RVPC improvement

[Stan6314]

Hi guys,
I remembered the old days with RVPC. It's a nice toy...
I discovered a small bug during testing. RVMON 1.0 changes the idle state when beeping after the signal ends. So after every second beep, current continues to flow through the speaker. If you ever modify RVMOV again, it would be a good idea to fix it.
When I was thinking about RVPC, it occurred to me that if instead of CH32V003J4M6 ...A4M6 were used, an I2C bus could be brought out. The user could solder an I2C EEPROM to it. Then it would be possible to save the work done on a "cassette recorder" (or floppy disk?) 
Even if it were a 2 Euro computer, everyone would be happy to add 1 Euro for a floppy disk drive 
And implementing Tiny Basic would be perfection itself.
Good luck with your future work. Stan

[olimex]

Hi
CH32xxx is too low end, the new RVPC-II will be with RP2350 and will have HDMI with 80 col display, USBx4 hub for keyboard and joysticks, Audio codec, and 16MB Flash 8MB RAM.
Then there may be CP-M, BASIC, PASCAL, etc etc.
It will not be 1 EURO but still will be quite affordable

Tsvetan

[vrhelmutt]

I really like the RVPC and I think it's limited nature kind of captures the 'point' of microcomputers. I have been tinkering with the 1 GPIO connection from the buzzer and think that the problem of media storage could be solved (albeit limited) from here. Has any one tried playing with something similar?

I am going to hopefully soon put mine in a case with it's own attached keyboard and then give making two pin removable media a try!

[olimex]

Hi,
I think beside the 1 pin connection there is one more constrain - the available memory. This makes any extension more challenging, but anyway what is life without challenges?
Have fun!
Tsvetan

[Grubi]

Hello, I just solder the RVPC yesterday and think it is a great stuff, even it has small memory and new ones are coming. Now - have a few lame questions, which may be I could read somewhere more... Thanks in advance for any advice!

On the power up we have
reset     @0x0000061C
buzz_ok   @0x00000496
buzz_err  @0x000009B8
sandbox   @0x000000CC

So, I try for example @0x00000496:01 and G (go/run) and all commmands seems to be fine.

Q1. What sandbox command is doing - just black window for me after @x000000CC:01?
Q2. Without external programming and compiling another .bin, with default software - can one do something very simple - generate different sound or PWM drive single LED, draw a line, flash the display, run a counter? Where need to read about those possibilities - datasheet of CH32V003J4M6 and default bin / firmware?
Q3. Is it possible to make simple clock if I2C RTC is added (with new and external .bin compiled)?
Q4. Is it possible that simple video voltmeter to be added, without GPIO expander (with external .bin compiled)?
Q5. Are new version with more memory and GPIOs on the way?

[LubOlimex]

I can answer some of the questions:

- Q2:

You can't do anything of the described without building a new binary. In order to download the binary you'd need either WCH programmer or ESP32-S2 board setup as programmer.

- Q3 and Q4:

There are no free GPIO pins led out anywhere.

About the sandbox it is probably some safe space that address. About new version Tsvetan mentioned above about the new version.

[Grubi]

Thanks, then I know, and will continue with what is available