TF Services I2C drivers

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Dave
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TF Services I2C drivers

Post by Dave »

In all the strange places to find something exists, I found specific references to QL I2C drivers in the I2C wiki. Further googling has turned up no further info.

I have no desire to disturb Tony's nap; does anyone have any documentation on these drivers? Are they a part of TKII or are they discrete drivers? Where might one obtain them?


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tofro
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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by tofro »

Dave,

they're part of Minerva MKII which supplied the I²C hardware.

You should be able to find software support here:
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/qlrom/index.html

(See "Minerva Utilities")

Note these drivers and tools would talk to the keyboard co-pro, thus maybe not so useful for stand-alone hardware.

Tobias


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Dave
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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by Dave »

Thanks Tobias.

While it may look like a dead end, it may provide the thread for a spark of an idea.

There are now at least three different people struggling with serial/SPI/I2C - maybe we should all come together and unify around a common solution so we have something standardized between us and a single development cycle - especially for the driver.

I'm looking at the QL-SD, which Peter kindly released, and which has an evolved SPI system that presents to Alain Haoui's QubATA driver as being QubIDE-like. Maybe we should just use that and work on a plain SPI driver? This would provide a cheap, compact and low development overhead system for all QLs and compatibles. It's also well tested hardware at this point. I have emailed Peter asking if the implementation of SPI on the Q68 is the same as in the QL-SD CPLD. If it is, it should be quite easy to standardize around the Q68 in terms of IO/internal addresses.

The only catch is the lack of detailed documentation, which does tend to hold things back. I have emailed Peter and asked if he could expand on the SPI port in the Q68, preferably here so the information is shared. It could also be added to the manual. He is quite busy though, so we do not know if or when he might find time to expand on the manual's contents.


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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by FrancoisLanciault »

Hi Dave,

I have a Minerva mk2 on my goldcard QL and have been using the I2C on a couple of projects. So if you have any question, let me know.

François


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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I doubt Tony will have the source code to the Minerva MkII
I2C code.

I have used Minnie MkII in the padt, I usually diassemble every software I have. I will see if I have the Minerva I2C diassembley file.

Maybe the software could be adapted for the Q68.


Regards,

Derek
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Dave
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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by Dave »

It would be nice if it could be. It would be nice if we could have a cheap PLD do just this service and provide it quickly and flexibly to all the other QL platforms besides the Q68.

Also, with a parallel to serial shifter built in, so we don't have to bit bang ;)


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Pr0f
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Re: TF Services I2C drivers

Post by Pr0f »

There is the option of using an i2c bus interface driver - such as Philips PCF8584.

I was looking at the Minerva source files - and trying to understand the method used to drive the I2C interface - only 2 pieces of code need to be changed to use the above chip instead of the GAL used on the original MKII board. I can't remember if the SuperBasic drivers were on a supporting floppy or not, but I would hope these reference the vector(s) in the ROM code.


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