Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

RP2040 based microcontroller boards running MicroPython.
Target audience: MicroPython users with an RP2040 boards.
This does not include conventional Linux-based Raspberry Pi boards.
cebersp
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Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:21 am

Hi,
I would like to do something with ADC and the inline assembler.
I am starting with the tutorial: http://docs.micropython.org/en/v1.9.3/p ... mbler.html

Where can I find such information like the equivalent for Pico for "stm.GPIOA"?
"rp2.GPIO" does not work.
movw does not work. - That seems to be because it is M0.

How can I load a 32bit constant into a register? ==> Solved via array of constants

Thanks for some hints!
Christof
Last edited by cebersp on Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by pythoncoder » Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:02 pm

There is also this doc. I haven't studied the Pico closely, there may well be incompatibilities besides the obvious one that the floating point instructions won't be supported.

If movw doesn't work then you could pass constants as args. In some of my code I pass an array of constants as a single arg which can then be accessed because arrays are stored in contiguous locations. Example code may be found in these repos fourier transforms and FIR filters.

A long time ago I submitted this PR to simplify access to data created with data statements, but it was not accepted. The data statement works but is hard to use in normal code.
Peter Hinch
Index to my micropython libraries.

cebersp
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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:16 am

Thanks, Peter,
"an array of constants " - this is a good idea!
I was not able to use data().
Then I passed the address as an argument. But my even bigger problem was, that I was not able to find the information in the rp2040 datasheet, how to just set the output bit of the Pin. Funny: The instruction set of M0 seems to be not too difficult to understand. But these hardware pin control registers....
Christof

Edit: A fresh day, will try Bits OUTOVER in GPIO25_CTRL...
Last edited by cebersp on Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:24 am

I bought: Amazon: "MicroPython Inline Assembler By Example (English Edition) Kindle Ausgabe"
But it it is not very helpful for Pico.

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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by pythoncoder » Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:50 am

Well the Pico chip is very new.

To make a very general point there is now a mechanism for creating loadable native C modules. You write code in C with specific interface features, then compile it to a .mpy file. It works well on the Pyboard. Given that the Pico arch is ARM I thought it might work on the Pico. But a quick test indicates it does not. I have raised an issue. Hopefully it will get well soon.

My DFT assembler code is optimised for ease of coding rather than performance but it is slower than the C code in numpy. The C compiler is evidently good at optimisation. So the justification for assembler is rather less than it was when I wrote those libraries.

None of which helps in accessing these peripherals, I'm afraid ;)
Peter Hinch
Index to my micropython libraries.

cebersp
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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:17 am

Ha, got it working, the most complicated way of blinking a LED! :o
It works via "SIO" chapter 2.3.1.2.

Code: Select all

title= "inlineC.py" # http://docs.micropython.org/en/v1.9.3/pyboard/pyboard/tutorial/assembler.html
from rp2 import *
from machine import *
from time import *
import uarray

led= Pin(25,Pin.OUT)
led(1)
#sleep(2)
led(0)


@micropython.asm_thumb # works
def fun():
    mov(r0, 42) # movw hat nicht funktioniert
    add(r0, r0, 7) # nur kleine Werte <8

@micropython.asm_thumb # works
def asm_add(r0, r1):
    add(r0, r0, r1)

regdata = uarray.array('i',[
                0xd0000000 + 0x010, # 0 SIO OUT
                0xd0000000 + 0x018, # 4 SIO OUT_CLR
                0xd0000000 + 0x014, # 8 SIO OUT_SET
                1<<25 # 12 LED 
                ])

@micropython.asm_thumb
def led_peek(r0):
    mov(r1,r0)
    ldr(r2,[r1,0]) # register adress
    ldr(r0,[r2,0])

    
@micropython.asm_thumb
def led_on(r0):
    mov(r1,r0)
    ldr(r2,[r1,8]) # register address
    ldr(r0,[r1,12]) # mask data
    str(r0,[r2,0])

@micropython.asm_thumb
def led_off(r0):
    mov(r1,r0)
    ldr(r2,[r1,4]) # register address
    ldr(r0,[r1,12]) # mask data
    str(r0,[r2,0])


print(title, fun(), asm_add(20_000_000,30))
print(led_peek(regdata))
print(led_on(regdata))
print(led_peek(regdata))
sleep(2)
print(led_off(regdata))
print(led_peek(regdata))

cebersp
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push - Solved

Post by cebersp » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:42 am

Hi,
if i write

Code: Select all

@micropython.asm_thumb
def dds(r0, r1): # Buffer, ctrl-array
    push({r8,r9})
    ...
I get:
"Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 47, in dds
SyntaxError: unsupported Thumb instruction 'push' with 1 arguments"

For pop({r8,r9}) it is the same.

What's wrong here? - Solved: Only r0....r7 is supported at M0+.
Thank you very much! Christof
Last edited by cebersp on Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

cebersp
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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:51 am

Regarding push and pop:
Can I use this code from https://github.com/peterhinch/micropyth ... ter/asm.py on Pico M0+??
EDIT: Tried it, it crashes. Even without using these registers.

Code: Select all

# Make r8-r11 safe to use by pushing them on the stack
@micropython.asm_thumb
def foo(r0):
    data(2, 0xe92d, 0x0f00) # push r8,r9,r10,r11
    mov(r8, r0)             # Would otherwise crash the board!
    data(2, 0xe8bd, 0x0f00) # pop r8,r9,r10,r11

cebersp
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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by cebersp » Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:18 am

OK, found it. Push and pop can only be used on low registers r0...r7. (((PUSH {<loreglist>})))
This seems to work:

Code: Select all

    
    mov(r5,r8)
    mov(r6,r9)
    mov(r7,r10)
    push({r5,r6,r7})
    
    .....
    
    pop({r5,r6,r7})
    mov(r8,r5)
    mov(r9,r6)
    mov(r10,r7)
    

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Re: Where can we find information about the inline assembler for Pico?

Post by pythoncoder » Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:30 am

The MicroPython inline assembler supports a subset of the Thumb 7 instruction set. I gather the rp2 arch is Thumb 6.
Peter Hinch
Index to my micropython libraries.

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