From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.6 (2021-04-09) on ip-172-31-65-14.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.2 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,NICE_REPLY_A, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.6 Path: eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.gegeweb.eu!gegeweb.org!news.alphanet.ch!alphanet.ch!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: DrPi <314@drpi.fr> Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Working around -freestanding limitations? Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2023 18:54:20 +0200 Organization: Posted through news.alphanet.ch Message-ID: References: <9f2d643e-b610-4931-bd70-342b52c11566n@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2023 16:54:25 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: shakotay.alphanet.ch; posting-account="dr.pi"; logging-data="29582"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@alphanet.ch"; posting-host="bda8ab3c43e8ad8cb626bfebe8390999.nnrp.alphanet.ch" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.9.1 Cancel-Lock: sha256:HYmT6sRIyJjafc9nXjfZEo4XwMdwme3oMlfQ82Lvk3k= Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: Xref: feeder.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:65056 List-Id: >> 1)I want to build my own circuit board with a microprocessor not >> microcontroller. > > > Can you explain why? Input/output is often more complex with a > microprocessor (I assume you mean something that could run a PC or a > tablet) than with a microcontroller. A microprocessor may need a lot of > complex initialization and driver SW which you can get in some RTOS but > not in an Ada RTS. And I believe that circuit-board design is more > complex for microprocessors than for microcontrollers, however I have no > experience with either case. Nowadays, microprocessors are rare. Even x86 microprocessors could be named microcontrollers since they integrate many (not all) peripherals. High end microcontrollers are very complex to initialize. Especially since they integrate security functionalities (like secure boot), SDRAM controllers, PCIe controllers, Gigabit Ethernet controllers, 3D GPUs, video encoders/decoders, camera interface, LCD interface, HDMI interface... Even middle range microcontrollers are (very) complex. Manufacturers provide drivers source code (in C) for all peripherals. They also provide tools to graphically set chip configuration and output C code to help the programmer. Complexity depends on the chip you choose.