A new blue pill variant with only 32 KiB of flash (secretly coming with
64 KiB flash) instead of the use 64 KiB flash (secretly coming with 128 KiB)
is not compatible with `make flash`. This commit changes the OpenOCD config
so that both variants can be flashed.
- SPIM0/SPIS0/TWIM0/TWIS0 have the same priority and are mutually exclusive,
to allow concurrent use we change the default TWIM used for i2c to
TWIM1 since spi uses SPI0 by default
This fixes the JTAG flasher which needs a hw_reset
This is needed since the standard jtag reset command does not work
Since FLASHFILE is assigned in the jlink makefile only the bsl needs something
The FLASHFILE is assigned a hex since the bin takes much longer to flash
The mips-malta board is a maintainance burden, has no working UART input
and is unobtainable and thus must be removed.
1. Unobtainable board
=====================
The mips-malta board is not an off-the-shelf part. A quick web
search only show the MIPS website where one is told to "contact sales".
I could find it on ebay, used, at €155 and from single seller.
Not having access to the board means:
a. We cannot maintain it. In fact it could be broken right now.
b. Potential RIOT uses have not access to the board either. In other
words, it is pointless to run on hardware nobody has.
2. No working UART input
========================
Not all applications need UART input, but that is no excuse for not supporting
it:
a. Makes development & debugging way harder.
b. It is impossible to run interactive tests.
b.1. Constrains the rest of the platforms by providing an incentive to not
make tests interactive.
c. The lack of UART is a witness to the poor quality of the port.
I want to stress point (c). If something as basic as a serial port cannot work,
how can we expect more complex fucntionality to work. The answer is impossible
to know, because of point (1).
3. Maintainance burden
======================
The RIOT project has limited time and human resources which can be better spent.
a. Compiling for mips-malta wastes CPU time.
b. Blacklisting the board in the test wastes contributor's time.
c. Adapting the board's makefile during build system rework takes time and makes
the reworks harder.
c.1. Add to that that the changes are most of the time not even tested on the board
because of (1). Look at the github issues/PRs and you will see it.
d. Developers usually stick to the lowest common denominator. Issue (2) sets this
denominator unacceptably low.
MIPS platform in general
========================
In commits I will address general issues in the MIPS platform and why it should all
be removed.
This is needed for those who do not know about searching the periph conf
It gives some hints on how to physically locate you board if connecting up sensors
