PropTouch Propeller Platform Handheld Kit

[jazzed]

I've been working on this design for a while and am getting ready to shoot boards.

The design uses a Propeller Platform short board for the micro. It is designed for a specific Propeller board, but could easily accept any Propeller Platform short board with a compatible assembly. I may create boards which would include other micros at some point.

Shown is a package with LCD (262K colors and separate Graphics RAM) in a modified Bud Industries HB3430 enclosure. Depending on interest I will pay to have BUD industries modify the enclosure for a finished look.

The LCD could be replaced with some other Propeller Platform module: that is, you don't have to have an LCD, it could be another board. The LCD with touch-screen is available from Mouser/Digikey. There are other LCDs which could be used with a special Propeller Platform module.

The motherboard has components listed in the Enclosure Stackup as well as footprints for 2 quad-SPI Flash chips (fast access and non-volatile storage). I expect that the Flash chips could be programmed with code or data taken from the SD card and 262K color mode on LCD. Catalina, PropellerJVM, or other language such as XBASIC (when ready) that can fetch/execute code from external memory would benefit from speedup provided by this temporary storage. An optional SRAM module can be used with 65K color mode on the LCD (number of colors available depends on the number of propeller pins in use).

The motherboard has a switch that lets you select USB or AA battery power. A jumper on the motherboard will allow using power provided by a Propeller Platform board if necessary.

There is room for a small 4 button membrane switch below the LCD.

I'm hoping to have kits for this and SpinSocket32 modules available for UPEW.

If you are interested in this project, please comment. If there is no interest, it will go on the shelf.

I'll have a prototype to show at UPEW, but it would also be useful to know how many kits i should make. The assembled boards will be fairly cheap as is the enclosure - I have some Propeller Platform boards that fit in the stackup and they will be available for you to add your hardware.



Stackup:



Motherboard module shows outline of enclosure and expansion modules:



Optional Flash/EEPROM module 1.2" x 0.8"



Optional IO Expander module 1.2" x 1.3". Also a compatible connector for cables is available.



Optional SRAM/Flash/EEPROM module 1.2" x 1.7":



Here is a picture of the cable connector shell for expansion ports. I may be able to squeeze a Flash cartridge into one ... we'll see.



Also attached but not shown in line is picture of a 1.2" x 1.3" SRAM module.

[Bill Henning]

Looks really good - nice work.

[Oldbitcollector (Jeff)]

Awesome work!

My hat is off to you for using an existing design (The Propeller Platform Board) and incorporating it into your work! This earns you ***** stars from this direction!

Would you mind doing a detailed submission to Propellerpowered.com?

OBC

[jazzed]

Thanks guys.

@OBC. I see a submit a new project page on PropellerPowered.com. Can I edit the entry if necessary?

[nohab]

If it could be possible to squeze in a XBee board as well, I would be more than interested!!

[Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)]

Jazzed,

'Looks like an elegant design: well-conceived and nicely executed! Congrats!

-Phil

[jazzed]

If it could be possible to squeze in a XBee board as well, I would be more than interested!!

I'm not sure. The problem is the number of free pins. The LCD does have an SPI interface which would free pins for xbee or other add-ons, so I might be able to make an optional configuration with that, but it won't be very fast.

Jazzed,

'Looks like an elegant design: well-conceived and nicely executed! Congrats!

-Phil

Thanks Phil. Wish me luck finishing this before UPEW.

[Nick McClick]

I'd definitely get one, looks very, very cool! Nice enclosure and it's not too large.

[localroger]

I'm totally in for one. Very nice work.

[Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)]

Fantastic. You sure packed lot of goodies into it. I'd be interested

[jazzed]

I've changed the motherboard design so that the LCD can be optionally driven by a SPI interface via jumper headers. This allows up to 19 free cartridge pins (with SPI LCD but not headphones and flash). With all standard motherboard design features enabled using LCD SPI, 7 pins would still be available.

So, to recap the operational modes and Cartridge "cart" pin availability, you can have:

1. Motherboard only with SD card (no LCD, headphones, on-board Flash): 24 free cart pins.
2. Motherboard with SD card and SPI LCD (no headphones or on-board Flash): 19 free cart pins.
3. Motherboard only with SD card and on-board Flash (no LCD or headphones): 14 free cart pins.
4. Motherboard only with SD card, on-board Flash, headphone connected, (no LCD): 13 free cart pins.
5. Motherboard with all features and SPI (slow) 262K color LCD: 7 free cart pins.
6. Motherboard with all features and Parallel 262K color LCD: no free cart pins.
7. Motherboard with all features and Parallel 65K color LCD: no free cart pins, up to 256KB fast SPI SRAM.

The optional onboard flash is 2MB fast access byte wide quad-SPI similar to SpinSocket-Flash and Rayman's FlashPoint. I forgot to mention the LCD has it's own Graphics RAM, so Propeller HUB RAM is available for your application.

One of the configurations above should allow a cart with X-bee or some other interfaces.

If I had room for a gyro and an accelerometer on the motherboard I would include it.
As it stands now, a gyro/accelerometer cart is a good expansion candidate.

[prof_braino]

[*]Motherboard with SD card and SPI LCD (no headphones or on-board Flash): 19 free cart pins.

This rocks! I'd be interested in a #2

I won't be at UPEW, but I am planning on UPEC

Any ballpark on price?

[HollyMinkowski]

Oooooo..I like, I like :-)

Would be pretty in other colors too.

I keep scouring ebay for cheap LCDs in cases the right
size to be useful for uC projects... I found some small
picture viewers but they were just too tiny to fit much inside.
Plus none had touch screens.

[jazzed]

@prof_braino, Prices not set yet. I'll set prices after I've fully tested the 7 configuration possibilities.

@Holly, try this in the attachment. It's the Varitronix 1.72" SPI LCD with touch screen in an HB3641 case, I plan to make a Propeller PCB for this too (separate power or Lipo battery/charger). A pair would make nice set of "digital eyes" for robot expressions.

[HollyMinkowski]

jazzed, that one looks great also.
I see what you mean about the eyes thing.
That would work very well.

I bet if we just knew the right people in China to talk to we
could get large runs of something like this at a bargain price.
I have been building up a list of salesmen and tech people
in China for 2 years now and it is starting to pay off. I get
at least one email a week with some kind of great offer.

[Cluso99]

Nice work Steve. Congratulations.

[schill]

Looks nice. I won't be at UPEW (I thought I'd make it but I can't) but I will be at UPEC and UPENE. Any chance the prototype will make it to UPEC? Or maybe it will be available by then .

[jazzed]

Looks nice. I won't be at UPEW (I thought I'd make it but I can't) but I will be at UPEC and UPENE. Any chance the prototype will make it to UPEC? Or maybe it will be available by then .

Hopefully kits will be ready by UPEC. I'm shooting for having several demo units ready by UPEW.

Thanks to everyone for all the input and kind words. Several boards are on order and I should have the motherboard for testing within a week.

[David Betz]

Very nice but can I get my PropTouch engraved with a personalized message on the back? :-)

[Chris The Carpenter]

Put me on the list, please. I will take one of the first batch if possible.

rocketbrand at gmail dot com

I think Walter the Robot just got his new control panel and I got a new palm pilot.