A handheld, portable video game system designed with Kicad and programmed in C.
The processor is the STM32F767ZG, a Cortex-M7 processor selected for the ample size of the instruction and data caches. Currently at the board bring-up stage, the functionality includes an RGB parallel interface, an MMC card socket, a 32MB SDRAM clocked at 108MHz, D-pad, 4 front facing buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 joysticks, and a speaker. The device is powered through a Micro-USB connector or a rechargeable LiPo battery for portability.
The final product will load user-selectable ELF files off of the MMC compatible card into the external RAM and run them as a process.
The project originally began in Zig but is transitioning to C to reduce friction when integrating with libraries and vendor code and to allow progress without requiring fiddling with a language still in beta.
This repository uses submodules to manage dependencies.
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/vegecode/BurnedHead.gitBurnedHead uses Makefiles. Navigate to the base directory of the clone, and point to the specific Makefile you want to build (currently only one):
Example:
make -f configurations/${CONFIGURATION_NAME}/MakefileThe resulting executable(s) are in ./build/${CONFIGURATION_NAME}
Debugging is done using GDB in a shell with the JLink GDBServer providing the connection to the remote target.
Running the shell script ./debug/start_debug /path/to/elf_file will start the
GDBServer and connect GDB to it, then a gdb script loads the executable and sets
a temporary breakpoint at the reset handler.
A sample of some external RAM tests during board bring-up in a Vim/GDB session:
Another easy alternative if you are using a JLink debug probe is to use Ozone, the standalone debugger from Segger or Segger Embedded Workbench which are both free to use for non-commercial purposes.
Integrating with Eclipse should also be possible using the MCU GNU Eclipse plugins.
The back of the first revision of the board was assembled using solder paste and a cast-iron skillet over a stand-alone burner for reflow. Some rework was required as applying the paste without a stencil resulted in uneven application. The front side components were hand soldered.
Some symbols and footprints came from www.snapeda.com. See the library folder for the required license and attributions.