Ultibo core a bare metal environment for Raspberry Pi

[Ultibo]

For those wanting to use a more traditional desktop Linux version for development, in addition to the Raspbian instructions we also now have instructions for building the source on Debian.

Building on Debian (https://ultibo.org/wiki/Building_for_Debian)

[pik33]

Something is wrong with Ultibo internet page ultibo.org. Either it is down or I cannot acces it from Poland. Does somebody know what happened?

[DougieLawson]

It looks like that website has expired and has been suspended by the service provider. Someone needs to put another 50p in the meter.

[Ultibo]

The Ultibo.org website is currently experiencing service interruptions, the hosting company has informed us that the host has been the subject of a denial of service attack over the past several hours.

We are waiting for further information about the situation, in the meantime the following URLs may be helpful.

Ultibo GitHub - https://github.com/ultibohub
Ultibo core downloads - https://github.com/ultibohub/Core/releases

Ultibo Twitter - https://twitter.com/ultibolive
Ultibo Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ultibo

Apologies for any inconvenience.

UPDATE: The problem seems to be resolved and the website has been available without issues for most of the day.

[blippy]

Just came across this project today. Very interesting! This is probably the closest we're going to get to the feel of 80's computing. I managed to get a small program working. The feeling of control and low-level simplicity is appealing.

I used the version for Windows, but I would like to get it working in Linux. I wrote a blog post about Ultibo (https://mcturra2000.wordpress.com/2017/ ... spberrypi/), as it definitely deserves a mention for its sheer coolness factor.

Keep up the good work!

[Ultibo]

Thanks blippy!

I used the version for Windows, but I would like to get it working in Linux.

Just in case you didn't see it, we recently released an installer script for Linux that makes the process much simpler, you can find the details at https://ultibo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=887#p5593.

This is probably the closest we're going to get to the feel of 80's computing. I managed to get a small program working. The feeling of control and low-level simplicity is appealing.

While we understand the comparison with the simplicity of the 80's, our real aim is to create a 21st century platform that allows people to get creative without the necessity to start from scratch or to wrestle with the one size fits all approach of modern operating systems.

Thanks again.

[blippy]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Linux install. I wasn't aware of that. I am trying to transition away from Windows, so that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I have in mind a couple of projects:
* an accounts package. I already have written my own for Linux, a very simple affair. It would be interesting to see it translated to Ultibo to create a dedicated machine to do my accounts on.
* graphics are always fun to play with, and I'd like keen to to explore Ultibo's graphics libraries. It would be cool to be able to display Ultibo's logo on the screen.

I am completely new to Ultibo, but I have spotted a few resources that look like they'll provide me with the information I need.

Thanks for your response. Ultibo looks interesting indeed.

[blippy]

While we understand the comparison with the simplicity of the 80's, our real aim is to create a 21st century platform that allows people to get creative without the necessity to start from scratch or to wrestle with the one size fits all approach of modern operating systems.

I was reading an article on Wikipedia about Bell's Law:

Bell's law of computer classes[1] formulated by Gordon Bell in 1972[2] describes how types of computing systems (referred to as computer classes) form, evolve and may eventually die out. New classes create new applications resulting in new markets and new industries. ... A new class forms about every decade. It also takes up to a decade to understand how the class formed, evolved, and is likely to continue. Once formed, a lower priced class may evolve in performance to take over and disrupt an existing class.

This is what it feels like with the Raspberry Pi. Just like in the 80's, there were a plethora of manufacturers competing in this new class.

What we don't have at the moment is open hardware. I did hear of a board that had open hardware,but I forgot its name. It was more expensive, and more powerful than the RPi. I'm not suggesting that it will dominate. But I figure that if someone could release a board that was comparable to the RPi but whose hardware was open source, the floodgates would open.

I'm not a hardware guy, though, so I'm just talking through my hat.

These devices may also prompt us to re-examine the way that Operating Systems should be designed. Windows isn't viable on this platform (which is actually a blessing), and Unix-like systems are overblown for what is required.

This story has a long way to play out.

[Gavinmc42]

Hi blippy,

RISC-V is looking like a nice architecture, a nice openGPU to go with it would be nice.
There is a trend for GPU/NPU/VPU, ie hi speed multiple parallel VLIW acceleration cores.
Vision, neural network acceleration etc, one that could be multipurpose and even do video?

As Ultibo is based on Free Pascal, we might see Ultibo on RISC-V.
Ultibo sort of runs now on 3 CPUs and one QEMU.
The BCM2835,6,7 cpu's are different but the peripherals are the same.
The peripheral layer would need changing but probably a lot of that could come from Free Pascal and the embedded version?
https://ultibo.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 8&start=20

Ultibo 2.0 with the Videocore is lots of fun and I am still playing with just a few on it's capabilities.
The OpenVG is particularly easy as it does not even need a compiled C library file.
There is an extension that just plonks jpegs on screen, see example

[Gavinmc42]

Bluetooth and WiFi
That will be very interesting for the Zero W, all sorts of things become possible.
But most simple IoT things can be done with ESP8266 or Smart BLE modules etc
Going to make Zero W bots lots of fun

Lots to figure out how to ssl/ssh plus the Cypress chip's firmware gets loaded from a blob file.
The WiFi needs the crypto stuff to be sorted.
This is still basically a one person project spin of Laz/FPC with a few bug finders helping out.

But in the mean time lots of green stuff on the status page for me still to explore.

If you really need it now then serial BT module?

[Gavinmc42]

Cypress acquired the Broadcom RF chip range which led to more info becoming easier to get

Ditto the PSoC's, the 8pin 1 series make great universal i2c gadgets. the PSoC 28xxx has 4 Sigma Delta channels.
PSoC 4's are cheaper and faster and the BLE modules are great to play with.

I have yet to used the Wiced toolset for CYW43438 development.

Ultibo programming attached PSoC's are on my list of things to do one day
PSoC 6 going to be fun.
Embedded Free Pascal does already work on some Cortex M0/3/4 chips
OpenJTAG running on Ultibo, that would be nice

[pbreneman]

I've had a lot of fun the past few days learning how to use Ultibo the simple way (on a raspberry pi itself). https://ultibo.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 6035#p6035

[Ultibo]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update to let you know that along with detection of the new Pi 3B+ we have now added a USB driver to support the LAN7515 (LAN78XX) chip as well.

That means that all Ultibo core features now work with the latest Pi 3B+ as well.

Cheers and enjoy!

[Gavinmc42]

And for jcyr,
Bluetooth LE is at prelim alpha testing and what to do with it stage