Lesson 0 (was Re: Aargh. (was Re: Now what?))

[Marc Randolph]

Howdy Shannen, 


On Wed, May 26, 1999 at 12:33:11PM -0400, Shannen Durphey wrote:
> Mike Pitts wrote:
> 
> > You should read any Motorola MCU manual you can get your hands
> > on.  The HC11 is my favorite.
> 
> Read Motorola manual.... I've tried many times to do that.  Puts me to
> sleep faster than a bad movie.  Can read, and only guess.  Where to go
> to "do" after the "read" ?  

[cut neat example of building an engine by book]

> Someone, please, volunteer some clues for the guys that are doggedly
> hanging in, watching for useful stuff.  Books, beginner's lists,
> something.  I'm going to end up so durn frustrated that I go back to
> school for 4 more years, just to learn to understand a small aspect of
> what's inside a .5625 square inch piece of silicon.  

Ack!  Don't go back to school just to learn about chip programming.
I know you were joking, but school probably won't teach you much.
Well, they may teach you how to program in assembler, so it's optional.
But you for sure don't need to become an EE or anything.

> I've helped some guys on the list with some mechanical stuff that's
> pretty basic.  It's not a problem for me.  I know that everyone has to
> start somewhere.  Many mechanics feel that they've worked hard to
> learn the tricks and tips they use, and they're not going to give them
> out to anyone.  I see no reason to make everyone re-invent the wheel. 
> I've chosen to learn much of what I know, and don't mind sharing,
> especially with someone who wants to learn.  It's not going to cut my
> throat to help a list member understand how to diagnose their own
> driveability problems, or to tell the difference between an exhaust
> rattle and a gear noise.
> 
> Some guys seem to treat this programming info like it's reserved for a
> chosen few.  Generally, the people on this list are willing to help, I
> think they just forget where some of us stand in the puddle of
> knowledge.
> Shannen
> *doing the clue mating dance*

Here, let me throw some your direction. ;-)

If you learn the same way as me, it is by doing, not reading.  I can
read and read and it just won't sink in.  But give me a few problems
and examples to get me primed, and then the book becomes something
useful and I can learn and experiment on my own from there.

So, what exactly do you want to learn?  Part of the problem is that
there is soooo much stuff that can be talked about, noone really 
knows where to start.  Not to mention the fact that there are hundreds
and hundreds of different programs out there, which makes it difficult
to talk about specifics because when I say L0100, it is actually L0106
for someone else.

If you are wanting to learn what the program in the EPROM does,
as Mike said, HC11 manuals are pretty well needed.  Depending
on what exactly you want to do/learn, the reference material on the
Motorola web page might do you just fine (it has for me).  It has 
been mentioned on the list before, but you'll need a disassembled 
version of the code from some car also.

I'm willing to help you, but I have to admit I'm not the best person
for the job.  Hopefully the others that are more knowledgable will 
chip in (ie, lets keep the questions on the list rather than privately
mailing people).  What we need is a table listing and a disassembled 
program listing so that everyone can work from the same page.  Maybe 
ANHT since it is already out there thanks to ECMGUY?  Since it already 
has quite a few comments, it might be a good place to start - we can 
double check everything.  Or is there some other PROM that we should
look at instead?

   Marc (wondering about that "puddle of knowledge" we're standing in)

-- 
  Marc Randolph     -    mrand at pobox.com    -     PGP keyID: 0x4C95994D