Help to understand src rom code

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livec
Posts: 2
Joined: 16 Nov 2019, 07:18

Help to understand src rom code

Post by livec »

I started to learn src rom code and difficulties appeared.
I do not understand line 0012 ? Please give me a hint.



------------------- 0003 0001 ld $01--------------;
.countMem0:----0004 d601 st [$01],y---------;
------------------- 0005 00ff ld $ff---------------;
------------------- 0006 6900 xora [y,$00]------- ;
------------------------------------------------------- ;
--------------------0007 ca00 st [y,$00]---------;
--------------------0008 c200 st [$00]-----------;
------------------- 0009 6900 xora [y,$00]------- ;
--------------------000a ec0a bne $000a--------- ;
---------------------------------------------------------;
---------------------------------------------------------;
---------------------------------------------------------;
---------------------------------------------------------;
---------------------------------------------------------;
--------------------000b 00ff ld $ff-----------------;
------------------- 000c 6900 xora [y,$00]---------;
------------------- 000d ca00 st [y,$00]-----------;
------------------- 000e 6100 xora [$00]-----------;
------------------- 000f f013 beq .countMem1----;
--------------------0010 0101 ld [$01]-------------;
--------------------0011 fc04 bra .countMem0----; branch always
------------------- 0012 8200 adda ac--------------; AC+$00 I do not understand how this instructions
--------------------------------------------------------; is started, if before it branch always instruction,and
--------------------------------------------------------; not other link to it ?!?!
.countMem1:----0013 00ff ld $ff-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last edited by livec on 20 Nov 2019, 06:34, edited 1 time in total.
at67
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Posts: 647
Joined: 14 May 2018, 08:29

Re: Help to understand src rom code

Post by at67 »

Because of the instruction pipelining, (there's a good explanation of how it works here https://gigatron.io/media/gigatron-hackerhotel.pdf), there is always a branch delay slot following every branch in native code.

In simpler terms; every instruction following a branch is always executed, (even if the branch is taken).

The simple way to deal with this is to insert a NOP after every branch in your code and call it a day, or you can do what Marcel has done and take serious advantage of this free feature and use it to do some pretty cool stuff.

Marcel can do a more thorough job of explaining how he has used it to good use in the ROM.
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marcelk
Posts: 488
Joined: 13 May 2018, 08:26

Re: Help to understand src rom code

Post by marcelk »

Exactly. Earlier I wrote something about how to embrace it:
https://hackaday.io/project/20781-gigat ... subroutine

The Gigatron as it is now won't work without this feature. For example it enables random read access from most of the program memory. That is a bit special in the context of a Harvard architecture. Originally I intended to use long sequences of

Code: Select all

  ...
  st $dd,[y,x++]
  st $dd,[y,x++]
  st $dd,[y,x++]
  ...
for ROM data transfer. But by exploiting the branch delay slot we discovered new possibilities.
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marcelk
Posts: 488
Joined: 13 May 2018, 08:26

Re: Help to understand src rom code

Post by marcelk »

This is of course the first native assembly routine that people encounter, and they may not have watched one of Walter's Gigatron lectures. Only at the third branch instruction the delay slot is really important. So better point it out in the comments. I just updated this in GitHub.

The memory count tests up to 8 addresses. It restores their value in case this might be needed after a warm restart.

Code: Select all

              address
              |    encoding
              |    |     instruction
              |    |     |    operands
              |    |     |    |
              V    V     V    V
              0006 0001  ld   $01         ;Quick RAM test and count
.countMem0:   0007 d601  st   [$01],y     ;Store in RAM and load AC in Y
              0008 00ff  ld   $ff
              0009 6900  xora [y,$00]     ;Invert value from memory
              000a ca00  st   [y,$00]     ;Test RAM by writing the new value
              000b c200  st   [$00]       ;Copy result in [0]
              000c 6900  xora [y,$00]     ;Read back and compare if written ok
              000d ec0d  bne  $000d       ;Loop forever on RAM failure here
              000e 00ff  ld   $ff
              000f 6900  xora [y,$00]     ;Invert memory value again
              0010 ca00  st   [y,$00]     ;To restore original value
              0011 6100  xora [$00]       ;Compare with inverted copy
              0012 f016  beq  .countMem1  ;If equal, we wrapped around
              0013 0101  ld   [$01]
              0014 fc07  bra  .countMem0  ;Loop to test next address line
              0015 8200  adda ac          ;Executes in the branch delay slot!
.countMem1:
P.S: after a cold restart, the memory is practically never in an all-zero state. SRAM bits are made from bistable circuits and those come up in an arbitrary state. It is mostly random, but with some biases that vary from chip to chip. The Gigatron extracts entropy from it for the random number generator. No two games of Snake will be the same :D .
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livec
Posts: 2
Joined: 16 Nov 2019, 07:18

Re: Help to understand src rom code

Post by livec »

Thanks,now I understand this part of code :)
I will move on.
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