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Earliest alpha or beta boards? — Parallax Forums

Earliest alpha or beta boards?

localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
edited 2013-02-14 11:20 in Propeller 2
OK, I've been lurking on the P2 threads and I'm keenly interested in it, but while I could afford a DEO I can't really justify it for the single use of a few months' alpha testing. So for those of us who aren't taking the FPGA plunge and whose days of maybe trying surface mount soldering ended in our early 40's, what is the earliest that we might be able to get a basic evaluation board with the P2, crystal, whatever will be passing for the P1's EEPROM, necessary voltage regulators, and pins broken out to thru-hole pads? I'm not talking about a production quality product. I'm talking about an alpha or beta review and testing platform so we can try our hand at video drivers, messing with the counters, and showing our bosses what will be coming down the line when P2 is finalized for regular production. It seems likely Parallax will have to do something like this for in-house testing anyway. Any chance of getting on an advance list for such a thing?

Comments

  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2013-02-02 15:28
    I'll second that this would be nice to see. I have the DE0-Nano, but I'm having a hard time justifying the DE2-115.

    C.W.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-02-02 15:38
    ctwardell wrote: »
    I'll second that this would be nice to see. I have the DE0-Nano, but I'm having a hard time justifying the DE2-115.

    C.W.
    Let's hope that none of us need the FPGA boards much longer. It will be really nice to see real chips!
  • Mike GMike G Posts: 2,702
    edited 2013-02-02 16:02
    I'll forth that... I'm worried the catch up am I looking at being that I have not followed this thread other than to acknowledge there's new posts. FPGA.. holy moly - I thought about it...but too many projects.
  • M. K. BorriM. K. Borri Posts: 279
    edited 2013-02-02 16:46
    There's dev boards available? Want want want.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2013-02-02 18:03
    There's dev boards available? Want want want.

    Well, there aren't which is why we are playing Oliver Twist here.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    edited 2013-02-02 22:18
    localroger wrote: »
    ... what is the earliest that we might be able to get a basic evaluation board with the P2, crystal, whatever will be passing for the P1's EEPROM, necessary voltage regulators, and pins broken out to thru-hole pads? I'm not talking about a production quality product.

    Such a break out board can easily be production quality, it is just the Prop 2 that will have ES stamped on it ;)
    These can be pre-prepared as Parallax know the package and pinout, tho I would put adjustable regulators on the Alpha board { sometimes early silicon needs unusual voltages to avoid 'issues'...}
    I'd guess pretty much as fast as Prop 2's come off the tester, they can be ready to mount on a prepared boards.
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2013-02-03 13:55
    I'm just waiting for the IC to be released. Even if it's some sort of beta chip or something.
    As much as I like FPGAs... I think I'll pass on testing a single COG, since the real chip is only a short time away. : ]

    It's cool that some people are getting a head start, but that's not for everyone.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2013-02-03 14:43
    jmg wrote: »
    Such a break out board can easily be production quality, it is just the Prop 2 that will have ES stamped on it ;)

    Yeah, I misstated that a bit; what I meant is that it doesn't need to be as thoroughly thought-out as a product like the Protoboard or Demoboard for actual hobbyist/sales potential. Just something like the P2 equivalent of a nano-ized protoboard with at least the 1.6v voltage regulator so we can use our thru-hole breadboards to get to work with it. I didn't meant to imply that the result would look like something hand-etched in a high schooler's garage lab LOL
  • rod1963rod1963 Posts: 752
    edited 2013-02-03 15:08
    Parallax isn't Microchip, they don't have the resources to churn out new designs at a rapid pace. If they start selling by September I'll be happy, but I'm not holding my breath either at this point. I'm just a end user.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,133
    edited 2013-02-04 08:28
    Beau's got the layout database and submittal documents completed and we are sending them off tomorrow. I estimate we'll have chips back in the middle of March. Let's hope they work!

    Meanwhile, we'll design a board to test the returning chips. We should get about 40 chips back. If they work, we might be able to part with a few of them. Once we make sure that everything's okay, we'll order the final mask set and get it into production.
  • pedwardpedward Posts: 1,642
    edited 2013-02-04 11:35
    rod1963 wrote: »
    Parallax isn't Microchip....

    And here I thought you were going to say that Parallax doesn't put out alpha or beta chips to customers, they wait until it's right! :D
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2013-02-04 14:57
    I would love to get my hands on one of the early beta chips. : ]
    As I'm sure a lot of other people would as well.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2013-02-04 15:51
    cgracey wrote: »
    Once we make sure that everything's okay, we'll order the final mask set and get it into production.

    Cool! I think that even if you find some flaws, those early chips could be useful to some of us for testing code over the functions that test OK.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 13,800
    edited 2013-02-14 07:53
    I think the first board I'll make is a Propeller Platform with the Prop2 chip...

    With P1, the double row of headers are connected. But, with Prop2, I think each hole could be a different I/O pin, breaking out 64 I/O pins...
    This should allow use of existing "shields"...
  • Martin HodgeMartin Hodge Posts: 1,246
    edited 2013-02-14 09:01
    Rayman wrote: »
    I think the first board I'll make is a Propeller Platform with the Prop2 chip...

    With P1, the double row of headers are connected. But, with Prop2, I think each hole could be a different I/O pin, breaking out 64 I/O pins...
    This should allow use of existing "shields"...

    I had planned to do the exact same thing, actually. I'll have to rethink that now.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 13,800
    edited 2013-02-14 09:34
    I think there's plenty of room for 2 or 3 different versions of this...

    There are a lot of options for what to put on the board, as I see it.
    I seriously doubt our designs would be identical.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-02-14 09:37
    I had planned to do the exact same thing, actually. I'll have to rethink that now.
    Maybe a P2 version of ASC+? That way we can hook all of the Arduino users right from the start! :-)
    I guess you'd have to have an extra non-standard connector to bring out more of the P2 I/O pins though.
  • Roy ElthamRoy Eltham Posts: 2,996
    edited 2013-02-14 10:07
    AMSC+ ? (Arduino Mega)
  • Martin HodgeMartin Hodge Posts: 1,246
    edited 2013-02-14 11:20
    Yeah, I'm going to concentrate on the Arduino Mega idea.
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