SignalWAVe interface problem

Problem: Cannot connect / communicate from Host PC to SignalWAVe DSP/FPGA board through Ethernet port.

Solution:
1) Check subnet mask to be match between both port.
in my case, the subnet in the board was set to 255.255.0.0
i set the subnet for PC as 255.255.255.0 (standard setting)

how to check what is the IP and subnet mask for the board?
i) open SMShell (Application/Program/Lyrtech/SMShell)
ii) make a connection using parallel port from PC to the board.
iii) type smdetect and enter
iv) type ip 
this command will list down the current ip address for the board

iv) type submask
this will list down the current subnet address

2) Ethernet port IP address for host PC should be set to a higher number than the rest of boards IP address.
e.g. the board IP address 195.168.0.20
PC IP address should be at least 195.168.0.21




since the boards can be connected in 2 ways, 1 using ethernet and another is using the parallel (rs232).
while troubleshooting the communication problem using ethernet i tried to run a program using parallel port. my goodness... since the baud rate is 9600 only.. the program was sooooooo slow.. and hanged.
thats why been trying my best to troubleshoot it.
the supplier advice me to disable firewall in an attempt to eliminate cause of problem.
today is my 2nd day troubleshooting..alhamdulillah... finally manage to solve it.
now need to move to programming part.
i just realise that we were only taught halfway on using the board. up to hardware co-simulation. nothing on transferring the program into the dsp or fpga.
now need to do some more reading.

Bit n Byte

ho ho

today i went to my in-law house and stumble on Harian Metro, Wednesday, 4th June 2008.

what caught my attention is the 'soal jawab IT' section.

Q: Beza di antara bit dan bait

(click on the Q for link to harian metro)

Saya ingin bertanya me ngenai maksud sebenar isti lah perkomputeran bit dan bait serta apakah perbeza annya.

the answer given: Komputer menggunakan format binari atau berasas kan dua nombor. Semuanya menggunakan digit binari sama ada 0 atau 1.

Satu bait mengandungi 1024 bit. Biasanya bait digu nakan untuk mengukur ka pasiti storan, misalnya cake ra keras atau saiz memori RAM.

Bit pula biasa digunakan untuk mengukur kadar pe mindahan, misalnya kelaju an bagi talian ADSL – 1 me gabit sesaat (1mbps)

i was like. hmmmm. since when 1 byte = 1024bit??????

its basic engineering. come on engineers out there. what is 1 byte???

you can wiki it if you like.

the simple answer is

1 byte = 8 bit

i think the writer got confused with this

1kilobyte = 1024bit 

or by IEEE definition, 1kikibyte = 1024bit

:)

Code Composer Studio error - Part 2

continuation from previous post.

The error: Code Composer studio environment not set

so to double check on system functionality, go to command prompt and type

cl6x
the outcome:

the what to do? uish...
still in command prompt, type:

c:\CCStudio_v.3.3\dosrun

this will generate system path for CCS


click edit>select all>copy

paste into notepad, need to make sure that the wording for path is in single line, e.g

C:\CCStudio_v3.3>SET BSL6713_DIR=C:\CCStudio_v3.3\c6000\dsk6713\lib

open Windows Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables > System Variables

click then copy and paste the path. e.g

Variable Name: BSL6713_DIR
Variable Value: C:\CCStudio_v3.3\c6000\dsk6713\lib

note: have to create new, copy and paste all the path available that have this
C:\CCStudio_v3.3>SET *******

after finish, click OK and reboot PC

after rebooting, open command prompt again and type cl6x

wallaaaaaaaaaaaa

ok already.

but my job is not settled yet. have to continue installing other software. hu hu

TI Code Composer

am stuck in the office as i have to standby receiving lots of phone calls. Was suppose to be debugging path for TI Code Composer Studio. Rather than doing nothing might as well i write something on debugging thing. The problem?

(click for larger picture)

i've sent this error message to my supplier and was informed that there are some error in path variables. then he emailed me the instruction on how to debug.

(click for larger picture)

i've spent around 15 minutes to understand the instruction. with some interruption with lots of phone calls of course. cannot concentrate. haiyoooh.

when i finally got a hang on how to tackel it, the supplier for Matlab arrived. eeeeeeeeeek. tension. very tension. highly preasured. so the debugging thing have to postpone as need to concentrate on Matlab installation.

After 1/2 hour of briefing on what his going to do in setting up server that i requested, i went back to debugging thing. need to go through each line of path. then found 1 path missing. grrrrrr. by that time Matlab guy already finished installation (with the help of my TA of course). then when i tried to test whether my debugging working or not we found out that there are some IP conflict. The PC i'm currently working on cannot pull license from the newly created server as its not within the same switching group. damn it! not his fault though. the fault is ours.

was planning to come back to the lab after the long lunch hour (its Friday..remember :) ). but then i just realised that I have to standby receiving phone calls in the office. aaaaaaaaaaaaa... when am i going to settle the digital com lab problem. tension la ini macam :(

Sundance Software Design Radio

The 4 MIMO board without its casing

Kisah training selama 2 hari.

Aaaaaaaaa. tak sukanya pegi training yang ni. sebab apa? sebab it consist of C++ programming. ambikkkkkkkkkk. benda yang paling di benci dalam hidup. tapi masa study dulu tak suka C programming, sebab kami tak belajar C++. what the heck, similar la tu C++ ngan C. beza tang cara nak tulis coding sikit2 je.

Ok. About the training.

The training is on Sundance DSP n FPGA Software Design Radio board. complicated gila. We purchase 2 type of boards, standard board which will be used for Undergraduate teaching lab and 4 MIMO board which cater for research.Haa, apa lagi. sesapa yang involve in research and you need to utilise this kind of board, you can come to IIUM, but you need to pay some fees la. err.. we have another board which carry different brand you know. I'll tell you about it later. Now lets concentrate on Sundance board.

To program the DSP, you can either use Code Composer or Sundance software which work much better in programming their board. Its called Diamond. According to them, Diamond capable to handle multi-processor boards, it can do debugging for multi-processor. Using this software, we can create a lot of task within one project. Nak senang cerita. Kalau 1 project tu besar gila, kita boleh assign different engineer for each task. Yang complicated masa awal2 cuma nak get used to linking these tasks together. kena tambah dalam 2-3 line of coding je dalam C++ tu.

JEEEE? ehehehehhe. cam terer je. padahal time org tu mengajar, satu2 line dia kena explain the flow of program. huhuhu. malu gila! dah la org tu is Managing Director company tu. Kalau nak kenen2 mintak keje dengan company dia (in future la, macam la kita nak pon sebab tak suka programming nih), for sure awal2 lagi dia reject. ha ha ha.

Masa awal2 en. pengajar tu cakap software tu kena program pakai C++. jam tu jugak rasa nak pitam la, nak muntah la. macam2 perasaan ada. 8 tahun wooooooooo tinggal terus bende alah ni. Then during training dia mula bercerita on STACK, THREADS, SEMAPHORES, VOLATILE. I was like whaaaaaaaaaat? jam jam tu jugak nak muntah darah. The only thing i can remember is printf, muahahahaha. pastu ingat la jugak word ARRAY, tapi nak buat tak tau :D.

2nd day ok sikit. sebab the training focused more on the hardware part. aaaa, yang tu interesting la.

Hari ni ada lagi sikit2 nak kena settle on software installation for all PCs in the lab. banyak keje nih. dah 2 hari tak buat apa sebab training punya pasal.