Running the KENBAK-1 IDE

The KENBAK-IDE.py file is available from my GitHub repository.  If used outside of the KENBAK-2/5 hardware environment, it should run on any machine that supports Python3 without any library dependencies. In this mode you can still write, debug, and run KENBAK-1 assembly language programs. It's a great learning environment all by itself.

If you are running on the KENBAK-2/5's Raspberry Pi with the port extender hat you will have to first make sure that the wiringpi library is installed.

pip3 install wiringpi

I created a folder on the Pi

mkdir /home/pi/KENBAK-1

and copied the KENBAK-IDE.py file there. Then its a simple matter of running the Python script.

cd /home/pi/KENBAK-1
python3 KENBAK-IDE.py

Auto Start the KENBAK-1 IDE

If you are running KENBAK-1 IDE as a dedicated console on the built-in Raspberry Pi like I am it's convenient to have the program start automatically when the machine boots. Here is what I did to make this happen.

I created an autostart folder on my Pi and switched to that folder.

mkdir /home/pi/.config/autostart
cd /home/pi/.config/autostart

Into the autostart folder just created I added the following two files.

runKENBAK-1

cd /home/pi/KENBAK-1
/usr/bin/python3 KENBAK-IDE.py

KENBAK-1.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application Name=KENBAK-1
Exec=/home/pi/.config/autostart/runKENBAK-1 

In addition the runKENBAK-1 file must be made executable with the following command:

chmod 777 runKENBAK-1

Now if you reboot the system, you should briefly see the desktop appear, and shortly after KENBAK-IDE application will load.

Setting up VNC

Current Raspberry Pi OS versions have RealVNC baked in.  If you are running the Raspberry Pi in the KENBAK-2/5 console headless as I am you have to setup a virtual desktop for the VNC client to connect to. The easiest way I have found to do this is to add the following lines to the end of the /etc/rc.local file before the exit 0 on the Pi.

# Setup a virtual screen for the VNC server.
sudo -u pi vncserver -randr=1920x1080

Set the screen dimension to be the same as the machine that you will be accessing the KENBAK-IDE from. You should then be able to connect to the KENBAK-2/5 with a RealVNC client at the machines IP address with a :1 appended, for example in my case 192.169.123.122:1.