hi peeps
ok - my idea was to stop using my main computer to program my picaxe and instead link it up to my raspberry pi.
The theory was i would have via a usb hub the download cable leading to an 08 proto board so i could program the picaxe and then via connection of the relevant pins and the flick of a switch i could then have the picaxe, raspberry and whatever else was being linked in all chatting to each other. seems a pretty obvious setup if your just starting out learning about this kind of thing.
The fact that i'm utterly clueless about how i would get them to chat (yet) turned out not to be the main problem - from what i can gather by googling (and by loading the program) the raspberry is incapable of running the linux based AXEpad programming editor thus stopping me in my tracks before i even got started. (someone mentioned its because the raspberry's main chip is not powerfull enough to run the more complex programs)
so my question is - does anyone know of any simpler programs i could use to program the picaxe and once i get past that problem what is the best program to use to get the two to chat to each other?
I'm using picaxe 08M2 microcontrollers, a raspberry pi model B with raspian "wheezy" OS and the absolute minimum experience of electronics to get me through this.
thanks
dominic
erm…
thanks peeps
some interesting directions to look in - must admit i’m a little less optimistic about my little project (especially after 6677’s rather door slamming point) but i knew i could count on you guys for a straght answer that didnt involve the word google.
dom
and so it continues…
Hi
Ok – two questions
so - I just expanded my raspberry’s SD cards size from 2GB to about 14GB by booting Gparted from disk on my pc and resizing the partition from there and it got me wondering – is there a GUI based method of program insertion I could use with the Rpi which would allow me to set up my basics before I have to start learning the whole terminal programming system – and if so – how exactly do I put this program in the Rpi in the first place? I know there are a bunch of downloading programs out there but i’m looking more for something that I can carry the un-expanded version over and then get it working via this gui gadget (my raspberry isnt going to be net connected as its primary role will be the primary brain of an autonomic robot)
second question
I havent had a chance to test the alternative to the picaxe programming editor / axepad yet (as you can probably tell by the first question) but another thing occurred to me – pbasic (the picaxe language) as much as I like its starter simplicity is pretty much a stand alone animal and incompatible with anything else – Python is the chosen language of the raspberry – C++ is the most common language ive heard in my travels (and also compatible with the arduino) and PERL is the first language I looked at when I first started this dive toward madness…
My biggest mistake is generally trying to learn too many things all at once – I need to focus more – so I was wondering about a core language – is it possible to convert from one to another (given that I know there are certain variables which dont exist in different languages and may create problems).
Eg – could I program a picaxe using python?
Whats you chosen language for an absolute beginner to start on and how compatible is it? (and how relevant to robot building rather than creating mass databases)
I know its a long read (and also on all 3 forums [picaxe, raspberry and LMR]– its not an act of disrespect – just a chance to get answers from the most relevant directions) but I really hope you pro’s will be able to help me out or at least guide me in a decent direction
Thanks peeps
Dominic
Second question:
It may seem that Pbasic is an odd duckling, but that is definitely not true. It looks that way because no serious Basic dialect has been ported to the ARM architecture yet and to be honest: I think Basic as a language missed the boat as an easy to learn all purpose language. Python reigns supreme now, too bad really.
Should you learn Basic beyond Picaxe as a beginner? The answer is not really… A few years ago I would have said yes with capital letters, for the simple reason that Basic is easy, fast, powerful and virtually all serious Basic dialects are compilers while Python is an interpreter thus slower. With the massive support Python has, it’s the obvious choice for someone who wants to learn programming especially if you want to learn to program a PI.
Can you program a microcontroller in Python? No, at least not yet and if it will ever happen it will be like the Picaxe or Arduino,(Arduino looks like C++, but isn’t C++.) easy to program, but slower than C or Assembly.
If you want to learn a single language to program both microcontrollers and the PI then there are only two choices C and Assembly. C is a bitch to learn and Assembly is for masochists, as a hobbyist there is absolutely no reason to learn Assembly.
I will try answering. No promises on the veracity of my answers.
I don’t believe there is a program that will install software on your SD card before you insert it into your RPi. Picking up the few “arcane” incantations to install software on your RPi isn’t that bad. Plus, adafruit likely has a tut for installing the software you want.
Programming a PICAXE with anything but PICAXE BASIC isn’t going to happen. Programming PICs with jal is a possibility, but, it is one more language to learn. C is probably the most cross platform language you will find.