A set of tools to work with the Spinsemi FV-1 chip from VSCode.
VSCode module
·
Programmer
·
Programmer's firmware
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Assembly resources
The project aims to provide a cross-platform replacement for the SpinAsm software in the form of a module for the Microsoft VSCode editor. The cross-compilation part is done by the alternate asfv1 assembler, the compiled programs are then sent to an in-circuit EEPROM by either an ATMEL AVR based programmer or a simple Arduino board.
To get started, all you need is to install the module and build a programmer.
A quick note about the current version of the PCB : there are some tight tolerances around the ICSP header mounting holes used to fix the SOIC clamp. Check your manufacturer's capabilities as you need a 0.25mm tolerance from non-plated thru hole to track. I've used JLCPCB's services to build it with no issues.
You can find the current gerber files here, there are two versions available :
- Panel
A 150x100mm panel with mounting holes meant to be built using a stencil and this support tool.
- Single
A single board to hand solder.
It is a very simple circuit that is basically a slimmed-down arduino board composed of a FTDI USB to UART chip and an AVR microcontroller, you can find the BOM here.
The board is powered by the target circuit so you need to set the correct CBUS bits for the VBUS_SENSE pin and the RX/TX LEDs if you choose to include them in your build.
On Windows systems this is done using the FT_PROG utility from FTDI. it's pretty straightforward to use: power the board, connect it to a computer via USB and set the correct bits.
On Linux systems there are several ways to program the FTDI chips's EEPROM, i'm using the ftdi_eeprom package that's available on Debian/Ubuntu based distributions. Once it's installed simply power the board, connect it and you can use the pre-built configuration file and image to setup your device using the following command :
sudo ftdi_eeprom --device i:0x0403:0x6015 --flash-eeprom ft230x.conf
The PCB uses the SOICbite footprint as an ICSP header, the pinout on the board is as follows:
Which out of my SOIC clamp translates to :
| Pin | ICSP pin |
|---|---|
| 1 | RST |
| 2 | +3.3V |
| 3 | SCK |
| 4 | NC |
| 5 | MISO |
| 6 | NC |
| 7 | MOSI |
| 8 | GND |
The code requires a change in the base Arduino I2C library as the default buffer size is limited to 30 bytes, simply change the following value in the twi.h file:
#define TWI_BUFFER_LENGTH 34The project uses VSCode and the PlatformIO module as a development environment, the repository is setup to upload the firmware via a generic AVRISP mkII programmer and target an ATmega28PB running at 12Mhz from an external crystal :
[env:ATmega328P]
platform = atmelavr
board = ATmega328PB
framework = arduino
board_build.mcu = atmega328pb
board_build.f_cpu = 12000000L
board_hardware.oscillator = external
board_upload.speed = 57600
upload_protocol = custom
upload_port = usb
upload_flags =
-C
$PROJECT_PACKAGES_DIR/tool-avrdude/avrdude.conf
-p
$BOARD_MCU
-P
$UPLOAD_PORT
-c
stk500v2
upload_command = avrdude $UPLOAD_FLAGS -U flash:w:$SOURCE:iThe next step is to set the fuse bits :
platformio run --target fuses
And finally upload the firmware :
platformio run --target upload
As there are many flavors of Arduino boards i will use two examples : the extremely common Arduino Uno that we probably all have laying around and what i suppose would the ideal board for that purpose, the Arduino Pro Mini running at 3.3V.
The Arduino Uno is not the ideal candidate for that very specific purpose as in most incarnation it will run off a 5V power supply while the target EEPROM will run at 3.3V. But it has to be the most common Arduino board out there so why not use it, all that is needed to make it talk to the EEPROM are simple level shifters. They are available as pre-made boards but are really simple circuits :
Then the following pins are used to program the target circuit :
The Arduino Pro Mini is pretty much what's inside the custom programmer minus the FTDI chip but any USB to UART adapter will do as long as it can work at 3.3V. It is recommended to power the Arduino board from the target circuit using the following pinout:
The code requires a change in the base Arduino I2C library as the default buffer size is limited to 30 bytes, simply change the following value in the twi.h file:
#define TWI_BUFFER_LENGTH 34After that, simply setup the platformio.ini file as follows, for the Uno :
[env:uno]
platform = atmelavr
framework = arduino
board = unoPro Mini :
[env:pro8MHzatmega328]
platform = atmelavr
framework = arduino
board = pro8MHzatmega328And upload the firmware :
platformio.exe run --target upload
The target circuit should look like this and expose the following pins via some kind of header:
As of right now the module is only available as a standalone installer, you will find it at the root of the source code folder.
The module depends on the asfv1 compiler, it is avaialble on the Python Package Index. You can find the installation instrutions on the project's GitHub.
The module follows the same logic as the SpinAsm IDE and is centered around a project of 8 banks and programs:
The first thing you should do is to create a blank project by opening an empty folder and using the Create project structure command:
A blank project structure will look like this:
project/
├── bank_0/
│ ├── 0_programName.spn
├── bank_1/
│ ├── 1_programName.spn
├── bank_2/
│ ├── 2_programName.spn
├── bank_3/
│ ├── 3_programName.spn
├── bank_4/
│ ├── 4_programName.spn
├── bank_5/
│ ├── 5_programName.spn
├── bank_6/
│ ├── 6_programName.spn
├── bank_7/
│ ├── 7_programName.spn
├── output/
├── settings.iniThe folder should not be renamed but the programName part of the file can be changed.
The settings.ini file holds a few parameters you need to adjust to tell the module where the compiler is located and the programmer's path and baud rate. The default file is as follow :
;Project config file
[asfv1]
;Path of the executable
path = C:\\path\\to\\asfv1.exe
;Compiler options separated by a space :
; -c clamp out of range values without error
; -s read literals 2,1 as float (SpinASM compatibility)
; -q suppress warnings
options = -s
[serial]
;Serial port for the programmer
port = COM6
baudrate = 57600On a Linux system it would look like this :
;Project config file
[asfv1]
;Path of the executable
path = /path/to/bin/asfv1
;Compiler options separated by a space :
; -c clamp out of range values without error
; -s read literals 2,1 as float (SpinASM compatibility)
; -q suppress warnings
options = -s
[serial]
;Serial port for the programmer
port = /dev/ttyUSB0
baudrate = 57600The settings.ini file is read every time a project is compiled or uploaded so you can change the parameters on the go.
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