Discussion
Thinking about the people's permacomputer project, as always.
Perhaps it is time to do a broader exploration of the different microcontrollers on offer today, instead of continuing down the AVR path without doing any further checks.
It is very important to the project that the hardware that it ends up developing for a BASIC computer is as inexpensive as possible.
Displays and keyboards are about as expensive as the MCU. This is a problem. Some sort of conspectus would be good at this stage.
@pho4cexa@tiny.tilde.website @dirtycommo@anticapitalist.party
The manufacturer describes them as intended for "single-task specialized applications in larger batches."
Furthermore, the links to the datasheets are no longer available(?).
https://wch-ic.com/products/productsCenter/mcuInterface?categoryId=94
On the other hand, the RISC-V CH32xx variants offer more memory, have no addressing limitations (32-bit), support not only USB device mode but also USB host mode (!), and the boards are sold in pairs on AliExpress 🤣
https://wch-ic.com/products/productsCenter/mcuInterface?categoryId=76
i have been thinking about the CH32s.
i have a CH32V103 on hand, if i recall correctly it has 20KB SRAM, which is plenty for my purpose -- perhaps this is the way forward?
have yet to do my proper conspectus/research, however.
what i am trying to build is as complete an all-in-one instant-on BASIC computer that i possibly can.
there is a sinking feeling in my gut that i may just have to use raspiberry pi zeros...
@dirtycommo@anticapitalist.party @pho4cexa@tiny.tilde.website
That’s entirely your decision :)
It’s just that there are certain aspects that go beyond the scope of the creative work with electronics that I enjoy so much—questions like: "Where are the factories located, and where is the headquarters? What will happen to the availability of these chips if Asia continues to drift further away from the West (in terms of everything from currency to markets)? How much has the parent company invested in #AI, and what will happen to the price of these chips if the stock markets take a downturn?"
Things along those lines 😜
@pho4cexa thank you!
Any hardware setup is on the cards right now, and the lowest amount of RAM that the kind of BASIC that the project deals with is 8 KB.
hackaday is an amazing resource, I have had an account on hackaday.io for quite some time now.
@dirtycommo i don't know if these 8051 core micros are still cheap or available but have you seen this article from 2019? https://hackaday.com/2019/02/17/how-to-program-a-really-cheap-microcontroller/
How To Program A Really Cheap Microcontroller