Wow. It looks extremely nice. And while some people might think I am a bit crazy with my question about IR going through the smoke plastic - the idea is to install a 38.5Kh IR sensor to exploit a conventional IR remote control. This package could sit nicely in any living room and do quite a few magical things.
Yes, I might just order two right away as it looks like one will be rapidly committed to use in the real world. I still need one more for exploration of other possibilities. At first I thought you guys were being a bit silly about black screw heads, but they certainly enhance the presentation.
I think I have found something that is missing on the packaging of the C3.
Are there any mounting holes in the base plate of the enclosure?
If the C3 is to be used in industrial applications there needs to be a way to mount it.
Even if a hobbiest wants to mount it to their robot, there needs to be some mounting holes.
There are mounting holes on the C3 boards, please don't forget the mounting holes on the C3 case.
I think I have found something that is missing on the packaging of the C3.
Are there any mounting holes in the base plate of the enclosure?
If the C3 is to be used in industrial applications there needs to be a way to mount it.
Even if a hobbiest wants to mount it to their robot, there needs to be some mounting holes.
There are mounting holes on the C3 boards, please don't forget the mounting holes on the C3 case.
It's not very difficult to drill a few holes in acrylic so you should be able to make your own mounting holes. Of course, just drilling a round hole means you will have to "screw down" the base of the enclosure before assembling it since that's the only way you'll have access to the screw holes. Creating slotted holes is a little harder to do cleanly.
I expect that Parallax will probably publish the files used to create the enclosure. They did this with the Parallax Multi-Board Enclosure. You could take those files, add some holes, and have custom panels laser cut (it's not very expensive). One option may be to add some "tabs" to either end of the base plate (or just extend the base plate) so that mounting holes can be placed outside the main body of the enclosure. These would make the enclosure require a little more "wall space" but they would also make it easier to install/remove the enclosure.
Since there's an infinite number of application/mounting possibilities in the real world, we didn't make any extra holes in the cases.
And it is quite easy to add holes in the case. The only thing I would recommend is to drill a small pilot hole first, and then use ever increasing bit sizes until you get the hole you need for the screw.
And yes, we'll be posting the native files once we're back from Christmas...
@ Loopy - The pics don't really convey the true *look*. IMHO, when it's in your hand, the Trans Black is almost Angelic.
Also, I haven't tried IR, but even if it doesn't let it through, a small hole for the sensor is a simple solution.
@ David - I don't know the cost of the proto-board, but I'm sure it'll be reasonable. It does have to go through the pik-n-place and oven, because there are a couple of components on it too (Led's and resistors).
And while some people might think I am a bit crazy with my question about IR going through the smoke plastic - the idea is to install a 38.5Kh IR sensor to exploit a conventional IR remote control. This package could sit nicely in any living room and do quite a few magical things.
Yes, we think you're crazy, or at least a bit loopy, but that's a separate issue. The IR idea is really good.
I have boxes of old IR remotes that out lasted the controled device. So a suggestion for a first aplication might be one that watches for the IR signals and then displays something on the screen. Maybe even log the codes between the power on and power off sequence, so we could determine what we have to work with. I could justify buying one for that use alone. Not like I need any further excuses to buy one.
I suspect that the smoke will easily let IR through. Drilling holes in plastic are never a problem and using a small pilot hole certainly keeps larger drill bits from wandering in the rather soft plastic material. It is likely that at least one hole will have to be drilled for a cable or plug to other boards (in my case, a relay board), so it isn't a big deal. Some drilling might ber avoided by using a ribbon cable for interfaces.
Now I am thinking that both an IR sensor and a backlit LCD display might work nicely with the case. At least it looks that way from the photos.
The CE will be my Chinese New Years gift to myself (early February 2011).
I had a few hours so spare, so I just did some work to get Catalina working executing from the SPI RAM available on Bill Henning's Morpheus board (which has a single 23K256). Then I realized that all I needed to do to also get it working using the SPI RAM on the C3 was modify the chip select logic (which I have now done). The current code is quite slow (I have not implemented a cache yet!) but works ok.
However, I have no C3 available to test it, and I am going away for a week or so - so if anyone has a C3 and would be willing to test out Catalina's XMM kernel over the next week or so (the LMM kernel should already run on the C3) then please let me know. Post here (I'll check later today) or email me at ross (at) thevastydeep.com and I'll send you the code.
I had a few hours so spare, so I just did some work to get Catalina working executing from the SPI RAM available on Bill Henning's Morpheus board (which has a single 23K256). Then I realized that all I needed to do to also get it working using the SPI RAM on the C3 was modify the chip select logic (which I have now done). The current code is quite slow (I have not implemented a cache yet!) but works ok.
I have a cached SPI driver for the C3 that uses the same mailbox interface as jazzed's 32mb SdramCache board uses for ZOG. If you can use that interface, you can execute code on the C3 either from the 64k of SPI SRAM or from the 1MB SPI flash. I currently use the 1MB of flash for code space and the 64k of SRAM for data space under ZOG. If I can interface Catalina with this driver I can test it on the C3.
I have a cached SPI driver for the C3 that uses the same mailbox interface as jazzed's 32mb SdramCache board uses for ZOG. If you can use that interface, you can execute code on the C3 either from the 64k of SPI SRAM or from the 1MB SPI flash. I currently use the 1MB of flash for code space and the 64k of SRAM for data space under ZOG. If I can interface Catalina with this driver I can test it on the C3.
Hi David,
Jazzed was going to do some work on getting Catalina working on his SDRAM board, so after he does that then your driver should also be useful for Catalina on the C3.
I just did a quick SPI port for Morpheus, nothing specific to the C3. But if you send me your code I'll see what I can do with it when I get back.
Jazzed was going to do some work on getting Catalina working on his SDRAM board, so after he does that then your driver should also be useful for Catalina on the C3.
I just did a quick SPI port for Morpheus, nothing specific to the C3. But if you send me your code I'll see what I can do with it when I get back.
Ross.
Here is my cached SPI memory driver for the C3. It handles the SPI flash chip as well as the two SPI SRAM chips. I also use it from C code to handle SD card sector I/O.
I noticed the schematics for the Propeller Demo Board was in the Datasheet for the P8X32A-Q44, but I did not see any schematics for the Propeller C3 Board. Does anyone know if and where the schematics could be found?
Just goto the C3 product page all the documents are right there including the book that goes with the product. The schematic is in the book and copies on the FTP, the paths are inside of the book.
Hi everyone,
here's a screenshot attached for "Project B", a side-scroller action game designed for the C3:
The game is not done yet, but it should look like the screen shown.
Lots of work to do!
Nothing, he is just working working away on it. This will be the most advanced graphics engine on the Prop to date, so very complex. Maybe another month or so the game will be done.
The intro to Project B is really cool I must say.
I suspected that it was streamed in realtime from the SD-card. Just to test out if that were the case, I unplugged the SD-card while the intro was running.
Guess what? It stopped !
I'm wondering what sound engine he is going to use ??
Comments
Yes, I might just order two right away as it looks like one will be rapidly committed to use in the real world. I still need one more for exploration of other possibilities. At first I thought you guys were being a bit silly about black screw heads, but they certainly enhance the presentation.
Are there any mounting holes in the base plate of the enclosure?
If the C3 is to be used in industrial applications there needs to be a way to mount it.
Even if a hobbiest wants to mount it to their robot, there needs to be some mounting holes.
There are mounting holes on the C3 boards, please don't forget the mounting holes on the C3 case.
It's not very difficult to drill a few holes in acrylic so you should be able to make your own mounting holes. Of course, just drilling a round hole means you will have to "screw down" the base of the enclosure before assembling it since that's the only way you'll have access to the screw holes. Creating slotted holes is a little harder to do cleanly.
I expect that Parallax will probably publish the files used to create the enclosure. They did this with the Parallax Multi-Board Enclosure. You could take those files, add some holes, and have custom panels laser cut (it's not very expensive). One option may be to add some "tabs" to either end of the base plate (or just extend the base plate) so that mounting holes can be placed outside the main body of the enclosure. These would make the enclosure require a little more "wall space" but they would also make it easier to install/remove the enclosure.
And it is quite easy to add holes in the case. The only thing I would recommend is to drill a small pilot hole first, and then use ever increasing bit sizes until you get the hole you need for the screw.
And yes, we'll be posting the native files once we're back from Christmas...
@ Loopy - The pics don't really convey the true *look*. IMHO, when it's in your hand, the Trans Black is almost Angelic.
Also, I haven't tried IR, but even if it doesn't let it through, a small hole for the sensor is a simple solution.
@ David - I don't know the cost of the proto-board, but I'm sure it'll be reasonable. It does have to go through the pik-n-place and oven, because there are a couple of components on it too (Led's and resistors).
Merry Christmas!
-Matt
Yes, we think you're crazy, or at least a bit loopy, but that's a separate issue. The IR idea is really good.
I have boxes of old IR remotes that out lasted the controled device. So a suggestion for a first aplication might be one that watches for the IR signals and then displays something on the screen. Maybe even log the codes between the power on and power off sequence, so we could determine what we have to work with. I could justify buying one for that use alone. Not like I need any further excuses to buy one.
Now I am thinking that both an IR sensor and a backlit LCD display might work nicely with the case. At least it looks that way from the photos.
The CE will be my Chinese New Years gift to myself (early February 2011).
Tom
You'll also note that the ICCV7 C Compiler is in the catalog, but it just got EOL.
Print just can't keep up with our hectic daily changes.
Jim
I had a few hours so spare, so I just did some work to get Catalina working executing from the SPI RAM available on Bill Henning's Morpheus board (which has a single 23K256). Then I realized that all I needed to do to also get it working using the SPI RAM on the C3 was modify the chip select logic (which I have now done). The current code is quite slow (I have not implemented a cache yet!) but works ok.
However, I have no C3 available to test it, and I am going away for a week or so - so if anyone has a C3 and would be willing to test out Catalina's XMM kernel over the next week or so (the LMM kernel should already run on the C3) then please let me know. Post here (I'll check later today) or email me at ross (at) thevastydeep.com and I'll send you the code.
Thanks,
Ross.
Jazzed was going to do some work on getting Catalina working on his SDRAM board, so after he does that then your driver should also be useful for Catalina on the C3.
I just did a quick SPI port for Morpheus, nothing specific to the C3. But if you send me your code I'll see what I can do with it when I get back.
Ross.
Here is my cached SPI memory driver for the C3. It handles the SPI flash chip as well as the two SPI SRAM chips. I also use it from C code to handle SD card sector I/O.
Steve
Andre'
OBC
Andre'
I suspected that it was streamed in realtime from the SD-card. Just to test out if that were the case, I unplugged the SD-card while the intro was running.
Guess what? It stopped !
I'm wondering what sound engine he is going to use ??
/Johannes (Ahle2)