Probably best to avoid the term OP, as I think it means something different in Aleph world (Bees?). I got a bit confused and wondered why you wanted to start by writing a Teletype OP!
I only know a little about the Aleph in terms of it’s hardware and software. I do know that it uses a different bootloader setup for the AVR32, which means the linker script is a bit different. Plus I think it has some extra SDRAM that the Teletype doesn’t. Obviously the IO setup is different too.
Anyway, first of, use this repo to get a toolchain on OSX:
If that one doesn’t compile, comeback to me and I will suggest a different one (don’t ask it’s complicated).
Next up I would suggest trying to get some of the Aleph apps to compile locally. Probably best asking someone other than me for which ones to start with.
If it were me, the first major milestone I would work towards was to get a butchered version of the Teletype codebase to compile and boot on the Aleph. And by butchered I mean removing anything that seems like too much effort to make work. You’re just looking for a proof of concept, and to figure out what the road blocks are.
One of the biggest issue you will run into is which version of libavr32
to use on the Aleph.
Gotta be honest though, you’ll need to get comfortable with both the Aleph codebase and the Teletype codebase to get the port done. Once you’re at that point it should be an easy job (e.g. a weekend of coding).
How much C coding have you done? Likewise embedded coding? For reference, I’d done some C++ and Objective-C before, but the Teletype work I’ve done was my first real use of C. Similarly, I’d only played with Arduinos before.
Ultimately you’re going to want to hack on the Teletype codebase. Do you own a Teletype?
You’ll need to get familiar with git
if you’re not. Also, the Teletype repo makes use of submodules, which can catch you out if you’ve never used them before.
The Teletype code is a whole extra level of complex compared to anything else. It’s about 16,000 lines of C (not including the tests or libavr32
), vs 1,600 for White Whale.
There is a simulator for Teletype, but it’s only for the programming language (which is abstracted from the hardware). The actual app, with the script editor and the pattern editor and such only runs on hardware. AFAIK there is an Aleph DSP simulator environment, but not one for the control side.
Yikes, bit of a wall of text. I hope it’s not too overwhelming.