Kaluma: A Tiny JavaScript Runtime for RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico)

https://github.com/kaluma-project/kaluma

by tosh • 4 years ago

76 18 4 years ago

This is a super cool project, it's fun for prototyping with Web Serial API, so you can have a custom web app, custom controllers... sky's the limit.

Gravyness• 4 years ago

    npm install -g @kaluma/cli

    kaluma flash index.js

This installs kaluma, finds the connected device, uploads the code and runs it. Love this simplicity, sounds like it was made the right way. Is there any posts with benchmarks? Very interested about the timing limits of the event loop implementation such as setInterval(()=>{}, 1); and other cpu heavy stuff like math stuff and pin output change speed from javascript.

zachrip• 4 years ago

That's really neat, a lot of times when I see js/ts used in the embedded space, there are a lot of uncanny things coming from using js/ts in my web projects. For example some projects offer TS support but the typings are either all anys or not configured correctly. They also often require lots of random software to flash, I like that this seems to integrate well with npm/node.

lasagna_coder2• 4 years ago

In short, in my experience it's good for toy projects but nothing "heavy"

eatonphil• 4 years ago

Powered by JerryScript.

Just to call out that it isn't a new engine, just a runtime on top of JerryScript (which isn't to diminish it, just to clarify).

https://jerryscript.net/

_ZeD_• 4 years ago

how does it compares to micropython?

moffkalast2• 4 years ago

Would be especially interesting to see how robust it is. Micropython on the Pico can get bricked effortlessly and needs re-flashing to get back in order, so if it's not as fragile it would be a decent contender.

chasd00• 4 years ago

how do you brick a board with micropython effortlessly? ...i'm use to the word "brick" meaning unrecoverable as in "it's just a brick now". If you can fix it by re-flashing then it's not bricked as I understand the term.

MuffinFlavored• 4 years ago

Does QuickJS https://bellard.org/quickjs/ not compile to/run on the RP2040?

f_devd• 4 years ago

Probably not using the standard version quickjs since it uses syscalls and all, but (with some workarounds with threads/syscalls/fs) it could probably run.

incanus77• 4 years ago

Related to Sprig, which is also on HN front page today:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33451148

Kukumber• 4 years ago

That reminds me of this (open smart watch with a js scripting engine): https://shop.espruino.com/banglejs2

https://github.com/espruino/Espruino

Kaluma: A Tiny JavaScript Runtime for RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico)

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