[En-Nut-Discussion] RE: Reading & Writing to an external EEPROM via TCP/IP

Berns J. Buenaobra bbuenaobra at nip.upd.edu.ph
Tue Dec 9 07:18:29 CET 2003


Hello:

What can be the best approach here? I need to be able to write datalogs
with contents of a persons name, time in/out and date on external EEPROM
outside Ethernut from and to a remote PC via TCP/IP. Some suggestion and
help for this newbee would be appreciated.

Thanks.



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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: NutThreadSetPriority (Harald Kipp)
   2. Betr.: Re: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
   3. Re: NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
   4. AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Oliver Schulz)
   5. Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
   6. Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
   7. AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Oliver Schulz)
   8. Re: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
   9. Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Harald Kipp)
  10. Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)
  11. AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Oliver Schulz)
  12. Re: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority (Yuri Staal)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 20:58:19 +0100
From: Harald Kipp <harald.kipp at egnite.de>
Subject: Re: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: "Ethernut User Chat (English)" <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <5.1.1.6.0.20031204205017.01b49fa0 at egnite.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi Yuri,

Threads do not inherit the parent's priority, but are all
started with priority 64.

When starting with your own apps, make sure to use the
Makefile similar to those used in other Nut/OS samples.

You can also check NutThreadCreate's return value. If it's
NULL, then the system ran out of memory most probably.

Finally make sure, that your threads are not blocking
the CPU. Nut/OS is non-preemptive.

Harald



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 09:36:36 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Betr.: Re: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd051bc.072 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Harald,

i understand the fact that all thread are started with priority 64. But
the problem is when i dont set the priority of the 4 server threads,
only two get started, instead of the 4 i want. And thus killing my
application.
The only problem i can see for now, is that the system ran out of
memory.
I'll rewrite my complete structure, to make sure nothing else is
incorrect.

Yuri


------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 12:13:51 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd07698.077 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

i am now outputting almost everything that is done to HYperTerminal.
i have seen a lot of stuff that isnt supposed to happen the way i think
it should happen.
for instance:

for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
       char *thname = "main";
       thname[4] = '0' + i;
       NutThreadCreate(thname, NutMain, (void *) (u_short) i, 640);
       printf("[%i] Name: %s\r\n", i, tdp->td_name);
       }
NutThreadSetPriority(255);
printf("[%i] Idle Thread Priority: %u\r\n", i, tdp->td_priority);

This is the way im creating my 4 threads. setting the priority happens
"outside" the loop. Which is done because it is stated this way in the
docs.
After viewing the output, all 4 threads are created, but it doesnt get
to the part where the priority is lowered.

If i set the priority "inside" the loop, it gets set. 4 times
offcourse...
from one hand, its pretty obvious why this happens. the thread gets a
low priority and Nut/OS switches to the high priority main thread.
maybe im just being ignorant, but i dont understand what effect
NutThreadYield() has in an endless for loop. Because when the priority
gets set so low, the thread loses control over itself, thus, the way i
see it, isnt capable of forfilling his task by Yielding the thread...
maybe somebody can explain this a bit more.

i have also put a printf in the endless for loop, and when i declare the
priority inside the for loop, it spams alot onto the console.
i output the state the thread is in at that moment. After a while (and
this has been always around 1 minute) the spamming stops, and the system
locks up.
Could this have something to do with the NutThreadYield() and setting
the priority in the wrong way?

my questions have grown out to a long story, and i hope nobody minds
reading it :-)

Regards,
Yuri


------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 13:00:16 +0100
From: "Oliver Schulz" <Oliver.Schulz at bong.de>
Subject: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: "Ethernut User Chat (English)" <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID:
	<E7D3411F45AA0F4A913D3F0CE266F95C0E2B03 at uwp-ex001.bong.local>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Yuri,

lets start to examine your code and answer your questions...

> 
> for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
>        char *thname = "main";
>        thname[4] = '0' + i;
>        NutThreadCreate(thname, NutMain, (void *) (u_short) i, 640);
>        printf("[%i] Name: %s\r\n", i, tdp->td_name);
>        }
> NutThreadSetPriority(255);
> printf("[%i] Idle Thread Priority: %u\r\n", i, tdp->td_priority);

1. If you set the thread number with "thname[4] = '0' + i;" you
overwrite the string termination character! thname is prior set to
"main", so it has 4 characters [0..3] and one termination char [4]. If
you set thname to "main0" for example, the termination char is on index
[5] and will not be overwritten.

2. You MUST assign the return value from NutThreadCreat to tdp! You
don't, so tdp points somewhere into nirvana.. Please use "tdp =
(NUTTHREADINFO*) NutThreadCreate (...);"

3. If you try to print the idle thread priority, tdp points still to the
last created thread. This will not work. Use
"runningThread->td_priority" instead. But note, calling
NutThreadSetPrio(255) will immediately suspend your idle thread and it
executes printf first after it becomes active again..

> maybe im just being ignorant, but i dont understand what effect
> NutThreadYield() has in an endless for loop. Because when the priority
> gets set so low, the thread loses control over itself, thus, the way i
> see it, isnt capable of forfilling his task by Yielding the thread...
> maybe somebody can explain this a bit more.

If all other threads are waiting for something (in most cases for timers
or other events) the idle thread becomes active. Just imagine that all
your "worker"-threads are waiting for a tcp connection...
If than the idle thread does not call NutThreadYield(), it will never
suspended and all other thread have no chance ever to get to run.


Hope that helps,
Oliver.


------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:13:01 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd0847a.051 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Oliver,

your first point is the one that struck me first, but like i said, this
is how it is stated in the example...thats why i started doing it that
way.

your second point. My bad for not pasting all the code. This is what i
use:
NUTTHREADINFO *tdp = nutThreadList;

point 3 again, is a very valid point. THe reason i printed the info, was
to see if the loop completed itself.

Thanks alot for your reply, i think it will be usefull :-)

Yuri



------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 13:41:51 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd08b42.041 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Ok, this doesnt really have to do anything with setting priorities...
but i just wanted to ask.

im checking what threads are running, with what priorities etc, and i
see this:

1FFD arpex      64  SLP   0000   0D7C  1FD7 346 OK 
1C76 httpd4     64  SLP   233E   0000  1C4C 598 OK 
19D9 httpd3     64  SLP   253C   0000  19AF 598 OK 
173C tcpsm      64  RDY  0450   0000  1714 472 OK 
151F rxi5         9    RDY  0450   0CB6  14F9 602 OK 
1282 httpd2     64  RUN  0450   0000  1258 598 OK 
0C85 rxi5         9   SLP   057B   0CB6  0C5F 602 OK 
09E8 httpd1     64  SLP  1CF9   0000  09BE 598 OK 
073E idle         254 RDY  0450  0000  0718 346 OK

as you may see, there are 4 httpd threads. but there are also TWO rxi5
threads...
for as much as i know, the rxi5 thread is the ethernet receive thread...
shouldnt there be 1 rxi5 and 1 txi5 thread, instead of 2 rxi5 threads?
:-|
its kind of mind boggling :-)

Yuri



------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 13:55:11 +0100
From: "Oliver Schulz" <Oliver.Schulz at bong.de>
Subject: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: "Ethernut User Chat (English)" <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID:
	<E7D3411F45AA0F4A913D3F0CE266F95C312E10 at uwp-ex001.bong.local>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Yuri, 

> your first point is the one that struck me first, but like i 
> said, this
> is how it is stated in the example...thats why i started doing it that
> way.
Sometimes even examples are wrong. Which example did use actually use?
httpd?

> 
> your second point. My bad for not pasting all the code. This is what i
> use:
> NUTTHREADINFO *tdp = nutThreadList;
Do you use this line inside the loop or outside?



------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 14:01:50 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd08fdd.005 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

>Sometimes even examples are wrong. Which example did use actually use?
httpd?
Yes, i used the httpd example as a reference point

>Do you use this line inside the loop or outside?
outside the loop, inside the idle thread...
but this isnt the reason why my application crashes, cause it crashed
even before it used that :-)

Yuri


------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 14:10:01 +0100
From: Harald Kipp <harald.kipp at egnite.de>
Subject: Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: "Ethernut User Chat (English)" <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <5.1.1.6.0.20031205134920.02efa7e0 at egnite.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Yuri,

from your posts I may conclude, that you are not too
experienced with C. This is fine. Programming embedded
devices without memory protection requires some extra
care, but even newbies can do it...at least with some
help.

However, I'd recommend to start with very simple and
small programs first. Modifying larger code samples
without understanding what is done inside, bears the
risk of side effects, which are difficult to find
and it's also most difficult to help you in such cases.

Please understand, that I get highly alarmed when you
post a thread list with two rxi5 threads running.
But I'm unable to calm down without any chance to
reconstruct the problem. Don't get me wrong, please.
Many bugs were detected by beginners, because they
try uncommon ways to implement function. But bug
reports like "I made a few changes on a large program
and now it crashes" doesn't help.

If you think you detected a problem, best write a
most simple sample to demonstrate it. You will learn
more and we can help fast.

Hope you don't take this as an unfriendly reply. It's
just an advice and I'm old enough to give advices. :-)

Harald



------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 14:29:58 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd09681.039 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Harald,

you are kind of right. Im not to experienced with embedded programming.
The problem as i see it is as follows:

I started with Ethernut not really knowing too much about it.
I read the docs, looked at the code examples, and tried to understand
all that is happening inside. After that I decided to start working on
my own application.
The first thing i did was create a really simple webserver, which worked
really nice. No problem whatsoever. After some time i discovered the
fact that displaying multiple images isnt done the way i thought it
would be (with the 4 threads and all)
Like i said, i developed my application from scratch, using the docs and
examples. Now after some time i experience (in my eyes) very strange
things.
Like setting the thread priority the way its said to be done in a few
docs, doesnt work for me. This could be because my application was at
first hand not good, but worked for some wonderfull reason.
And it could be for some other reasons... i dont know, thats the
problem.
and about the two rxi5 threads, i really dont know what has happend
there.Like i said, i found it very strange. I will try to close in on
the problem, so I can give you an exact model of what was done, and how
it was done.

And no, i do not take your reply as an unfriendly one. I do not want to
be bugging all you, but i "hate" problems that arise without a really
good reason (to me that is ;-) )

Yuri






------------------------------

Message: 11
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 14:36:25 +0100
From: "Oliver Schulz" <Oliver.Schulz at bong.de>
Subject: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: "Ethernut User Chat (English)" <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID:
	<E7D3411F45AA0F4A913D3F0CE266F95C0E2B04 at uwp-ex001.bong.local>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Yuri,

> 
> as you may see, there are 4 httpd threads. but there are also TWO rxi5
> threads...
> for as much as i know, the rxi5 thread is the ethernet 
> receive thread...
> shouldnt there be 1 rxi5 and 1 txi5 thread, instead of 2 rxi5 threads?
There should be just ONE rxi5 thread, for sure. This thread is created
by a call to NutRegisterDevice (eth0,...);
So be sure not to call this function twice!

A transmitter thread does not exists, however if a thread sends some
bytes to the nic, it is suspended until the transmission of the packet
is finished.

Here a code snippet from httpd:

        char *thname = "httpd0";
        thname[5] = '0' + i;

You can see here, that the string index [5] is the char '0', not the
termination character. If you use a shorter name like "main", you must
supply one byte for the numbering ("main0") and of course adjust the
index 5 to 4..

If you use "NUTTHREADINFO *tdp = nutThreadList;" outside the loop, tdp
points always to the last created thread, when this assignment is
executed. To make it work correctly, assign the return value of
NutThreadCreate to tdp!


Oliver.


------------------------------

Message: 12
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 15:02:42 +0100
From: "Yuri Staal" <staal.ya at stu.hsbrabant.nl>
Subject: Re: AW: AW: [En-Nut-Discussion] NutThreadSetPriority
To: <en-nut-discussion at egnite.de>
Message-ID: <sfd09e31.004 at CLHSLDZ4.hsbrabant.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Harald, Oliver,

you can put a stamp on my forehead, and call me a supernewbie...
after reading Olivers last reply something struck my mind. I was
registering the devices INSIDE the main thread. which i offcourse
*tried* to run 4 times...
this was because i just changed the one time thread creation (which
offcourse only *one* time registers the devices) into the 4 thread
creation...
rawr, i really find myself rather stupid at the moment :-p
i almost for sure know that this HAS to be the problem, so i can fix it
:-)

Kind regards,
Yuri Staal


------------------------------

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