Embedded Systems 2006

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Scope: The EEE3074W Forums on Connect and regulations for using them.
 

EEE3074W Forums

There are at least five forums on the EEE3074W Connect website, they are described below. The regulations below attempt to specify what you can and can not post. If you manage to answer your own question, please do answer it using a follow-up posting to your own question. Please maintain the threads where possible (i.e. using the reply option to answer questions or follow-up issues on the same thread, and start a new thread if you are dealing with a new issue).

Forum Description
General General questions are posted here. This includes questions such as asking about issues mentioned in the lecture slides/notes, or in the textbook, and questions about the next test, and when marks are likely to be available.
Development Use this forum to ask questions about development issues, such as compiling modules, etc.
Linux This provides a local Q&A service for general Linux issues. There are of course many well-established public forums. I recommend using this forum as a first step to see if someone else has already encountered the same problem and solved it, and then use the the public forums to help in solving the problem if needed; of course it would be nice to post a solution to this forum once you solve the problem, provided it isn't a trivial issue.
Concepts Post initial concept ideas here. This will be discussed in more detail in class. This forum is also used to choose suitable ideas, and to decide teams.
Resource Updates Indicates each lecture, a brief (1 paragraph) outline of what the lecture was about, and includes links to associated resources and websites.

Regulations

The main guiding principle is a) don't give away answers to problems in practical assignments or problems; obviously you are meant to solve these things independently and are marked based on how you do so; b) do not do other peoples' work, but rather point out useful sites or methods used to solve generic problems; and c) use your own discretion in deciding what is suitable and not suitable to use.

You may not post your own detailed code solutions, or entire modules onto the forum. You may, however post a code snippet with an explanation of how it solves someone's problem. Please describe the context for a problem first, before launching into detail; this helps to impart an idea of what you're trying to do. In general, the questions should be specific and relevant to the hardware and software used within the problem context. Generally postings to the  Development and Linux forums should be: 1) useful nuggets of free information that you came across on the web can be posted; 2) HowTo questions; 3) answers to "acceptable" questions; and 4) follow-up postings.

The table below indicates examples of acceptable, marginal and non-acceptable questions and answers that can be posted to the forum.

Acceptable Comments
[Development Forum] I'm coding a device driver for a National Semiconductor DS3695 RS485/RS422 Transceiver/Repeater. You may find this example code useful if you are doing a similar task. The code is from <url>, but is used with QNX. (copy of the original example code module attached) I would call this a really useful posting. The student started by describing the context (the task and the hardware concerned), which was followed by a a reference to the original source of the example code; together with a warning that the code was originally developed for use with the QNX operating system, which may take some tweaking to make it work with uCLinux or MicroMonitor.
[Development Forum] Question  
[Development Forum] I want to flash an LED. This sequence of calls to access a peripheral does not work.
#include "PIV.h"
// ...
// Configure LED_USER0
// enable registers for PIO mode
AT91_SYS->PIOB_PER = LED_USER0;
// configure as output
AT91_SYS->PIOB_OER = LED_USER0;
// Turn off, and then on the LED
AT91_SYS->PIOB_SODR = LED_USER0;
pause(5000); // wait a moment
AT91_SYS->PIOB_CODR = LED_USER0;

 

The sequence of calls should be an extract of your C (or ASM) commands that you've used to set up and turn on and off the relevant bit (i.e. no timer code, although a call to pause as given below is fine to show that something happens between the time the is supposed to be turned off and then turned on).
[Development Forum] I have a problem with this Makefile; the following error message is shown. (Makefie attached) I consider Makefiles not be be an examinable thing; the ESAOA tools are supposed to take care of it for you, but if you encounter a problem, ask once you're tried to solve it yourself but unsuccessfully.
[Development Forum] I'm looking for a device driver for the UART, has anyone got one or can tell me where to find information about one? This is Ok if the prac/project is, but don't expect an answer; in fact, if you find a device
[Linux Forum] Installing Knoppix: How do I install Knoppix from a Live CD onto my PC's hard disk? This is a good Linux forum question. It is Ok to ask or answer virtually any Linux or GNU related issues provided it isn't giving away final answers to assignments.
[Linux Forum] I've found a really good C editor, it's available for download at ... This may be quite useful, but only bother posting if it really is a good editor, and is free for educational / non-profit use (depending licensing, the tool may be added to forge).
Marginal  
[Development Forum] Which address do you need to read/write to access a certain peripheral which is clearly given in the datasheet. Don't expect the lecturer to answer, as you should be able to look this up yourself in the datasheet. But it is OK to ask this if you're having a really difficulty time.
[Linux Forum] I'm wanting to backup my project. How do I use tar to make a tar.gz copy of a folder? You will probably get a response like try running "man tar".
Not Acceptable  
[Development Forum] How do I write a device driver? You have to figure this out yourself, based on the notes and example code. You cannot get someone else
[Development Forum] This algorithm of mine hangs when I try to run it (algorithm's source code attached) No, you cannot ask other's to debug your code.
[Linux Forum] How to I edit files on Linux? This is a bit too basic.
[Linux Forum] How do I recover files I deleted? You should take care of your own backups. Occasional backups of forge.ee are done by the system admin, but are really meant to recover from serious problems.

Asking or answering questions in assignments.

You are supposed to answer those questions yourself.


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