Tag Archives: Thoughts

Touch the Screen: Apes with Apps

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I have received a new touchscreen, and all what I want to do with it in the next weeks is to get it up and running with one of my Tower modules. Touchscreens are such a great thing, not only because of Apple, iPad and all the other tablet providers. It is such a great and intuitive way to communicate with machines. And here is a great article I got forwarded at the University right on that subject:

Apes with Apps: IEEE Spectrum Article

Apes with Apps: IEEE Spectrum Article

Apes with Apps is about how Apes (Bonobos, to be exact) are great communicators with tablets and touch screens. Worth reading.

Happy Touching 🙂

The Making Of RTOS Processor Expert Components

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OK, I think this topic is a very special one, and probably not of interest of many folks out there. Or how many want to create a Processor Expert Plugin for an RTOS? Well, I did this. And I think that topic might be very controversial too, especially for all the RTOS vendors out there :-). The thoughts expressed here about creating Processor Expert components do not only apply for an RTOS, but as well for any other ‘complex’ software or stack. So if you are interested about the ‘behind the scenes’ of creating Processor Expert components, especially in the context of an RTOS, then read on ;-).

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Traps&Pitfalls: Overlapping Interrupt Priorities

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It happens to me that I run into a really, really nasty problem. I spend hours (if not weeks) to get it resolved. Strong coffee and the problem keeps me up at long nights. I think every embedded system engineer knows what I’m talking about. Yeah, most of the time it is my fault or an oversight. But once in a while I’m convinced that I have found a real bug. Then I report it back to the vendor to fix it. I hope my report will prevent another engineers to run into the same problem. Or that I learn something else as a by-product. Oh yes….

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USB or not: CDC with Processor Expert

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I had a PREN student showing up into my office. He wanted to choose a microcontroller for that project. One requirement put on the table was “it needs USB”. Well, I asked why USB is required. I was not surprised by the answer: “to use USB instead of RS-232”. Wow. So what he really wanted was USB CDC (Communication Device Class). Yep. Most notebooks today have no serial COM port (see “Processor Expert Configurations“). But because “USB is serial” does not mean “USB CDC is simple”. Nope. USB is not simple. But it can be with Processor Expert.

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