Can FemtoBasic use with Propeller Educational Kit?
Michael07
Posts: 12
I would like to use FemtoBasic but I only have a Propeller Educational Kit which is connected to PC by USB cable.
I may have to order the Prop Demo Board or Hydra... right?
Michael
I may have to order the Prop Demo Board or Hydra... right?
Michael
Comments
FemtoBasic will work with the Propeller Educational Kit. However you will have to add the necessary parts to build the TV, keyboard, and if desired, the SD interfaces.
A better fit for the Propeller Educational kit might be the 'BoeBot' flavor of FemtoBasic, since it uses the serial interface for the console. All can be found in the Parallax Object exchange:
http://obex.parallax.com/
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Mike
In the meantime Parts-Man has design some "stick-and-play components", though slightly above $1...
The general idea behind my system is:
- use a tiny piece of a veroboard
- solder some male header pins to it
- add the resistors and caps you need (0805 SMDs are fine for veroboards!)
- cut an appropriate extension cord
- solder the wires you need to the right place of the vero board
- seal it with lots of hot melting adhesive
Well, next month....
I've been a bit preoccupied with some of the software stuff lately.
Actually I'm working on expanding entries to the Propeller Cookbook on things like this.
I'd love to see what you come up with, perhaps we could also add them under your name...
Either way, more documentation is a plus!!
@Everyone:
BTW, while I mention it, there is an Update to the Cookbook in progress. If you have things
you would like to have posted for others to enjoy, please email me details and pictures.
IIUC, the Cookbook downloads are in the 1000's so it's a resource that is being used.
OBC
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?
Getting started with the Protoboard? - Propeller Cookbook
Got an SD card? - PropDOS
A Living Propeller FAQ - The Propeller Wiki
(Got the Knowledge? Got a Moment? Add something today!)
IIRC, you should have enough resistors in your PE kit to create the composite video.
Don't worry if you don't have exact values, and resistors stack/add very nicely.
(example: 200ohm----200ohm----=400ohms)
Video:You can use the Cookbook as a reference for the values you need to get close to,
as well as the connection points on the chip. If you can come up with an RCA end
with some wire left on it, then you'll be in business with the video.
Sound: You can cook up some sound using a 200ohm(ish) resistor. As long
as you connect it to an amplified input of some kind (pc speakers perhaps)
you should be in business. (See the audio page of the Cookbook)
Keyboard: This should have been a bit more referenced, I will fix that in the
next release. Bottom line, you'll need two 10k and two 100ohm resistors to
make the connection. The biggest hurtle might be coming up with the female
PS2 connector. I'll attach the Demoboard Schematic to this post, take a look at
the connections for the keyboard.
SD: There are several ways to handle this. You could do what Ray did, and
solder to a microSD adapter, or there are some instructions for a poormans'
SD adapter here and here
but of course I'm a big fan of the uController one myself. There are instructions in the Cookbook for hooking directly to a Molex adapter, which has worked well for me.
Hope this helps!
OBC
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?
Getting started with the Protoboard? - Propeller Cookbook
Got an SD card? - PropDOS
A Living Propeller FAQ - The Propeller Wiki
(Got the Knowledge? Got a Moment? Add something today!)
If you don't order anything else get the Hydra manual... it is worth it's weight in gold.
Study THE cookbook.
Everything is under constant development... for where you are at and what you are doing, you will probably get the best bang for your hacking buck by going to ucontroller.com. That could change tomorrow of course. I think you can get FemtoBasic pre-installed on an EEPROM...for little more than the price of the EEPROM... so in theory, you can already put together a Basic computer... and not ever have to hook it up to a PC... pretty slick, huh?
My all time favorite is the demo board...it has tv out, sound in, and comes to your door loaded with a very inspirational demo, but it is a little pricey.
My all time favorite development platform is the uOLED-96 from 4D systems... it comes with a Prop... a uSD card and it is a monitor. Because of timing constraints in the serial libraries, right now you have to ramp the pll to 8x... but that is a small penalty to pay for the power and elegance that you get with this little package. There are enough pins left over for a standard keyboard and mouse... but a one wire keyboard seems like it is just around the corner.
You will never regret buying a Hydra... it is pure engineering excellence and has some options for turning itself into a computer that you would be hard pressed to hack.
ILMP
Rich
I believe BoeBot Basic communicates through the Prop Plug or Clip. It can also communicate serially via Xbee modules.
It can be downloaded from the Parallax's Propeller Object exchange.
Here is a direct link: http://obex.parallax.com/objects/27/
There are instructions in the *.zip and many threads·about it in·the Propeller forum.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Mike