Hello, Microcontroller!
In this post, we'll explore at a high level the key concepts of programming microcontrollers. Then, to further demystify them, we'll write a small Rust program and run it on an ARM microcontroller.
In this post, we'll explore at a high level the key concepts of programming microcontrollers. Then, to further demystify them, we'll write a small Rust program and run it on an ARM microcontroller.
One of the most idealized physical forms a system can achieve is "the box". You give it some inputs and it gives you some outputs. There's no need for users to know about the guts or implementation details – It's the physical manifestation of the black box.
If you want to build a box, you might start by taking commodity server hardware, loading it with your software, and slapping a logo on it. But what if you want to make a small box? Or something too specialized for commodity hardware?
Blackmagic Mini Converters like this HDMI to SDI converter are purpose-built using a custom PCB. At the literal center of it, there's a Xilinx Zynq 7000 system on a chip (SoC). This chip has two ARM Cortex A9 processors, some memory, FPGA-like programmable logic, and a few other peripherals built into it.
