Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #04666



To: beam beam@corp.sgi.com
From: "Ben Hitchcock" ben@wollongong.apana.org.au
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 21:26:01 +0000
Subject: [alt-beam] Non-beam: a Mac AVR programmer


To all mac users:

I have been starting to get into microprocessors, and recently bought a
couple of them. Unfortunately, there was no way possible to program them on
my iMac, even running a plethora of PC programs under RealPC.

So, I got the source code for one of those PC programs, and ported it over
to the mac.

If anyone's interested in getting into AT90S1200's (A pretty cool uP with
internal EEPROM so your robot can 'remember' where walls are when the power
cuts out) then check out

http://wollongong.apana.org.au/~ben/macavrpa/macavrpa.html

I don't really think that using a microprocessor is non-beam. For example,
I could program the chip to have 3 virtual inverters, 2 AND gates, and 1
NAND gate on it - it sure cuts down on on the chip count. The AT90S1200 has
20 pins in the same size package as we're all used to - it looks like a
longer version of a 74HC245. And to get it to run, you need a power supply,
a crystal, and two caps. That's it!

I'm starting to think that using a microprocessor doesn't have to be
non-BEAM because it's the mindset, not the method, that makes BEAM so
successful. For example, if you program the robot to use a couple of
different 'rules' that operate in parallel (Such as the light seeking except
when a touch sensor is triggered) instead of the traditional uP serial
instructions (go forward, if you hit a wall then reverse, then turn, then go
forward again). You might even have a uP 'brain' that tells the BEAM body
what it would like to see happen, but the BEAM body could override the uP
when it needed to. Just an idea.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let people know about it. I know all too well
about the multitudes of PC software out there for electronics, and the vast
chasm where the mac equivalents should be. Perhaps if enough of us start
doing things like this, we might be able to start to fill that void.

Ben Hitchcock

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