Micromite

Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Hi Guys. I thought it appropriate to start a new thread on the Micromite since I do not
wish to go "off topic" of my trying to get well tested Picaxe 28X2 modules and perhaps boards
for Snoopy's Robot Boats - see www.gpss.co.uk/autop.htm
- and please understand why I wish to stick to this hardware, to use well tested autopilot since December 2017 :)
Here is the reply I sent on the other thread to Dennis who asked about the Micrpmite >>>
Hi Dennis. I'll try and start a new thread on something like "Micromite" since it is possible
that Revolution Education might choose to own and sell this product. At little or no cost to them ;-)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
<<<
You will see my "Snoopy" page on www.gpss.co.uk/autop.htm has a prominent
link to my "Micromit" page on www.gpss.co.uk/micromit.htm
BUT before any discussion and detail from me, it might be worth a glimpse
at my CV on www.gpss.co.uk/robinscv.htm - avoiding Grandma ( or Grandma ) being told to suck eggs ;-)

I am indebted to Revolution Education, Hippy, etc, for the MicroMite - simply because my friend Roy about it,
before the Micromite, and I then invested many man-months over several years, to get a well tested Autopilot.
With hindsight, to modify my MicroMite based autopilot, to include the Trans-Atlatic mission
would only take me a few man days or weeks of effort - BUT spread over how many months or years ? :)

I also talk about the Micromite on my "Press" page www.gpss.co.uk/press.htm
but I would not wish discussion to continue here, without the blessing of Revolution Education.

In short, that free public domain firmware, written by Austalians, has a complete operating system editor,
Basic interpretor, and maths library, to go on a cheap industry standard chip.
I will be very happy for Hippy to talk with Mick Gulverston in Australia.

BUT let us not forget the Picaxe - particularly for systems where the complete application software load has been tested VERY well ;-)

Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Hi Guys. Not long back from walking on Chobham Common - as anyone could have seen from tracking us on my "Contact" page www.gpss.co.uk/contact.htm :)

BUT here is a link relevant to ease of programming the Micromite: www.gpss.co.uk/mmap1b.bas whole Autopilot program
BUT this extract below should be clearer, if you compare with what you would need to write for the Picaxe - I did - years ago
and the my source code is public for those testing Picaxe 28X2 based autopilots.

BUT HERE BELOW is the example subroutine to calculate range & bearing between two positions in latitude longitude ... simple eh ? :)

Sub LLLLTORB (lat0!, lon0!, lat1!, lon1!, r!, brg!)
'calculate range and bearing from lat longs. This is a simple approximation
rads! = 3.14159 / 180
dlon! = lon1! - lon0!
h180! = 0
If Abs(dlon!) > 180 Then
dlon! = Sgn(dlon!) * (360 - Abs(dlon!))
h180! = 180
End If
If lat0! = lat1! Then
r! = 111.05 * Abs(dlon!) * Cos(lat1! * rads) '111 to 111.05 v5.6c
If lon1! > lon0! Then brg! = 90 Else brg! = -90
Else
dx! = (dlon! * Cos(lat1! * rads!)) * 111.05
dy! = (lat1! - lat0!) * 111
r! = Sqr(dx! * dx! + dy! * dy!)
If h180! = 180 Then dy! = -dy!
CALDIR (dx!, dy!, i%)
brg! = i% + h180!
If brg! > 360 Then
brg! = brg! - 360
ENDIF
IF brg! < 0 THEN '22Sep17 Blocks needed for -ve CBWP% ?
brg! = brg! + 360 '02Sep17
ENDIF
End If
End Sub

Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Sorry about the layout of that earlier subroutine LLLLTORB - without indenting of block structure, etc.

BUT here is the old page that I found tucked away, which includes the same thing written for the Picaxe ...

www.gpss.co.uk/rbsoft.htm - robot boat software page - linked from my "Design" page www.gpss.co.uk/rbdesign.htm

Please don't waste your time on this.
But help is always welcome on Snoopy's Robot Boats www.gpss.co.uk/autop.htm :)

Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
Buzby

Buzby

Senior Member
I fully agree that PICAXE BASIC is not the best choice for any project that requires accurate trig maths. The lack of floating point, or even signed 32 bit, makes any useful trig functions laborious to implement and slow to perform. However, PICAXE BASIC is ideal for its intended market, so it is a case of horses for courses.

Rev Ed selling Micromite ?. I don't think this will happen. Rev Ed is not a box-shifting, platform agnostic, company. I can't see any benefit to them. Micromite is already available worldwide, and is totally open-source so can be built even where it can't be bought.

The biggest issue I would think is the competition. Micromite is in a very crowded pond, there are dozens of products with simiar features. What would make any supplier chose to sell Micromite instead of one of the others ?.
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Thanks Buzby. I'm sure you may be right about Revolution Education's business,
although it is many years since I looked into their business - or more importantly
- how guys ( like Hippy ) spent their time. Business changes over the years
- and so does what people do with their time to earn a living ;-)

I'll end on seeing if I remember the html code of <pre> ... </pre>
so that quoted bit of Micromite source code layout is correct.

Thanks again
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk

<pre>
Sub LLLLTORB (lat0!, lon0!, lat1!, lon1!, r!, brg!)
'calculate range and bearing from lat longs. This is a simple approximation
rads! = 3.14159 / 180
dlon! = lon1! - lon0!
h180! = 0
If Abs(dlon!) > 180 Then
dlon! = Sgn(dlon!) * (360 - Abs(dlon!))
h180! = 180
End If
If lat0! = lat1! Then
r! = 111.05 * Abs(dlon!) * Cos(lat1! * rads) '111 to 111.05 v5.6c
If lon1! > lon0! Then brg! = 90 Else brg! = -90
Else
dx! = (dlon! * Cos(lat1! * rads!)) * 111.05
dy! = (lat1! - lat0!) * 111
r! = Sqr(dx! * dx! + dy! * dy!)
If h180! = 180 Then dy! = -dy!
CALDIR (dx!, dy!, i%)
brg! = i% + h180!
If brg! > 360 Then
brg! = brg! - 360
ENDIF
IF brg! < 0 THEN '22Sep17 Blocks needed for -ve CBWP% ?
brg! = brg! + 360 '02Sep17
ENDIF
End If
End Sub

</pre>

I wonder if that did it ? :)
- obviously not :-(
BUT, after googling the topic, it looks like I remembered <pre> ... </pre> OK
but probably a problem on how this forum is hosted - PLEASE do not change it :)

Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
Last edited:
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Thanks Buzby. I took a glance, then one at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML
I can see the risk of us wasting hours on this, but since the early 1990s writing simple
html I've always used < and > for tags. Your page seems to use square brackets ?
Let me try to add something in bold here...
<b>This in Bold using < and ></b>
then
This in Bold using [ and ]
Just an experiment :)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
The experiment worked ! :) No, I'm not going to switch html script language.
but maybe this would work:
[PRE]
if w8 > w4 then 'Dest Lat > GPS Lat
w12 = w8 - w4 'Diff Lat
if w9 < w5 then 'Dest Lon east of GPS Lon
w13 = w5 - w9 'Diff lon
gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
else 'Dest Lon west of GPS Lon
w13 = w9 - w5 'Diff lon
gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
w6 = 359 ''12Feb15 was 360
w13 = w6 - w13 'was w13 = 360 - w13
endif
else 'Dest Lat < GPS Lat
w12 = w4 - w8 'Diff Lat
if w9 < w5 then 'Dest Lon east of GPS Lon
w13 = w5 - w9 'Diff lon
gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
w6 = 180
w13 = w6 - w13 'was w13 = 180 - w13
else 'Dest Lon west of GPS Lon
w13 = w9 - w5 'Diff lon
gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
'12Feb15 w6 = 180
w13 = w13 + 180 'was w13 = w6 + w13 'was w13 + 180
endif
endif

[/PRE]
 
Aries

Aries

New Member
Buzby said:
To preserve formatting in this forum you need to use the [ CODE ] tags, see here : https://picaxeforum.co.uk/help/bb-codes/
Click to expand...
As, for example,
Code: 
if w8 > w4 then 'Dest Lat > GPS Lat
   w12 = w8 - w4 'Diff Lat
   if w9 < w5 then 'Dest Lon east of GPS Lon
     w13 = w5 - w9 'Diff lon
     gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
   else 'Dest Lon west of GPS Lon
     w13 = w9 - w5 'Diff lon
     gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
     w6 = 359 ''12Feb15 was 360
     w13 = w6 - w13 'was w13 = 360 - w13
   endif
else 'Dest Lat < GPS Lat
   w12 = w4 - w8 'Diff Lat
   if w9 < w5 then 'Dest Lon east of GPS Lon
     w13 = w5 - w9 'Diff lon
     gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
     w6 = 180
     w13 = w6 - w13 'was w13 = 180 - w13
   else 'Dest Lon west of GPS Lon
     w13 = w9 - w5 'Diff lon
     gosub scalew12w13 'scale if either more than 1000 to avoid overflow
     '12Feb15  w6 = 180
     w13 = w13 + 180 'was w13 = w6 + w13 'was w13 + 180
   endif
endif
... done simply by replacing your PRE with CODE front and back (I didn't change anything else).
Incidentally, if you use the "Preview" button, you can see what you are sending before you post it - saves a lot of extra messing about.
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Many Thanks Aries ( in Surrey ) Let me try ...
Code: 
 '15Feb15 experimental correction from RINGRIGX to try and make w1 more accurate
 'ENDIF blocks added here in Picaxe basic to pass syntax checks
  IF w1 >= 2 AND w1 <= 6 THEN 
    w1 = w1 + 1
  ENDIF
I have been distracted, eating lunch, but, since you are in Surrey, you may be interested or at least amused.
We are in Sunninghill, but Sunningdale is just down the road, and looking on her white tracker, with her shopping,
I was reminded of Broom Hall where late actor Oliver Reid lived, in the 1970s, when we were in Holland.
It had a large lake, but I must admit we are now unsure on what side of Broom Hall lane it was.
I recall it being on the left, coming from the A30, making it nearer the rail station.

Anyway, for those old enough to remember that rascal Oliver Reid ( e.g. drunk when interviewed by Parkinson )
I just found out more that made me laugh, googling "broom hall sunningdale" ...
- being banned from a local pub, after coming down the chimney naked, shouting "Ho Ho Ho I'm Santa Klaus" :)
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
To end that off topic stuff ...

The actor Oliver Reed bought the 56-bedroom property in 1971[6][7][8] and became the so-called "Master of Broome Hall" for eight years.[9][5] Reed only bought the house because he was looking for a field for a horse he had bought from Johnny Kidd, the father of future supermodel Jodie Kidd, who ran a stud farm in Ewhurst.[6] He then spent a fortune renovating it.[9] The naked wrestling scene with Reed and Alan Bates in Ken Russell's 1969 film Women in Love is said to have been filmed there.[5] Reed was banned from his local pub there for descending a chimney naked and shouting out: "Ho! Ho! Ho! I'm Santa Claus."[5] According to an estate agent's negotiator, Reed buried the jewellery collection of a former girlfriend in the grounds where it still lies.[5]

The house was then bought by a property developer who converted it into flats.[5] It was assessed and recognised as a Grade II-listed building in 1987.[2]

Sorry All & Thanks :)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
B

Bayside888

Member
I'm not sure what the attraction of the MicroMite is. I ordered, and paid for one, plus accessories. I never received anything, nor got any responses to my email inquiries. I cannot find a Micromite website using Google, so assumed they were out of business like so many other cos. It sounded like a good platform, but....
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Bang on Bayside888 - whoever & wherever you are :) That's the problem: my only source, years ago, was Mick Gulverston in Australia. You can't miss him on that "Micromite" page www.gpss.co.uk/micromit.htm As I understand it, it uses an industry-standard chip ( probably no more than 1 to 5 GBP Sterling if purchased from Shenzhen China, in smallish quantity ( e.g. maybe > 10 to only 1 or 2 ). BUT then that fantastic firmware must be loaded into it - something I've never had to do. So the minimum job is supply of micromite chips, with the firmware in. BUT, I would much prefer someone sell complete boards, at a sensible price, such as was done years ago - but there was not enough money in it. Let me consult that "Micromite" page again ... scroll down to "useful links". The key thing is that Revolution Education have a successful business ( as far as I am aware ) and are more than capable of exploiting what is an excellent ( free ) product. The free bit is that important firmware that is loaded into the chip before sale. I seem to recall that I only paid 20 or 30 GBP for the complete board, including resistors, capacitors, etc - AND flying Futaba leads so one could immediately test it with things like standard radio control 5v power, servo, etc. I won't go into detail here, but Mick has had health problems for years, and, selling a handful of MicroMite (chips) was a LITTLE bit of "pocket money". The guy in London did it himself, and has other things like a "day job". Please don't forget my Picaxe 28X2 Snoopy Robot Boat thread. But, as far as Revolution Education and the Micromite go - "if yer don't ask yer don't get" :)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
lbenson

lbenson

Senior Member
MMBasic is the "fantastic firmware". Variants run on at least a dozen hardware platforms: MaxiMite, Colour MaxiMite (CMM/CMM1), MX150 MicroMite (MM1), MX170 MicroMite (MM2), MX470 MicroMite Plus (MM+), PIC32MZ MicroMite eXtreme (MMX), MMBasic for DOS, Pi-cromite (pi-based, no longer supported, may work for non-gpio uses), Armmite H7, Armmite L4, Armmite F4, Colour Maximite 2 (CMM2), PicoMite, MMB4L (Linux), PicoMiteVGA, MMBasic for Windows (MMB4W).

The most popular currently is the "PicoMite", running on a Raspberry Pi "Pico" RP2040 module (but there are other RP2040 variants)--a $4USD part. Amazon sells them, Pi Hut sells them, Aliexpress sells them, major distributors sell them. It's unlikely that Revolution Education can make a business selling firmware which is available for free which runs on a commodity part. The original MicroMite MX170 hardware is very much out of date now--though it still provides a capable 1-chip plus capacitor minimalist solution (less convenient than the PicoMite, though).
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
Thanks lbessen. No, Revolution do not sell firmware, but chips and complete board kits: https://picaxestore.com/collections/picaxe-boards
You had me finding the link and reminding myself - see they are mentioned further below. BUT things can change, including passing businesses and websites to others. I found another selling Picaxe stuff on google.

What gives Revolution Education strength is the support of enthusiasts on this web site forum ;-)
Some of whom, I understand, are part of the original business enterprise.

I clicked on your profile and saw you said you were in Nova Scotia Canada - I love "openess". I then looked at recent visits ( that anyone can see ) at the end of my "Micromite" page www.gpss.co.uk/micromit.htm - a recent visit from "somewhere in USA" that MIGHT have been you. I still come up as "southend on Sea" so that visitor counter is far from perfect ;-) I saw Bayside888, who says less about himself, came up at a nice location on the north west coast of USA. But I digress ;-)

Sorry that I went off-topic talking about the late famous actor Oliver Reed, who locals say had the grand place Broom Hall at Sunningdale. Maybe he had more than one place, or information may not always be good on the Net: Broome Hall, an hours drive south of here :) I should have included the link, rather than copied stuff from it ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broome_Hall :)

Thanks again lbessen
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk

p.s. probably a coincidence but if not, I love "Openess": Logan Bessen on https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbessen/ :)
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
I'm not surprised you are confused, because of my going "off topic" so many times.
In short: maybe Revolution Education will consider supplying MicroMite based hardware - since the software is so easy.
But, no point in this thread continuing if Revolution Education guys not interested :)

My earlier reply to Bayside888, repeated here, should be clear ....

Bang on Bayside888 - whoever & wherever you are :) That's the problem: my only source, years ago, was Mick Gulverston in Australia. You can't miss him on that "Micromite" page www.gpss.co.uk/micromit.htm As I understand it, it uses an industry-standard chip ( probably no more than 1 to 5 GBP Sterling if purchased from Shenzhen China, in smallish quantity ( e.g. maybe > 10 to only 1 or 2 ). BUT then that fantastic firmware must be loaded into it - something I've never had to do. So the minimum job is supply of micromite chips, with the firmware in. BUT, I would much prefer someone sell complete boards, at a sensible price, such as was done years ago - but there was not enough money in it. Let me consult that "Micromite" page again ... scroll down to "useful links". The key thing is that Revolution Education have a successful business ( as far as I am aware ) and are more than capable of exploiting what is an excellent ( free ) product. The free bit is that important firmware that is loaded into the chip before sale. I seem to recall that I only paid 20 or 30 GBP for the complete board, including resistors, capacitors, etc - AND flying Futaba leads so one could immediately test it with things like standard radio control 5v power, servo, etc. I won't go into detail here, but Mick has had health problems for years, and, selling a handful of MicroMite (chips) was a LITTLE bit of "pocket money". The guy in London did it himself, and has other things like a "day job". Please don't forget my Picaxe 28X2 Snoopy Robot Boat thread. But, as far as Revolution Education and the Micromite go - "if yer don't ask yer don't get" :)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
kranenborg

kranenborg

Senior Member
I would agree with Bill's remark and recommend to switch this discussion to the proper forum.
I do not have any stakes whatsoever in Picaxe nor am a forum moderator, but this forum is tied to Picaxe, and the success of the Picaxe product depends on the forum . That's at least as I see it (and my support for / allegiance to it is based on the fact that much of my joy and competence on microcontrollers is based on my introduction to the Picaxe chips ... ).
/Jurjen
 
Robin Lovelock

Robin Lovelock

Senior Member
G'Day Bill in Newcastle Australia, and Kranenborg in Gronenburg Netherlands - I agree with both of you.
The guys who I know on this forum, who own Revolution Education, don't need more from what has been said.
I see little point in further discussion here, unless and until RE choose to add the Micromite to their business.

But, I must say how I like to see such "open" profiles from both of you, including mug shots, and where you are.
For others, around the World, I'll end on a couple of links from my many pages:

www.gpss.co.uk/micromit.htm - not for the MicroMite pages, but the Australian humour Bill :)
Newscastle? I recall giving a GPS Software demo in 1991(?) to Radi HAM friend visiting, through our village,
during that Gulf War, and we noticed the typical GPS SA error had gone, from ~100, to ~5m.
I was able to say that a military operation was in progress. Best part of 10 years before SA was switched off
www.gpss.co.uk/sa.htm - Bill Clinton eventually approved the decision made years earlier :)

Gronenburg in north of Holland - yes, lovely best part of 10 years: 1971 - 1980 living in Holland
with young family, while working as Senior NATO Scientist at SHAPE Technical Centre
www.gpss.co.uk/johnman.htm First 2 or 3 daughters born there - see the link :)
Living in little village of Zoeterwoude, between Den Haag & Amsterdam.
Daughter Samantha's first words were Dutch - "Look - Aeroplane !"
I learnt a few too - like "Nog en Pils" and "Gegge Misje" ( Another Beer, Stupid woman, spelt wrong :)

So let's close this thread, unless a Revolutin Education guy wishes to surprise us ;-)
Over & Out :)
Robin
www.gpss.co.uk
 
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