Hi Tomek, Ugh, so full automation is not really possible without that boot > button interaction? Didn't rPI consider UART control lines to drive > boot input just as ESP32 chips does so esptool can reset and switch to > bootrom on its own? :-)
Oh, actually it is! PlatformIO has some tools that open and closes the ACM-CDC usb serial on a specific baudrate, which magically puts the pico in bootloader. So it is possible. I dont know the details. About the H7 boards, The STM32H743x are compatible with STM32H753x, just missing a few peripherals, such as crypto. It should also have a second tiny core, but I have never touched it. I confirmed this by copying the H743x boards 1:1 to STM32H753x. Basically just renaming it. So from what i know the H753x are the ones with all of the peripherals. However, I don't know all of ST's product line from my head. So please double check. Also great point about the power consumption of the hardware farm. Makes sense. It is also entirely possible to put the thin client asleep which draws very little current. Something with wake up on lan. But i think the SBCs are way better overall. Thanks Best, Kevin Op za 26 apr 2025 om 22:24 schreef Tomek CEDRO <to...@cedro.info>: > On Sat, Apr 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM Kevin Witteveen <kevinwit1...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Hi Tomek, > > Thank you for your amazing response. Very detailed! > > I am happy to hear that this issue is being taken seriously and that > NuttX > > is very aware of what is happening. > > Yes, this is especially important issue for SME and one-man-army > folks, just like me and you and many other folks here, who directly > feels the pain of additional maintenance costs and trust gained or > lost :-) > > > > --- My test farm idea --- > > NXDART sounds very interesting! I always wanted to see an automatic > > hardware test farm. I guess it is way more complicated than it sounds. > > I was thinking of using a super cheap second hand thin client. These are > > cheaper and faster than raspberry pis. I got one for 15 euro, it does not > > run games or crysis, but it works fine. > > Then combine it with a huge USB hub or make a huge USB switching board. > But > > I am sure you can pull this off with one usb port, a script, one man > > and coffee. > > Yes, start small, with what you have, and only what you need, that > should give fastest results :-) > > I am using modern laptop that consumes ~20W of power peak and ~6W > idle, rPi0 takes ~5W peak and ~1W idle. But my desktop and build > server takes 175W idle and ~300W peak. This is important when machine > is about to run 24/7 and build times are not that important (i.e. 20s > vs 400s). > > > > --- Cheap STM32H7 --- > > The H7 is kinda top of the line so far I know. > > I have heard the F7 is compatible "enough". It has some of its code > copied > > to the H7 in NuttX. > > H7s are usually available around 25 euro. So not expensive, not cheap. > > Yes I have STM32F769I-DISCO board, but in order to have reliable tests > for H7 which one can you recommend? Is there one with all possible > peripherals in one chip or all of them have different exclusive > peripherals? > > NUCLEO-H755ZI-Q ~38EUR > NUCLEO-H753ZI ~46EUR > NUCLEO-H723ZG ~38EUR > NUCLEO-H7A3ZI-Q ~38EUR > > In the currently supported boards I can see: > > stm32h747i-disco ~150EUR > stm32h745i-disco ~140EUR > nucleo-h745zi (obsoleted by nucleo-h755zi-q) > stm32h750b-dk ~$87 > linum-stm32h753b ~$28 <- NUCLEO-H753ZI > nucleo-h743zi (obsolete) > openh743i ~$70 > nucleo-h743zi2 (obsoleted by NUCLEO-H753ZI) > > > > --- PR reviews --- > > I don't mind reviewing some PRs here and there. I'm absolutely not a > NuttX > > kernel expert, but I do know some things about drivers and care a lot > about > > pretty APIs and future proofing. > > I'll keep an eye out on these. > > Thank you! Please keep an eye especially in subjects / boards / MCUs > that may affect you. If you can also test and review other PRs that > would be great! :-) > > The best way would be to setup your own automated local build and test > farm that works on real world hardware that you care most. > > > --- Pico USB --- > > The Pico does not require you to drag and drop your UF2 binaries. > > In case your USB works; you can use the "picotool" from Raspberry pi. > This > > is a command line tool like "esptool". > > This does require you to hold down the boot button of your raspberry pi > > pico before powering it. That way you enter the bootloader and now > picotool > > works. > > (Assuming your USB drivers work). > > > > An alternative and usually preferred by me is using the "Pico Debug > Probe", > > it is a little UART and debugger by raspberry pi. It's a standard > debugger > > (CMSIS-DAP). > > Connect this correctly to your pico and follow some guides on how to make > > it work. It is less easy, but allows you to debug later on as well. > > Absolutely worth it. > > Ugh, so full automation is not really possible without that boot > button interaction? Didn't rPI consider UART control lines to drive > boot input just as ESP32 chips does so esptool can reset and switch to > bootrom on its own? :-) > > Another board is cool for playing with the board on its own, but when > you have 32 ports / boards, adding debug probe for one board means > removing another board to be tested.. also that may cause problems > with usb iteration and identification etc. > > I am looking for a single board-single usb connection and full > automation as the ultimate scenario no manual interaction required :-) > If you could find a way to do this we could update make flash so full > automation is possible on this target :-) > > Thank you! :-) > Tomek > > -- > CeDeROM, SQ7MHZ, http://www.tomek.cedro.info >
