted board's address space. Then 
it turned out that the compiler supported paging but that the linker 
offset the tables by one entry: I managed to fix the binaries but we 
/still/ ran out of space.

That experience is, in part, why these days I am more interested in 
native than cross compilation. If you can get the basic functionality of 
a project running on a "real" computer to the point where you can gauge 
its performance and requirements, you're then in a far stronger position 
to specify the target hardware.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]