Catalina FlashPoint Guide

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"Small" Example for SuperQuad or Rampage with CodeBlocks in 6 Steps:

Open the CodeBlocks Project
Set the Build Options
Replace and/or edit the target files
Build the Project
Build the XMM Tools
Download the program and run it
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Guide to running the "small" example programs using either SuperQuad or RamPage using CodeBlocks with output over serial link to serial terminal on your PC.

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In the Install Guide we didn't actually use SuperQuad or RamPage because we ran a "tiny" example program.  Now, we're going to configure Catalina to use FlashPoint so we can run a "small" program, "Super Star Trek".

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Note:  There is another "Super Star Trek" example in the "Catalyst_demos" workspace, but that one requires "large" mode and so will only work with RamPage.
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Requirements:  This guide should work for just about any Propeller board with either a SuperQuad or a RamPage FlashPoint memory module.

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There are just six things we need to do:

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Open the workspace containing the "small" Super Star Trek example.
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Set the "Build Options" to select our FlashPoint module.
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Edit the FlashPoint target files "FlashPoint_DEF.inc" and "FlashPoint_CFG.inc" so Catalina knows things such as which pins we are using for FlashPoint, TV, VGA, SD and other devices that may be on your particular Propeller board.
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Build Super Star Trek.
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"Build XMM Tools".
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Download and run the program.
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Open the workspace file with the "small" Super Star Trek example project.

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As in the install guide, do "File->Open" and scroll to the bottom to find "xmm_demos.workspace" in e.g., the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Catalina\codeblocks" folder and open it. 

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Double-click on "startrek_xmm" and to activate it and expand the tree to reveal the C program.  You should see this on the left side:

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Set the "Build Options" to select our FlashPoint module.

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As in the install guide, right-click on "startrek_xmm" project in the left panel and select "Build Options..." from the pop-up menu (or use the menu and select "Project->Build Options..." making sure the startrek_xmm project in this workspace is activated and shows in bold font in the left panel).

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For this example, we'll set all our build options in the "target" ("Release") branch of the tree control in the left pane of the Build Options menu, instead of the project "startrek_xmm", the root of the tree control. 

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But first, select the project build options by selecting "startrek_xmm", the root of the tree control in the left pane.  Unselect everything there:  "libcx", "libm", and "SMALL".

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Now, go back to the "Release" branch and select these options:

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SuperQuad (or RamPage, depending on which one you have installed)
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libcx
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libm
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SMALL
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1K cache
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FLASH loader
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PC (Serial Terminal)        
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Enable automatic CR on LF  (if you are using Propeller Serial Terminal)

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Note:  In some cases you might want to use the "Set Memory Size" build option to warn you if you've exceeded available memory.  If you go over to the "Custom Variables" tab, you'll see the MEM_SIZE variable is 128k, which is not enough for these other build options.  So, if you want to use the "Set Memory Size" build option, you'll need to  increase it to at least 256k.

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Also, go up to the "Policy:" drop list and select "Use target options only".  That may help us from making a mistake by ignoring any build options we may left selected for the project. It should now look like this:

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Edit the FlashPoint target files "FlashPoint_DEF.inc" and "FlashPoint_CFG.inc"

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We need to tell Catalina which pins we are using for RamPage or SuperQuad before we build anything.

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Also, if we want to use VGA, TV, keyboard, mouse, or SD card, we have to tell it about that in these files too.

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Unfortunately, the files that come with Catalina are specifically for the C3 board, which needs a lot of special settings.

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So, we'll provide some more streamlined examples here for you to replace these files with:

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These files should be in one of these two places, depending on your Windows version:
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C:\Program Files (x86)\Catalina\target
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C:\Program Files\Catalina\target 
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Download replacement "FlashPoint_DEF.inc" and "FlashPoint_CFG.inc" files here

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These settings are for a typical Propeller Platform or breadboard setup with:
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The SuperQuad pins are set here to P8 through P15 with the Propeller providing power on pins P8 and P15 and SIO0 on P9
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Here's how I tested these settings with SuperQuad on a simple Propeller Platform board:
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The RamPage pins are set here to P6 through P15 with the Propeller providing power on P6 and P15 and SIO0 on P8
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Here's how I tested these settings with RamPage on a simple Propeller Platform board:
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These settings are if you just plug the module into the Prop Platform header and use two Prop pins to provide power
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Note that the DEF file also includes settings for VGA, TV, keyboard, mouse and SD card, but we aren't using them for this example.
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Build Super Star Trek

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Now that we've set our build options, we're ready to compile the code that will get sent to the Propeller to run.

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Simply select "Build->Build" from the menu or right-click on the project and "Build".   Look down at the "Build Log" window at the bottom of CodeBlocks and you should see this when it's done (with SuperQuad as target):

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Build the XMM Tools

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This step is a little tricky, but if you make a mistake the first time, no harm done, just do it again...

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Here we basically describe the underlying OS that our program will run under.

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From the CodeBlocks menu, select "Tools->Build XMM Utilities"

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A DOS windows should show up like this:

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Type in either "SUPERQUAD" or "RAMPAGE", which ever you have, SuperQuad shown above.
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Note this program is CASE SENSITIVE, so be sure to type everything in UPPER CASE.
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Hit your Enter key to see our cache size options:

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Enter in "1" as shown above.
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Hit Enter again to see the final options:

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For this example, we just need "PC" as shown above.  But, you might want to experiment later with VGA output.  If so, you need to specify "HIRES_VGA" here and also in your project's Build Options.
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Hit Enter again to see the result:

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Hit enter one last time to close this window. 

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Download and run the program.

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Now we're all set to download to the Propeller and run the code from our FlashPoint memory module.

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From the CodeBlocks menu, select "Tools->Download to XMM RAM"

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Now, you have to be a bit patient because it takes about 60 seconds to download over the serial connection.  If you have a PropPlug, you'll see the lights flashing during the download.   

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When finished, you should see this at the bottom of CodeBlocks:

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Make a note of the COM port above for your setup, you'll need it for the serial terminal connection.  
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Open up a serial terminal, like the Propeller Serial Terminal (included with the Propeller Tool)  connect at 115200 baud with the serial port CodeBlocks used to download with (see above).

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You should see this:

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Congratulations!  You've completed this guide.