Author Topic: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10  (Read 24794 times)

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Offline CypressPSoCTopic starter

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Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« on: December 04, 2015, 09:35:35 pm »
Many of you commented on our PSoC 4 Prototyping Kit and how it was useful for hobby projects.
A few of you even complained about the USB-to-Serial bootloader chip that was on that kit to allow you to bootload the PSoC chip, in albeit a bit painful method.

We've now upgraded the dev kit (well, made a new board really)!
For $10 you get a real debugger onboard (ARM SWD protocol) so you can program and step through your code like a pro!
We've also upgraded the PSoC chip to the new PSoC 4 M-Series with 128KB of flash and a bunch of new peripherals.

You can grab one here: www.cypress.com/cy8ckit-043
and ofcourse, PSoC Creator IDE software is always free @ www.cypress.com/PSoCCreator

 

Offline free_electron

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2015, 09:46:49 pm »
FAN FREAKING TASTIC !!!! order placed
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Offline timb

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2015, 10:10:21 pm »
Are the PSoC 4's still hugely gimped compared to the PSoC 5LP? Reading through the component documentation, it seems like the PSoC 4 always had a lot of limitations compared to the 3 and 5.

Don't get me wrong, I love the PSoC series! I used to be diehard TI fan, but now, if I need anything more than a simple MCU, the 5LP is my go to chip! In fact, I'm currently in the design stages of a PSoC5 based HMI LCD solution!

I guess my question is: Where do the PSoC 4 fit in, in the design spectrum?
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Offline ataradov

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2015, 10:23:28 pm »
Does debugger chip use a CMSIS-DAP protocol, or something proprietary?
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Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2015, 01:03:52 am »
8 DMA channels is a nice addition, any word on the cost and availability on the EZ-BLE PRoC module?
Also I guess the programmer is a PSoC5LP as used in the 5lp prototype board which I love.

I still think the 5lp prototype kit has more potential but I'll look at the offering because of the Bluetooth support when the module is available. 128K flash is nice as well.

Is there any chance you could post a picture of the bottom of the board so we can check how had it would be to add the EZ-BLE PRoC module?
 

Offline MT

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2015, 02:37:16 am »
For $10 you get a real debugger onboard (ARM SWD protocol) so you can program and step through your code like a pro!
We've also upgraded the PSoC chip to the new PSoC 4 M-Series with 128KB of flash and a bunch of new peripherals.

You can grab one here: www.cypress.com/cy8ckit-043
and ofcourse, PSoC Creator IDE software is always free @ www.cypress.com/PSoCCreator

So this is basically something very similar to a ST-Nucleo/Discovery board just plug in and code. Nice!
Just found out about Cypress soic8-16, cy8c4013sxi-400, brilliant!

Can these boards program Spansion (FM4 and Traveo) devices? cant find any info about they could!?
It would be very nice to have one Kit board to program all Cypress devices, like ST does.
Just installed Creator and Designer looks impressive although complex, designer do not seam to support all devices.. 
« Last Edit: December 06, 2015, 12:06:04 am by MT »
 

Offline westfw

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2015, 03:06:12 am »
Quote
it seems like the PSoC 4 always had a lot of limitations compared to the 3 and 5.
that's intentional, isn't it?   PSoC 3/5 are systems where you build most ofe your peripherals out of the programmable logic and analog blocks, while the PSoC4 are closer to conventional microcontrollers with dedicated fixed-function peripherals and sometimes a few programmable logic blocks to provide enhanced functions.
In theory, I like having the range of choices, and I like not having to create standard peripherals when that's all I need.
 

Offline ralphd

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2015, 03:19:23 am »
Come back when you have choices for developing on Linux
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Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2015, 05:22:50 am »
Are the PSoC 4's still hugely gimped compared to the PSoC 5LP? Reading through the component documentation, it seems like the PSoC 4 always had a lot of limitations compared to the 3 and 5.

Don't get me wrong, I love the PSoC series! I used to be diehard TI fan, but now, if I need anything more than a simple MCU, the 5LP is my go to chip! In fact, I'm currently in the design stages of a PSoC5 based HMI LCD solution!

I guess my question is: Where do the PSoC 4 fit in, in the design spectrum?

Lower power consumption would be my guess, but I'm still reading the preliminary datasheet for the new PSoC 4 M-Series.

Edit: corrected misspelling (datasheed)
« Last Edit: December 05, 2015, 06:10:52 am by miguelvp »
 

Offline igendel

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2015, 08:58:34 am »
What a coincidence  :) A few days ago I got the CY8CKIT 043 (mainly for the programmer), as well as two little "bare" PSoC 4 MCUs. You can see the Blink test here - ,
although the video is not very informative - The actual description of the project is in my Hebrew-language blog.

Here's a beginners' question though. This simplest Blink, in either Debug or Release, takes 2KB of flash and 1.4KB SRAM, which is a lot. I guess that's the cost of using the nice visual programming; but personally I'd like to go deeper and do these things manually and economically. The easy-to-access datasheets only discuss the abstractions, not the low level. Where can I find information about the low level stuff, registers etc?
« Last Edit: December 05, 2015, 09:08:55 am by igendel »
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Offline timb

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2015, 10:08:01 am »

What a coincidence  :) A few days ago I got the CY8CKIT 043 (mainly for the programmer), as well as two little "bare" PSoC 4 MCUs. You can see the Blink test here - ,
although the video is not very informative - The actual description of the project is in my Hebrew-language blog.

Here's a beginners' question though. This simplest Blink, in either Debug or Release, takes 2KB of flash and 1.4KB SRAM, which is a lot. I guess that's the cost of using the nice visual programming; but personally I'd like to go deeper and do these things manually and economically. The easy-to-access datasheets only discuss the abstractions, not the low level. Where can I find information about the low level stuff, registers etc?

Grab the TRM for the PSoC; it should be all there.

As an aside, I've got to say I really love PSoC Creator. The information and reports it generates are very nice. Being able to access component data sheets with on click is awesome. The pin configuration is very nice. The whole thing has been a very pleasant experience.

Contrast this with, say, Code Composer Studio from TI, which is a buggy, bloated nightmare with hundreds of separate apps and packages you have to separately install and manage.

Normally I code with an editor in OS X and just use GCC to compile, but for the PSoC, I actually don't mind running Creator in a VM. (Though a cross-platform compiler only package would be nice; one that took C and VHDL.)
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Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2015, 10:38:21 am »
It's the penalty of using a full pwm module and support code to just blink an LED. I guess if you need to make it smaller you could trim the generated source and discard the pwm module and make your own module and code.

I know there are a lot of videos in their youtube channel but you can find a lot of information and examples:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CypressSemi/videos

So if you just want to turn the LED on and off, nothing prevents you to use just a digital output port.

I wonder if this module could do what I could do with the PSoC5LP prototype board (also $10) using this $4 R2R DAC:
http://www.waveshare.com/product/VGA-PS2-Board.htm

More details here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/make-use-of-an-old-cga-monitor/msg696341/#msg696341

PSoC5LP and VGA module:


Digital Block Schematic including DMA that the older PSoC4's couldn't do:


VGA video output some using the PSoC5LP 2KB EEPROM (Edit: for the fonts) that I think the new PSoC4 M-series doesn't have:






Also the PSoC 4 doesn't have as much SRAM and resources as the PSoC 5LP, so I'm not sure it could handle this task.

Also without the VGA module and driving a CGA monitor directly with just the 5LP prototype board:

and the corresponding video output.


So the new offer is good for low power devices, but the 5LP at the same cost runs circles around this. But then again having the capability to populate the Bluetooth pad brings other strengths so I'm tore if to order some of these kits. I'll loose USB HID but probably gain wireless via BT when the module is available for a BT display controller. Hmmm.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2015, 10:42:58 am by miguelvp »
 

Offline timb

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2015, 11:07:01 am »

It's the penalty of using a full pwm module and support code to just blink an LED. I guess if you need to make it smaller you could trim the generated source and discard the pwm module and make your own module and code.

I know there are a lot of videos in their youtube channel but you can find a lot of information and examples:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CypressSemi/videos

So if you just want to turn the LED on and off, nothing prevents you to use just a digital output port.

I wonder if this module could do what I could do with the PSoC5LP prototype board (also $10) using this $4 R2R DAC:
http://www.waveshare.com/product/VGA-PS2-Board.htm

More details here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/make-use-of-an-old-cga-monitor/msg696341/#msg696341

PSoC5LP and VGA module:


Digital Block Schematic including DMA that the older PSoC4's couldn't do:


VGA video output some using the PSoC5LP 2KB EEPROM (Edit: for the fonts) that I think the new PSoC4 M-series doesn't have:






Also the PSoC 4 doesn't have as much SRAM and resources as the PSoC 5LP, so I'm not sure it could handle this task.

Also without the VGA module and driving a CGA monitor directly with just the 5LP prototype board:

and the corresponding video output.


So the new offer is good for low power devices, but the 5LP at the same cost runs circles around this. But then again having the capability to populate the Bluetooth pad brings other strengths so I'm tore if to order some of these kits. I'll loose USB HID but probably gain wireless via BT when the module is available for a BT display controller. Hmmm.

Wow, this is amazing! I'm totally going to try it out. Is your code on Github?

I want to add a frame buffer using some external SDRAM, which the PSoC actually has a component for. This should make it able to do sprites etc.

By the way, if you're using the IMO as a clock source, it can be off by a few percent. If you use an external clock or oscillator then the PLL and clock tree should be able to give you a clock frequency with the same accuracy as your input clock. This could have been the issue behind your pixel clock being off.

Anyway, awesome project!
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Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2015, 12:54:14 pm »
Wow, this is amazing! I'm totally going to try it out. Is your code on Github?

I want to add a frame buffer using some external SDRAM, which the PSoC actually has a component for. This should make it able to do sprites etc.

By the way, if you're using the IMO as a clock source, it can be off by a few percent. If you use an external clock or oscillator then the PLL and clock tree should be able to give you a clock frequency with the same accuracy as your input clock. This could have been the issue behind your pixel clock being off.

Anyway, awesome project!
Thank you, getting a praise from you (no disrespect intended) is actually a big deal.

No github but I will have to dig the project and post it here. I do have perforce and I know I did save often enough but no warranties it will work out of the box because maybe I only started to check the project in while doing the CGA code.

It's late right now and I can barely type (almost 7am and I hope I don't wake my wife up when I go to bed).

Yes I'm using the IMO but I do have an OXCO 26MHz oscillators (no XTALs on hand I'm affraid)

VGA output didn't give me any trouble other than the color pixel being late as the images shows, CGA on the other hand had some flakiness using the internal clock. I added more buffers as I recall after posting that. Not sure if I did solve it. And an external ram might not help because it wasn't a lack of resources as I recall.

I did think about expanding this to use an external ram for a proper full frame buffer, but I didn't have the memory at hand so I used the EEPROM as a proof of concept.

Would be fun to make a pong game using the capsense cypress tech, and probably expand even more. It wasn't a full project since I just wanted to show a proof of concept, got a bit overboard but a PSoC5LP prototype board could easily replace a CGA controller board as I left it last time (a while back and around half a year ago).

Anyways and no promises, I'll have to search for that code which I'm sure I still have it laying around. Maybe I don't have the VGA code anymore and only the CGA code since that was my target.

What I would want is a dual ported memory video memory module (by video I mean it could handle the pixel clock rate, maybe even twice the size of the framebuffer so I could implement a dual buffer display). My need for dual ported is so I could use this prototyping board as a display buffer (with external memory help) and use a 2nd module or whatever to drive it.

Do get the VGA module, it's fantastic. I have a better one that is a 330MHz capable video DAC (8 bits per color) but for this type of thing is an overkill and I don't think I would be able to drive that with the PSoC 5LP I do reserve that higher end board to my FPGA's.

I'm thinking these new modules could do what I did with the 5LP specially with external memory.

In any event I have no problem releasing the code if I'm able to find it which I'm pretty sure I will. But maybe before I do release it I want to make sure it works on VGA mode or at least it's capable to drive an LCD display, since my later iteration was to drive a CGA monitor and that's not going to help many.

If I do release it (and I will but I need sleep 1st) I only ask that you post pictures of the outcome and code so I can experience your code as well. I would say to give me a couple of days to gather things but might take a week but I hope it won't take that long.

As for sprites, the 5LP has 2K of EEPROM that you could put other sprites than the CGA ones I used. Also you could sacrifice one bit form the red channel to do a blink or even implement a full CGA controller card but outputing to a VGA monitor, It should be fairly easy.

Well, I'm going to bed soon because it's late but I'll see what I can dig out quickly during the weekend (doesn't help my wife doesn't work this weekend but I might be able to pull it out, time permitting).

BTW the PSoC is great at doing this because it's mostly implemented by hardware. the ARM processor is just filling in the buffer and the DMA and hardware takes care of the rest transparently.

 

Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2015, 01:18:30 pm »
BTW if it's difficult to order from waveshare directly they do have an Ebay store, that would cost you $3 more
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-PS2-Board-Accessory-Test-Module-for-VGA-PS2-Control-Connector-Interfaces-/251031101624?hash=item3a729ea0b8

I recall it was difficult to order directly from their website. Had to order via e-mails and not automated at all, but they might have changed things by now. I did ordered other things from them so the combined shipping wasn't that bad.

Although you can probably order from wayegineer but that will cost you a minimum of $4.20 for shipping plus $3 for the module.

http://www.wayengineer.com/wx-vga-ps2-board-testing-vga-ps2-interfaces-p-2292.html#.VmLirfmrSUk

So not sure if Ebay would be cheaper than wvshare or less hassle, but via wayengineer it seems it's more pricey.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2015, 01:21:06 pm by miguelvp »
 

Offline igendel

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #15 on: December 05, 2015, 02:04:28 pm »
Grab the TRM for the PSoC; it should be all there.

As an aside, I've got to say I really love PSoC Creator. The information and reports it generates are very nice. Being able to access component data sheets with on click is awesome. The pin configuration is very nice. The whole thing has been a very pleasant experience.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the Technical Reference Manual. It's my first ARM and my first visual programming experience (for MCUs), so it's all still kind of vague :-)

I used PWM for Blink per Cypress' introduction videos. Of course I could toggle the pin in a software loop, or let it be because "ïf you only need the blink, who cares how much RAM it takes on the chip". I just want to know what goes on under the hood.

From the very little work I did so far, PSoC Creator does look promising.
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Offline Brutte

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #16 on: December 05, 2015, 03:23:12 pm »
Not sure about peripherals of mentioned uCs but the M0 core is hopeless for learning and debugging. It is a stripped version of M3/M4 and lacks most of debugging resources.
Just my $0.02
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #17 on: December 05, 2015, 03:31:34 pm »
Debugging maybe, but useless for learning? People have done an awful lot of learning on chips with zero to almost zero debugging support. To this day I find myself only very rarely needing an embedded debugger.
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Offline ataradov

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #18 on: December 05, 2015, 07:27:23 pm »
It is a stripped version of M3/M4 and lacks most of debugging resources.
What debug resources are missing in M0 compared to M3/4? They are exactly the same as far as debugging goes.
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Offline Neganur

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #19 on: December 05, 2015, 08:06:55 pm »
which one of the cy8c42XX chips is on the board? the same as the kit-049? (i.e. the 4245axi ?)
 

Offline miguelvp

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #20 on: December 05, 2015, 09:02:14 pm »
which one of the cy8c42XX chips is on the board? the same as the kit-049? (i.e. the 4245axi ?)

It's a CY8C4247AZI-M485 for the target board and a CY8C5868LTI-LP039 (PSoC5LP) for the kitprog part of the board (same as the 5LP prototyping board kitprog part I believe).

The OP's link has access to the documents, as well as all the rest of the files if you are logged in.
 

Offline bson

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #21 on: December 06, 2015, 01:02:20 am »
It's a CY8C4247AZI-M485 for the target board and a CY8C5868LTI-LP039 (PSoC5LP) for the kitprog part of the board (same as the 5LP prototyping board kitprog part I believe).
Yeah, my 5LP -059 kit has the same chip on the prog as the prototype board.  I thought that was pretty cool. :)
 

Offline CypressPSoCTopic starter

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #22 on: December 07, 2015, 08:10:28 pm »
FAN FREAKING TASTIC !!!! order placed

awesome! excited to see what you'll use it for. be sure to post back here when you have something to showoff or tweet us @CypressSemi
thanks!
 

Offline CypressPSoCTopic starter

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #23 on: December 07, 2015, 08:13:22 pm »
Are the PSoC 4's still hugely gimped compared to the PSoC 5LP? Reading through the component documentation, it seems like the PSoC 4 always had a lot of limitations compared to the 3 and 5.

Don't get me wrong, I love the PSoC series! I used to be diehard TI fan, but now, if I need anything more than a simple MCU, the 5LP is my go to chip! In fact, I'm currently in the design stages of a PSoC5 based HMI LCD solution!

I guess my question is: Where do the PSoC 4 fit in, in the design spectrum?

You're correct, the PSoC 3 and PSoC 5LP are larger chips with more capabilities. The PSoC 4 series was designed to offer PSoC-features, but at standard MCU prices. You can buy PSoC 4 chips for $1 all day long, a price-point the 5LP can not meet due to much larger die size.
That being said, we've expanded the PSoC 4 series all the way from 16KB flash options to 256KB. We've got a lot more upcoming, check out our product roadmap @ http://www.cypress.com/psocroadmap

good luck with the PSoC 5LP HMI solution!
 

Offline CypressPSoCTopic starter

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Re: Grab a PSoC 4 M-Series Proto Kit for $10
« Reply #24 on: December 07, 2015, 08:14:03 pm »
Does debugger chip use a CMSIS-DAP protocol, or something proprietary?

ARM SWD (Single Wire Debug) on the debugger chip, with KitProg v1
KitProg v2 adds CMSIS-DAP too!!
 


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