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#apertus IRC Channel Logs

2025/04/28

Timezone: UTC


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16:01
se6astian
MEETING TIME!
16:01
se6astian
who is here?
16:01
Bertl
is here ...
16:01
BAndiT1983
is here
16:01
se6astian
wonderful! who has news to share?
16:02
Bertl
raises hand ...
16:02
se6astian
hurray! I am very curious!
16:03
Bertl
well, I finally got around doing a test setup with the RP2040 and our ILI based display
16:03
se6astian
superb!
16:03
Bertl
to check out what performance we can expect with a 4-wire SPI connection versus a parallel connection to the display
16:04
Bertl
the results are quite interesting ...
16:04
Bertl
I also used the opportunity to get a feel for the PIO state machines in the RP2
16:05
Bertl
so, the main points are basically:
16:06
Bertl
with the 4-wire SPI, according to the datasheet, we should be limited to 10MHz clock, which allows for roughly 8-9 full frame updates per second
16:06
Bertl
that's not much to work with, especially not for smooth transitions or similar without hardware scroll support or so
16:07
Bertl
but I also tested with higher SPI clock rates, as similar controller as the ILI9341, specifically the ST7789 support clock rates up to 60MHz
16:08
Bertl
and to my surprise, that worked quite well, even at 62.5 MHz which is what the RP2 can achieve with stock clock rates
16:09
Bertl
this would allow a whooping 50 FPS for full updates
16:10
Bertl
but as we probably want to stay within or at least near the spec, I also tested the parallel mode
16:10
Bertl
there we are also limited to 10MHz clock according to the datasheet, but we can transfer roughly eight times as much data as before (for 8-bit parallel)
16:11
Bertl
and so we can get 65 FPS for full updates within the spec
16:11
se6astian
very cool
16:12
Bertl
I also tested higher clock rates, and even at 62.5MHz (again, the best we can do without overclocking on the RP2) everything seems fine
16:12
se6astian
which would mean close to 400fps
16:12
BAndiT1983
isn't rp2 running at 150mhz?
16:12
Bertl
we do not need the high frame updates we can achieve there though, so it makes sense to stay within or near the suggested limits
16:13
Bertl
125MHz is the default clock, but it can do up to 200MHz certified
16:13
Bertl
i.e. there has been an update in the certification from the Raspberry Pi Foundation for that
16:14
Bertl
and I've seen folks clocking the RP2 with up to 280MHz
16:14
BAndiT1983
ok, iirc then rp2040 was at 125mhz by default and rp2350 at 150mhz
16:14
BAndiT1983
datasheet rp2350: "Dual Cortex-M33 or Hazard3 processors at 150 MHz"
16:14
Bertl
yeah, was testing with the RP2040
16:14
BAndiT1983
ah, ok, was confused by rp2040
16:14
BAndiT1983
*rp2
16:15
se6astian
splendid!
16:15
Bertl
so yes, the conclusion here is, we probably want to go with 8-bit parallel and we probably can keep within specs
16:16
Bertl
what I didn't test yet, but maybe BAndiT1983 has or will, is the display sync using TE or scan line readback
16:16
Bertl
to avoid tearing by synchronizing the upload with the display scan
16:17
BAndiT1983
yep, can do, after my setup is also capable of 8bit parallel communication
16:17
se6astian
there is no double buffering so the communication just writes the displays internal framebuffer right?
16:17
se6astian
no matter when it updates
16:17
se6astian
thats why tearing appears
16:17
Bertl
yep, the display memory is exactly the size the controller can drive
16:17
se6astian
makes sense
16:18
Bertl
we can do some buffering on the RP2, but we need to sync the update
16:18
Bertl
next thing I'll look into is the SWD interface for direct reprogramming and/or RAM loading
16:18
Bertl
that's it from my side for today, I'm sure BAndiT1983 has a ton of interesting stuff to report as well ...
16:18
BAndiT1983
we can do the double buffering with LVGL and also reduce the memory usage, but with rp2350 we should have enough ram for 2 full buffers
16:19
se6astian
thanks Bertl!
16:19
se6astian
sounds good, any news on your side as well BAndiT1983?
16:19
BAndiT1983
not really, when there was some spare time was trying to debug my 8bit parallel PIO code and get more insight, but am stumbling into different problems, so looking forward to our Q&A session, as my knowledge is not that deep in the MCU area
16:20
Bertl
don't be shy, you did some work on LVGL and emulator IIRC, no?
16:20
BAndiT1983
basic LVGL setup was working with SPI and also the first UI screen was replicated from old firmware, additional one was added for sliding animation test, which worked fine, but would like to test the display with proper connection
16:21
BAndiT1983
and also the visualizer was adjusted to allow development without hardware, still have to upload the code and document it, but have to polish it a bit, as it's rough prototype
16:21
BAndiT1983
that would be it for now
16:22
se6astian
great!
16:22
se6astian
anyone else around? vup/anuejn I saw some github pushes for NAPS?
16:24
se6astian
ok then MEETING CONCLUDED! thanks Bertl & BAndiT1983 you can start your debug VC
16:25
BAndiT1983
many thanks for moderation!
16:36
anuejn
here is my somewhat late report:
16:37
anuejn
vup and me have been working on naps quite a bit and brought it into a shape where it works with amaranth 0.5.4
16:37
anuejn
also we fixed all the tests (some stuff bitrotted) and we now have pachages to pypi again
16:38
anuejn
I also wrote some getting started docs that might be interesting for people interested in the project
16:38
anuejn
but that is not yet merged and awaiting a review from vup
16:38
anuejn
moreover I am currently kneedep in reverse engineering the 5d2 sensor as this is my machelor thesis
16:39
anuejn
(which I have to hand in in ~1,5 mo)
16:40
anuejn
after the picture that I showed last week, I am now trying to build a setup without a scope that can stream a live image over ethernet
16:40
anuejn
to experiment a bit more with timing of different signals and register settings
16:41
anuejn
also I am working on writing stuff up but thats probably not too interesting yet
16:41
anuejn
thats it from my side :)
16:43
Bertl
thanks! didn't know there was a machelor thesis :)
16:48
se6astian
very nice!
16:48
se6astian
mr makelor!
16:57
anuejn
*batchelor :D
16:57
anuejn
fat fingered their keyboard
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