Is this a Pbasic 2 or 2P?

paysonbadboy · 2005-02-23 01:42

Well I mentioned before (in another thread) that I bought a pair of PBASIC2 controllers from someone on ebay. After about 5 weeks·I FINALLY got it.

The BUMMER is·I misread the sale and thought it was for TWO controllers so $51 was a deal I thought!
Nope. It is ONE controller. I could have just bought it for around $48 here if it's just a Pbasic2!!!

That pic above is the stamp. It says BS2P-IC
Is that the better PBASIC2 stamp???·
Or is this just a PBASIC2 stamp? On the parallax site the PBASIC2P is NOT green in color. But who knows.

Any info will be great and also, I'll not buy one on ebay again unless it's a KILLER deal or something

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

Chris Savage · 2005-02-23 01:45

The BS2P is a faster BS2 with more memory, and a few new commands for devices such as LCDs, 1-Wire devices, and I2C support.· You can find more information about it at:

www.parallax.com· --> BASIC Stamp Modules --> BASIC Stamp 2p Module

It lists at $79.00

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--==<{Chris}>==--

paysonbadboy · 2005-02-23 02:14

You really responded fast. :P
Well reading what was shown in the specs in my book i understood the PBASIC2P to be better than the just the PBASIC2
but the pics of the PBASIC2P online are BROWN boards and the PBASIC2 is a GREEN board like what I got.

Now does the color matter? The pic I posted is actually linked to the seller who took a pic of this actual stamp which I now received today after over 5 weeks or something. They listed it as a PBASIC2 stamp. Looking at the bottom of the stamp, and even though it is GREEn in color, is it a PBASIC2P and is there any other way to tell?
Oh, on the front the configuration also looks like the picture of a PBSIC2 rather than the PBASIC2P from parallax's website.

I'm hoping it is a PBASIC2P so I can feel better about spending $51 for it!

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

Chris Savage · 2005-02-23 02:21

You're correct...The BS2P is normally not green...Very weird...Maybe I'd better defer a final answer to someone who knows more about that.

On the other hand, if you put it into your programming board and run the software and do an ID check, it will tell you exactly which IC it is.· Let us know, I am curious now.

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Robert Schwartz · 2005-02-23 03:45

That is a BS2, not a BS2P. You can tell by the PIC proccessor, not an Ubicom one. The configuration of the components does look different than any of my BS2's near me right now (2).

Paul · 2005-02-23 03:46

It cerrtainly appears to be a BS2 to me. First is has a PIC chip (the large chip) the BS2P has the new SX48 chips. Second, the date on the bottom says C1997 I think thats too early for the BS2P. Third..yes, green = BS2.
I do have a BS2P that is bright yellow tho.. I'm hoping it's rare and worth lots of money [noparse];)[/noparse]

Paul

Robert Schwartz · 2005-02-23 03:59

Does anyone else notice the 2 smaller chips (EEPROM and interpreter, I bleieve) are not aligned? All of my chips have the chips aligned.

Jim McCorison · 2005-02-23 04:17

Actually, the two chips that you refer to are the EEPROM and voltage regulator. Look at the photos on Parallax's site and you will see they are not lined up. Refer to www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/schem/BS2RevF.pdf for a pictorial schematic.

Jim

Chris Savage · 2005-02-23 04:27

Robert Schwartz said...
That is a BS2, not a BS2P. You can tell by the PIC proccessor, not an Ubicom one. The configuration of the components does look different than any of my BS2's near me right now (2).

Robert,

·· You are correct!· I can't believe I didn't notice that!· Of course, I am spoiled having the actual model printed on the tops of all of my chips.· At least all the ones I have out.

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Paul · 2005-02-23 04:56

This must be a early BS2. I remember that if you used a chip puller on the earlier chips you could damage the traces on the bottom of the chip (as shown in the first picture)
--Paul

paysonbadboy · 2005-02-23 05:56

Thechip seems to be brand new.

I'll test it this week and see if even works LOL!

Next time I'll buy more from here.

And it doesn't take 5 weeks to get to my house!!!

thanks for the info tho.

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

Jim McCorison · 2005-02-23 20:48

[noparse][[/noparse]edit] Before acting on this, read Beau's post below. He points out that the chip itself has "BS2P-IC" printed on it.[noparse][[/noparse]/edit]

Paysonbadboy,

If the auction clearly advertised it as a BS2P, and they shipped you a BS2, I'd ask them to return your money and shipping charges. If they won't, certainly give them a negative for advertising one thing and shipping another lesser version.

Just my $0.02 as a long time eBay'er.

Jim

Post Edited (Jim McCorison) : 2/23/2005 9:53:52 PM GMT

Beau Schwabe · 2005-02-23 21:20

Jim,

The argument may hold, based on the 1st image above, If the person selling the "BS2P" was strictly selling what He or She believed
to be a BS2P based on the labeling on the bottom of the BS. Then this would technically be a valid point of sale.

I have a few (pretty old) BS2's I will check to see what they look like...

Meanwhile, I seem to remember when there was only one BS2 option, that when the EARLY next generation BS2's were available, they
were in the same green package. It was only until someone pointed out the possible confusion, Parallax decided to "color code" the
following releases. - Can someone from Parallax confirm this? I have at least 2 maybe 3 different BS2 versions that are ALL green.

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Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

National Semiconductor Corporation
(Communication Interface Division)
500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
Mail Stop GA1
Norcross,GA 30071

Jim McCorison · 2005-02-23 21:52

Beau said...
The argument may hold, based on the 1st image above, If the person selling the "BS2P" was strictly selling what He or She believed
to be a BS2P based on the labeling on the bottom of the BS. Then this would technically be a valid point of sale.

Beau,

Thanks for pointing that out. I had forgotten about it from the beginning of the thread. That does make a huge difference, and clearly negates what I said. I'm fairly new to Stamps so I don't know the genealogy of them.

Paysonbadboy, have you stuffed that puppy into a carrier yet and id'ed it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Jim

Robert Schwartz · 2005-02-24 02:27

Also, look at the top picture. It says BS2P, however in the bottom right, it says 1997. The BS2P came out in 2001 (i think).

paysonbadboy · 2005-02-24 02:47

I wonder about the date too. But I'me sure them green PCB boards were made by the bunches all with the same dates?

When buying the IC I assumed it was a standard PBASIC2 ic not a PBASIC2P
I just read the auction wording wrong and thought I was getting TWO IC's dang nab it!

I'm in the middle of copying a DVD movie on this computer, so I'll have to remember to try programming the IC later. maybe I can throw in a PBASIC2P command like the LCDOUT command or something. Anyone know if it would still take the programming or should I expect an error if it is just a PBASIC2 IC?

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

Robert Schwartz · 2005-02-24 02:49

Actually, the boards are all a bit different, so I doubt that they were made in large quantities to make different types of chips. The BS2's have lower pin count PIC chips, while the BS2P's have high pin density Ubicom chips. The boards definately weren't using a common trace layout, it just wouldn't be possible.

Beau Schwabe · 2005-02-24 06:19

Jim said...
Paysonbadboy, have you stuffed that puppy into a carrier yet and id'ed it? Inquiring minds want to know.

I have a number of the same BS2's with the exact same markings on the back that Paysonbadboy received on ebay...

"BS2P-IC RevE" dated 1997

...I also have a few much older BS2's with a 1994 RevC on the back

Both of these BS2's id'ed as a BS2 ver 1.0

[noparse][[/noparse]Pure Speculation]
Now, saying that, I have known other software programs to not necessarily be 100% backwards legacy compatible.
What I mean is that in the older BS2's it wasn't necessary to provide a unique model ID other than detecting a
BS2 through general handshaking. So the earlier BS2 versions may not have been able to broadcast it's ID upon
request simply because it wasn't in the BS2 to begin with. Unfortunately if the software assumes that it is a BS2,
when in fact it may be an early BS2P without an ID, the "new" software will only program it to a BS2 because that
is all it can determine.
[noparse][[/noparse]/Pure Speculation]

I'm a little surprised we have not heard anything from a "Parallax official" in the reasoning behind the "P".
......"P" stands for "Parallax" maybe?

Clearly this is printed on the back of a BS2 module that identifies itself as a BS2 version 1.0

From a re-sellers perspective in a situation such as Paysonbadboy's this could be very misleading.
Suppose it was an honest mistake and the re-seller knows absolutely nothing to very little about the product.
Granted you would hope or think that the re-seller would be a little more on his/her toes about what
was being sold, but have you observed the mental capacity in retail lately? - UGHH!

BS2P-IC RevE (Left image attachment)
BS2-IC RevC (Right image attachment)

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Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

National Semiconductor Corporation
(Communication Interface Division)
500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
Mail Stop GA1
Norcross,GA 30071

Post Edited (Beau Schwabe) : 2/24/2005 6:28:37 AM GMT

dandreae · 2005-02-24 23:28

To help clear things up, Parallax was going to make a BS2p using a PIC microcontroller and it was 90% finished until there were some flaws that couldn't be corrected properly.· Therefore, the boards themselves were compatible for the BS2 and they used them instead of wasting them.··Beau Schwabe is correct, you can always determine your BASIC Stamp by the firmware and ID in the BASIC Stamp editor.

Dave

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Dave Andreae

Tech Support
dandreae@parallax.com
www.parallax.com

·

Jim McCorison · 2005-02-25 00:03

Hey Paysonbadboy, it looks like you've got a collectors item. Kind of like those mis-printed stamps or off-punched coins. Save it. Could be worth a cool million someday.

Jim

paysonbadboy · 2005-02-27 05:41

Well glad the "mystery" is solved :P

I knew it was just a PBASIC2 (not a 2P) when I bought it.
The only thing that bummed me was I must have been tired or something when I bid on that auction because i thought I was getting TWO controllers for that price!
Otherwise, I'd just buy it from Parallax.

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

Is this a Pbasic 2 or 2P?

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