Contents
1. Introduction
Astrobe for RISC5 is a fast and responsive integrated development environment for Windows. It is designed to be used to write software to run on the Project Oberon RISC5 soft-core processor implemented on Xilinx FPGA systems. The programming language supported by Astrobe is Oberon. Detailed information about Project Oberon can be found at the website:
The compiled applications produced by Astrobe can also be executed on a subset of the complete Project Oberon OS i.e. just the Kernel, loader, filesystem, SPI, RS232 and SD card support. This is referred to as Embedded Project Oberon. The higher-level layers of Project Oberon OS with its user-interaction features: GUI, display, VGA, mouse, keyboard, compiler, editor etc. are not required on the target FPGA system because all of the development can be done on Windows.
The resulting applications are uploaded are controlled by the Astrobe Terminal connected to the FPGA development board by a 115200 baud serial link. For more information go to the RISC5 page on the Astrobe website:
Oberon is a general-purpose, procedural programming language. Its type-safety, module consistency-checking and predictable code-generation features allow you to develop efficient, reliable, high- and low-level 32-bit native code embedded software without the arbitrary quirks and complexities associated with using C or assembler.
See the Astrobe for RISC5 Feature Summary on the Astrobe website for a full summary of features.
Back to Contents2. System Requirements
Astrobe is supported on Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (or other software that can read PDF files). For proper display of tables uncheck the Acrobat's Preferences > Page Display > Enhance thin lines option.
- Although not a requirement, the Microsoft Consolas font is recommended for use in the IDE. It is designed for programming environments and other circumstances where a monospaced font is useful. It is the font used in the Astrobe screenshots, syntax diagrams and Oberon Quick Reference.
3. List of Files
After running the Astrobe setup installation setup program the following files are created in the program folder that you are asked to specify:
| AstrobeRISC5.exe | Main program |
| AstrobeRISC5.chm | Help file |
| Oberon.xml | Syntax-highlighting schema |
| Syntax.chm | Oberon Syntax Quick Reference |
| UsingOberon.pdf | How to use the Oberon System |
| RISC5OberonGuide.pdf | Oberon Programming Guide |
| OberonReport.pdf | Oberon Language Report |
| ProjectOberon.pdf | The book describing the compiler, operating system and RISC5 processor |
| ReadMe.htm | This file |
| UnistallAstrobeRISC5.exe | Uninstall program |
| UnistallAstrobeRISC5.log | Uninstall support file |
The subfolders Configs, Examples and Lib which contain the configuration files, examples and library modules are created in the data folder that you are asked to specify. This defaults to DriveLetter:\AstrobeRISC5-8.0 where DriveLetter: is the name of the drive from which the installation executable is being run.
4. Installation
Astrobe for RISC5 is distributed as a self-installing file:
- AstrobeRISC5Setup.exe
Install Astrobe as follows:
- Login to your system using an account with Administrator privileges that you will
use when running Astrobe.
- Exit all Windows programs.
- Run the Astrobe setup file AstrobeRISC5Setup.exe
- Press the Next button, and follow the prompts.
- When the installation program has completed, run Astrobe by selecting it from the
Windows Start menu.
5. Technical Support
If you have general technical questions related to Astrobe for RISC5 or the Oberon language post a message on the Astrobe for RISC5 section of the Astrobe Forum.
6. License Agreement
You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software. Your use of this software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and disclaimer.
Astrobe for RISC5
Copyright © 2006-2021 CFB Software
Astrobe for RISC5 may be installed on one or more computers but may only be used by the single person in whose name it is registered. It is licensed for both non-commercial and commercial use. The parts of Astrobe for RISC5 that originated from Project Oberon are subject to the licence conditions below.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEALINGS IN OR USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.
Project Oberon, Revised Edition 2013
Book copyright © 2013 Niklaus Wirth and Juerg Gutknecht;
software copyright © 2013 Niklaus Wirth (NW), Juerg Gutknecht (JG),
Paul Reed (PR/PDR).
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software and its accompanying documentation (the "Software") for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEALINGS IN OR USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.