SX or propeller?

[Henrymou]

I have mastered the BASIC stamp.
I want to know from the experts whether the propeller or dip SX chip is best for advanced robotics.
tell me everythin'
-Henry
http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[Mike Green]

Henry,
There has been plenty of discussion before and I don't think there's anything new. "Best" depends on what you want to do and what you mean by "advanced robotics".

[Henrymou]

Well, yes but which one has the best:
processing power
data space
price range $$$
most amount of pinss?
...
and more?

[Henrymou]

oh, I changed my icon yo

[Charlie Johnson]

Maybe look at the Data Sheet/Info

http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/datast/SX20AC-SX28AC-Data-v1.6.pdf

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=P8X32A-D40

[Mike Green]

Please stay away from discussions of "best". It's not useful.

processing power
The SX will process more instructions per microsecond. Each instruction on the SX only processes an 8 bit value while the Propeller does 32 bit arithmetic. The Propeller's instructions do more per instruction if that's useful. The Propeller also has 8 independent processors while the SX only has one. The SX does have an interrupt capability so it can do some functions as interrupt routines, thus sort of doing several things at the same time (functionally) as well.

data space
The Propeller has more built-in RAM memory (32K bytes + 512 words/cog) which is shared between program and data. The SX has separate data (262 bytes) and program (4K instruction words) memory, both less than the Propeller's, but possibly making better use of it depending on the application.

price range $$$
Prototype board price for SX = $10. Prototype board price for Propeller = $25

most amount of pinss?
SX48 has 36 I/O pins while the Propeller has 32 I/O pins of which 28 are generally available and 4 are used for booting, but available afterwards.

[Henrymou]

OH, thank u!
I think I will use the SX chip, It sounds better for my kind of projects
bye

[Capt. Quirk]

Depending on your program size, you can run out of Variable space with the SX in a hurry.·If your using SX/B, time dependent functions like Pulsout, serin, pause, etc. will slow your program way down. If you compare sections of code that have been converted to SASM, the difference in runtime between a 4 and a 50 mhz crystal is extreamly small, even though the 50 mhz will produce aprox. 11 times cycles of the 4 mhz.

The biggest differences for me was, timiming is much more critical, PBasic uses many more word variables and· converting code isn't always easy as maybe it should be.·Debuging the SX and the learning curve was much steeper for me than the BS2 also. But I enjoy working with the SX very much.

If price is the main factor, you might also look at the BS2SX OEM modules too

[Henrymou]

yep, SX chip it is! http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/yeah.gif

[Loopy Byteloose]

On the other hand, if you want video and keyboard: use the Propeller

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"If you want more fiber, eat the package.· Not enough?· Eat the manual."········


···················· Tropical regards,····· G. Herzog [·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

[Paul]

The Propeller has a BS2_functions.spin to get you up and running quickly also. If SX has something like that I never found it.

2 cents
Paul