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Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth

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On 2/10/2015 5:22 PM, visualforth@rocketmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 5:03:04 PM UTC-5, rickman wrote:
>> On 2/10/2015 4:47 PM, visualforth.com wrote:
>>> On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 1:36:08 PM UTC-5, rickman wrote:
>>>> On 2/9/2015 11:00 PM, James Bowman wrote:
>>>>> On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 10:59:40 AM UTC+8, rickman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Is this part basically what was called a video controller many years
>>>>>> ago?  The only graphics feature I see mention of in the web page for the
>>>>>> FT800 is "widgets".  Is this otherwise just a device to manage the
>>>>>> memory interface and control the display timing?  Not counting the touch
>>>>>> screen and audio interfaces of course.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not trying to criticize, just trying to get a better feel for the device.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The FT800 does handle the display and memory of course. But it also supports graphics drawing - points, lines, rectangles, bitmaps - and supports some higher-level operations like drawing widgets, loading JPEGs.
>>>>>
>>>>> It frees up the MCU from having to deal with pixels at all. The driver (in Forth or C) is really just sending these high-level commands to the FT800.
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I finally looked at the data sheet.  Pretty cool for some low
>>>> level devices.  But I wonder how it compares to something like the rPi
>>>> or BeagleBone?  What was your application that you liked this better
>>>> than a higher end CPU with GPU internal?
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Rick
>>>
>>> The FT800 is just the right display for microcontrollers running Forth:
>>> There is no need for dual memory access, no need to address memory with address- and data-lines anyway. The color LCD and all the hardware to control the color LCD is on the FT800 board. It's the work of a genius!
>>>
>>> Just simply connect the three SPI wires (DI, DO, CLK) which nearly every microcontroller has, plus GND and power supply.
>>>
>>> Connect the FT800 board to your microcontroller with James' Forth tool, and start doing graphics the easy way - the Forth way!
>>>
>>> I have such a board in my drawer since over a year and now I have the chance to get it running - my plan is to get it work with 4e4th and the 4E4th-IDE.
>>> Thanks, James! I had so much other work to do, and I am really happy that James got this task finished.
>>>
>>> James did a presentation on one of the recent SVFIG meetings in Stanford.
>>
>> I'm not sure I follow.  The FT800 is a chip that has to be added to an
>> MCU to provide RGB video with Hsync and Vsync along with mono audio and
>> a touch screen interface.  I think none of these interfaces will connect
>> directly to a video device without more circuitry.   Once you are
>> talking about a board level product I would think there are lots of
>> other options.  That is what I was asking about.  Rather than use
>> something like a separate MCU and graphics controller, why not use
>> something like the rPi where it is all more integrated?  I see the
>> "ConnectEVE" for $69 which is twice what you will pay for the rPi and
>> you still need to add the MCU board.  I suppose the rPi or Beagle Bone
>> don't include a touch screen interface, but that can be added very
>> easily if required.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rick
>
> Of course I was writing about the complete board with display, sorry for the confusion.
>
> What I mean is that it is the idea of a genius to have a chip with only a few lines to control a display and a few lines to control this chip.
>
> In former times you needed a lot of address- and data-lines to connect to a display-controller, which is now obsolete with the FT800.
>
> I was waiting for this simple solution for decades.
> Because this solution is so simple, it is Forth-like: as simple as possible, but not simpler!

Yes, I understand.  But isn't it even simpler to have the graphics 
capability built in to the CPU?  Take a look at the Beagle Bone Black. 
There are add on cards for that which provide the flat screen, etc, 
making use of the capabilities built into the CPU chip.

I guess I just don't see anything magical about the FT800.  It's not 
really simple, there are still driver electronics needed to control an 
LCD.  It's a bit obsolete really.  I recall a few months ago someone was 
posting about a floating point chip that could be added to CPU/MCUs with 
some simple interface.  Similarly there are tons of CPU/MCU chips 
available that support floating point without an add on.  So this sort 
of floating point chip is also pretty obsolete.

I suppose if you had an existing system with a code base and you needed 
to add graphics but didn't want to update the CPU this chip might have 
some advantage.  Otherwise, why not just pick the right CPU for the job?

-- 

Rick

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FT800 bindings in ANS Forth James Bowman <bowmanator@gmail.com> - 2015-02-09 17:43 -0800
  Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-09 21:59 -0500
    Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth James Bowman <bowmanator@gmail.com> - 2015-02-09 20:00 -0800
      Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-10 13:36 -0500
        Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2015-02-10 13:47 -0800
          Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-10 17:03 -0500
            Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2015-02-10 14:22 -0800
              Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-10 21:34 -0500
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth Raimond Dragomir <raimond.dragomir@gmail.com> - 2015-02-11 01:07 -0800
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-11 11:26 -0500
              Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2015-02-10 19:44 -0800
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2015-02-10 22:29 -0800
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-11 11:29 -0500
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2015-02-11 11:19 -0800
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-02-12 03:28 -0500
                Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2015-02-11 21:34 -0800
  Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth Matthias Koch <matthias.koch@hot.uni-hannover.de> - 2015-02-16 12:07 +0100
    Re: FT800 bindings in ANS Forth Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2015-02-16 03:12 -0800

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