Serial console core. Anyone?

[Sorgelig]

I want console core for MiSTer which will use already working serial port between FPGA and HPS to control the linux part directly from MiSTer keyboard.
I'm busy by many other cores so would like to ask if someone is willing to write such core. I think it won't be too complex and can be made by those who is just started to learn HDL and want to write something useful.
Basically the core is just keyboard inputs send to UART and receive from UART to the screen.
This core will be handy and can be used instead of USB console.

And this console should support xterm format. There is midnight commander already installed on Linux. So i would like to have it work in this console with colors and correct control codes from keyboard.

Anyone would like to try?

[alanswx]

Something like this?

https://github.com/howardjones/fpga-vt

[Sorgelig]

yeah. Something like that but really working on MiSTer and with color and keys working in midnight commander
I'm not sure if CPU is really required. I believe it can be written in pure HDL. But i really don't care if it will use CPU with firmware as long as it works.

[oldgit]

I have ported across a vt220 xterm colour console and should be able to get it working, once I get past the requirement for 8Mbytes of sdram !!!

Is the HPS uart connections set up in MiSTer as I cannot find them ?

[Sorgelig]

I have ported across a vt220 xterm colour console and should be able to get it working, once I get past the requirement for 8Mbytes of sdram !!!

Is the HPS uart connections set up in MiSTer as I cannot find them ?

check sys_top.v file in Minimig. It has additional signals for UART

[oldgit]

check sys_top.v file in Minimig. It has additional signals for UART

Thanks - I had just finished a qsys to add the uart and the code is very similar - I have set mine to uart_0
Do I need uart_1 ?

[Sorgelig]

Of course cannot. They are physical devices, so you cannot swap them.

[Newsdee]

Interesting idea. It's basically a Linux shell that can be loaded like any core, and then it's easy to switch back to a core.
Looking forward to it!

[Sorgelig]

All cores released on 20181118 have UART signals in emu entity. So, just grab sys from any of these cores (Genesis, NES, SMS, Gameboy, TGFx16)
Your core needs return correct flags for hps_io:

Code: Select all

.uart_mode(16'b000_11111_000_11111),

so MiSTer will know your core is using UART and will give the option to choose the UART mode.

[oldgit]

I am running a vt220 core using uart connections.
I have selected console from the OSD and on PuTTy the command cat /proc/tty/driver/serial shows that the irq:41 is receiving the keyboard commands from the core but I am receiving only 3 bytes at the start.
Do I need flow control - DTR and DTS are set to 1'b1

[ex68k]

I am running a vt220 core using uart connections.

is it in any git repository?

Cheers!

P.S. Just got mine (the "real thing") back from storage yesterday

[oldgit]

is it in any git repository?

Not at present I have ported (nearly) this one https://github.com/Harry-Chen/fpga-virtual-console.
I had to get around the ram requirement of 20 address bits and 32 data bits running at 100Mhz.
I simplified the video out to 3k but as usual its not perfect (1 pixel out on left)
I don't think the char rom is correct .
It has 9 bit video so 256 colour is no problem and has the space for 4 different character sets.
The bottom pic is what it should look like if I can get it to talk to the DE10 the other pic should be mcommander but the lines are not being drawn.

[Sorgelig]

The text mode is basically attribute + text. The raw graphics frame buffer is not required. You just need a small buffer 2bytes per char. So, in this case you don't need SDRAM at all. You can use only BRAM.

[oldgit]

The text mode is basically attribute + text. The raw graphics frame buffer is not required. You just need a small buffer 2bytes per char. So, in this case you don't need SDRAM at all. You can use only BRAM.

I got rid of the graphics frame buffer and produce the vga from the text buffer which is 80 x 40 x 32bits as follows
[K][N][B][U][ BG ][ FG ][ CS ][ ASCII ]
31 30 29 28 19 10 8 0

K: Blink
N: Negative ( swaps bg and fg )
B: Bright ( applies brightness/intensity flag to fg )
U: Underline
BG: Background color ( RGB333 )
FG: Foreground color ( RGB333 )
CS: Charset

I just cannot get any response on tty1

[Sorgelig]

publish your code and i will check the problem.
Btw, is history buffer (shift+pgup/pgdn) should be handled by console core or it's done on Linux side?

[oldgit]

publish your code and i will check the problem.
Btw, is history buffer (shift+pgup/pgdn) should be handled by console core or it's done on Linux side?

The code is a mess, I have just bolted on the vga to get it working. Without a connection on UART it would be difficult to improve.
I have sent you a pm.

[Vlait]

just a thought, did you set the tty params same on both side (and wouldn't you be reading ttyS-something if you're interfacing with a serial line ?)
.. and no, did not look into the uart interface on either side so this is just a blind guess from reference dating back to the 90's when we still had serial cards for terminal lines that came with no drivers for unix-like os'es

[Sorgelig]

200MHz clock for 80x40 text mode - that's insane

[Sorgelig]

to make UART working:

Code: Select all

assign UART_RTS = UART_CTS;
assign UART_DTR = UART_DSR;


[oldgit]

200MHz clock for 80x40 text mode - that's insane

Thats me

Thanks for the fix for the UART . I shall now see what this LARGE amount of code can do.

[oldgit]

I have posted a console core at https://github.com/davewoo999/Virtual-Console

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THE README I know I sometimes do not.

This is a work in progress (slowly), sometimes I update this core several times a day or only once in a few weeks. I will not update this post unless a major change. The github will always have the dates of the changes made. It is not in the MiSTer portal as it is not good enough at the moment. Any glaring errors or problems please report.
Thanks.

[NML32]

I have posted a console core at https://github.com/davewoo999/Virtual-Console

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THE README I know I sometimes do not.

This is a work in progress (slowly), sometimes I update this core several times a day or only once in a few weeks. I will not update this post unless a major change. The github will always have the dates of the changes made. It is not in the MiSTer portal as it is not good enough at the moment. Any glaring errors or problems please report.
Thanks.

Thanks.
When I boot up the core I only see a flashing cursor in the upper left part of the screen. It doesn't appear to respond to input.
Should I see a login screen when the core is started?

[BBond007]

When I boot up the core I only see a flashing cursor in the upper left part of the screen. It doesn't appear to respond to input.
Should I see a login screen when the core is started?

You need to set UART mode to 'Console' in the system menu.

[NML32]

When I boot up the core I only see a flashing cursor in the upper left part of the screen. It doesn't appear to respond to input.
Should I see a login screen when the core is started?

You need to set UART mode to 'Console' in the system menu.

Thanks, it's working great.

[oldgit]

When I boot up the core I only see a flashing cursor in the upper left part of the screen. It doesn't appear to respond to input.
Should I see a login screen when the core is started?

You need to set UART mode to 'Console' in the system menu.

Oops - I have amended the readme