Gumstix Verdex
| Support for the Gumstix Verdex is deprecated because the product lines using this board have been replaced with hardware based on the Gumstix DuoVero. Refer to the QUARC Linux DuoVero Target for details. |
QUARC supports the Gumstix's Verdex board as a data acquisition card and more particularly the Verdex XL6P since it has enough onboard flash memory (32 MB) to hold the QUARC-required gcc-based compilation tools and other integration utilities without using a microSD card for additional flash memory space. The Gumstix Verdex is built and sold by Gumstix, Inc. (www.gumstix.com) with a processor speed of 600 MHz. Please see the Gumstix website (www.gumstix.com) and/or the Gumstix support website (https://www.gumstix.com/community/support/hardware/verdex-pro/) for the Verdex complete data sheet. The following characteristics are of particular interest when using the Verdex with QUARC:
The features of the Gumstix Verdex are:
Expansion boards connect directly to the Verdex 60-pin I/O header. Only one expansion board can be connected at a time to a gumstix. They bring, for example, some of the gumstix board functionality (e.g., DIOs, serial ports, USB port) directly available to the user. QUARC can be used with the following expansion boards connected to the Verdex:
To select the Verdex, select the QUARC driver verdex from the drop-down list on the Main tab of the HIL Initialize block. Please note that only one Verdex card is supported in the system.
| Note that the QUARC Linux Verdex target must be selected when using the Verdex as a HIL board, as the QUARC controller runs on the Verdex ARM processor. Currently Linux is the only operating system supported by Gumstix, Inc.. |
Depending on the OpenEmbedded (OE) Linux system clock resolution configured and running on the Verdex board, the maximum sampling frequency achievable by a model will typically vary between 50 Hz (usually the default OE system configuration) and 767 Hz (i.e., 1.3-millisecond sampling interval).
Also note that both date and time on the gumstix Verdex system are set by the QUARC Host to match the date and time on the Host PC every time a model is built on that gumstix. This is done to optimally use the makefile-based buid process on the gumstix so that the timestamps of the source files generated on the Host PC (and transfered to the gumstix) are consistent with the timestamps of the files resulting from the corresponding compilation on the gumstix.
1Furthermore, the full function serial port (FF RXD/TXD) is used by the Linux kernel during boot and should not be connected during boot. Quanser recommends using the bluetooth (BT RXD/TXD) and/or IrDA (IR RXD/TXD) serial ports instead.
The QUARC driver name for this card is verdex.
Configuration
In order for QUARC to communicate between the host Windows PC and the gumstix Verdex target board, networking (allowing for TCP/IP) must be
configured on the gumstix. Therefore, the gumstix board must be connected to one of the Verdex-compatible network cards. A wifi module was also
available. However, only the Verdex Pro is now sold so the expansion boards for the Verdex are no longer available.
Clocks
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support hardware clocks.
Analog Inputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support analog inputs.
Analog Outputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support analog outputs.
Digital Inputs
The Verdex board has a total 119 GPIO pins (ranging from GPIO channels 0 to 118) among which 5 pins are reserved. Specifically GPIO channels 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are reserved. This leaves a total of 114 digital lines available to the user to configure either as a digital input or digital output. A digital I/O line cannot be used as an input and output at the same time.
Since the 114 digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs on the Verdex, all of those 114 channels which will be
used for digital inputs should be configured on the HIL Initialize block's
Digital Inputs tab. Set the Digital input channels field to all the digital I/O channels that will be used
as digital inputs on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 42:45 to designate channels 42 through 45 as digital inputs.
Specify [11, 14, 19] to indicate that channels 11, 14, and 19 are to be configured as digital inputs.
Digital Outputs
The Verdex board has a total 119 GPIO pins (ranging from GPIO channels 0 to 118) among which 5 pins are reserved. Specifically GPIO channels 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are reserved. This leaves a total of 114 digital lines available to the user to configure either as a digital input or digital output. A digital I/O line cannot be used as an input and output at the same time.
Since the 114 digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs on the Verdex, all of those 114 channels which will be
used for digital outputs should be configured on the HIL Initialize block's
Digital Outputs tab. Set the Digital output channels field to all the digital I/O channels that will be
used as digital outputs on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 42:45 to designate channels 42 through 45 as digital
outputs. Specify [11, 14, 19] to indicate that channels 11, 14, and 19 are to be configured as digital outputs.
To set the digital output values when the model is loaded or unloaded, set the Initial digital outputs and Final digital outputs to the desired values respectively. If the vectors specified in these fields are shorter than the channel vector, the value of the last element in the vector will be used for the rest of the channels. Hence, a scalar value will apply to all channels specified in the Digital output channels field.
Encoder Inputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support encoder inputs.
PWM Outputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support PWM outputs.
Other Inputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support other inputs.
Other Outputs
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support other outputs.
Interrupts
The Gumstix Verdex card, or its driver, does not support any interrupt sources.
Watchdog
The gumstix Verdex PXA270 processor has a built-in watchdog timer which forces a hard reset when timeout is reached. The Verdex HIL driver uses
the Linux SA1100/PXA2xx watchdog timer, which is implemented in the sa1100_wdt kernel driver. Therefore in order to use the watchdog
functionality in QUARC, the sa1100_wdt.ko kernel module should be loaded and running on the gumstix Verdex. The corresponding
/dev/watchdog character device file should then be available. Place a HIL Watchdog block in the diagram to use this feature. The block
Timeout parameter (i.e., watchdog timer) may be programmed with any integer between 1 and 255 seconds. If a floating-point value
is specified, only its integer part will be used to set the watchdog timer.
| It is important to know that the Linux SA1100/PXA2xx watchdog timer, once started/enabled, cannot be disabled and will reboot the gumstix Verdex when timeout is reached. Hence, stopping a model containing a HIL Watchdog block will ultimately reboot the gumstix board (and do a hardware reset) when timeout is reached. Therefore the Verdex watchdog is more meant to be used in deployed/production code, which is, for example, designed to start at boot and always run on the gumstix. |
Board-Specific Options
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support any board-specific options.
Properties
The Gumstix Verdex card does not support any properties.
Targets
|
Target |
Supported |
Comments |
|---|---|---|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
Yes |
Fully supported. |
|
|
No |
Not supported. |
|
|
Rapid Simulation (RSIM) Target |
Yes |
Supported with no communication to the hardware. |
|
Normal simulation |
Yes |
Supported with no communication to the hardware. |
See Also
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