Re: Tiva + Ada

["Rego, P." <pvrego@gmail.com>]

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 8:58:51 AM UTC-3, Brian Drummond wrote:
> TAMP is probably the best starting point.

When I got Tiva I actually expected that I could use a more plug-and-code full Ada builder, but TAMP looks to be a very good starting point. Better that the documentation is very organized, so I have the feeling that it will not be difficult to begin with. 

The only problem (not major) is that it is intended for ZFP only. For using my Arduinos (which avr-elf-windows from Adacore is also ZFP) I had to implement several clock/scheduling routines, and I bricked some boards mixing up some fuses to make debug to run, and it delayed a bit the application development. And it would be very good if could use tasking and secondary stack. Fortunately Tiva has ready-to-use debug, so at least half of the problems I think I will not have with it.

> I am currently re-visiting the MSP430-Ada project now that gcc4.9 has 
> official support for the msp430.
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/msp430ada/
> (hasn't been updated to reflect gcc4.9 yet...)

Great.

> But I also have interest in the ARM-Cortex (and what I learn on the MSP430 
> will largely transfer) : I have a couple of TI Launchpads (Stellaris, the 
> precursor to Tiva ... I'm a little behind!) and a Hercules RM42x.

Some days ago I began a github project for using Raspiberry Pi (ARM11) devices with Ada by mapping the BCM2835 chip, but it's still in the very beginning. But RPi does not expose all the pins that I would need. But Tiva does not have Ada ready-to-use, things could be a bit easier, right?

> The latter is especially interesting as an Ada target : it's a dual-
> processor ARM Cortex operating in lockstep, aimed at high reliability 
> applications, on a devboard costing under £15.
> 
> http://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/launchxl-rm42/rm42-hercules-
> launchpad-dev-board/dp/2341348
> 
> There are 2 versions : the RM42 aimed at industrial/medical applications 
> and an almost identical one tweaked for automotive applications
> http://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/launchxl-tms57004/tms57004-
> hercules-launchpad-dev/dp/2341346

The cost of them is really very attractive. 

> And TI expect you to program this high integrity dual-processor platform 
> in ... what?

That's the point. In C? For God... Ok, no problem with C. TI has a very good development studio in C based on Eclipse with several good tools and integrated with the debug API. But I think I could extract the best of the board with Ada if it were available.

Maybe if GNAT GPL would include the ARM cross-compiler, it would be good too (even with ZFP).

> Incidentally I can find several small runtimes (offering the Ravenscar 
> profile) that may be worth adapting to the ARM (or are already targetted 
> to it) but so far they all seem to be pure GPL, with no GMGPL (or GPLv3
> +runtime exception) ... does anyone know otherwise?
> ORK : http://www.dit.upm.es/~ork/index.html/
> AVR32 (not ARM) : https://github.com/gregerts/GNATforAVR32
> ARM-Ada : https://sourceforge.net/projects/arm-ada/
> As this last already targets the ARM it may be the best starting point.

Interesting.

Regards,
Rego.