Introduction
dfletch
Posts: 165
Hi everyone. You probably noticed a couple recent posts I've made. Before I continue bombing the forums and obex with software, I thought I'd tell you all a little about me.
For many years I've been a software programmer. I was inspired very early on in my life by computers. Around that time I was heavily into Dungeons and Dragons and what I realized was that software was like a D&D module - it expands the core system to do something new that nobody ever thought of before. Interestingly, this can be done with very little physical interaction with electronics components and without understanding the exact details of the hardware. Wow was that philosophy wrong! Well half-wrong. I still very much appreciate the ability to extend my system (of course!) but lately I've been feeling the need to get "down & dirty" and really understand (and build!) things.
In the 70's, very early in my life (before age 10) I played incessantly with my 101-in-1 Electronics Kit and remote controlled cars (the kind you build, not the kind you buy!). Since starting computer programming though, that hobby fell by the wayside, and it's been software for decades. Most recently I write PHP software in Drupal for my day gig. As my profile says "I make a pretty pink site prettier and pinker every day!"
www.splendora.com
Last christmas, my lovely wife Laura bought me the modern equivalent of that old 101 kit: www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102913&cp=2032062.2032398&parentPage=family and since then I've been a circuit building machine! I love it! After finishing most of the interesting experiments in the kit (took about 2 days
) I decided I wanted more power and more logic than you get with a few standard logic ICs. First thing I found was the Microchip PIC (of course, it's EVERYWHERE! Ahhh!) so I bought a couple. I then spent 2 weeks trying to make a programmer for them. Disgusted and frustrated I found parallax.com while I was searching for cheap PIC programmers (don't ask the exact search terms of that day, I forget!). The propeller chip link on the front page is amazingly inviting. I'm still not sure why I actually clicked it. Probably that hat I was skeptical while skimming over the datasheet and then two things caught my eye and I had to do a double take - video support and a font built into ROM... WOW! I ordered a protoboard (+ accessory kit & prop plug) within a week.
Since then (about 3 weeks ago) I've been going ape-crazy with it. So far, I've built:
* A temperature sensor that I got running in about 15 minutes with an obex object.
* An IR reader for a Sony remote in about 2 minutes with an obex object
* An SD card in about 2 hrs with an obex object
* A low pass audio filter attached to pins 10/11 to experiment with sound (first I totally cheated and just stuck speaker wires in there without a resistor - I live dangerously [noparse];)[/noparse]
* A pair of EEProms on a little stand off card forming a little bus (still need to get the software working though!)
* The frequency meter in the object exchange: obex.parallax.com/objects/256/ (updates coming in a couple days)
* The VGA learning driver, where I taught myself how the VGA signal works, and hopefully help others learn the same! http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=706423
The Propeller has given me only great successes, in stark contrast to the failures I had with the PIC chip!
So I look forward to hearing about all of you! Please reply and tell me something about you and how you've discovered and used the Prop!
Cheers,
--fletch
For many years I've been a software programmer. I was inspired very early on in my life by computers. Around that time I was heavily into Dungeons and Dragons and what I realized was that software was like a D&D module - it expands the core system to do something new that nobody ever thought of before. Interestingly, this can be done with very little physical interaction with electronics components and without understanding the exact details of the hardware. Wow was that philosophy wrong! Well half-wrong. I still very much appreciate the ability to extend my system (of course!) but lately I've been feeling the need to get "down & dirty" and really understand (and build!) things.
In the 70's, very early in my life (before age 10) I played incessantly with my 101-in-1 Electronics Kit and remote controlled cars (the kind you build, not the kind you buy!). Since starting computer programming though, that hobby fell by the wayside, and it's been software for decades. Most recently I write PHP software in Drupal for my day gig. As my profile says "I make a pretty pink site prettier and pinker every day!"
www.splendora.comLast christmas, my lovely wife Laura bought me the modern equivalent of that old 101 kit: www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102913&cp=2032062.2032398&parentPage=family and since then I've been a circuit building machine! I love it! After finishing most of the interesting experiments in the kit (took about 2 days
) I decided I wanted more power and more logic than you get with a few standard logic ICs. First thing I found was the Microchip PIC (of course, it's EVERYWHERE! Ahhh!) so I bought a couple. I then spent 2 weeks trying to make a programmer for them. Disgusted and frustrated I found parallax.com while I was searching for cheap PIC programmers (don't ask the exact search terms of that day, I forget!). The propeller chip link on the front page is amazingly inviting. I'm still not sure why I actually clicked it. Probably that hat I was skeptical while skimming over the datasheet and then two things caught my eye and I had to do a double take - video support and a font built into ROM... WOW! I ordered a protoboard (+ accessory kit & prop plug) within a week.Since then (about 3 weeks ago) I've been going ape-crazy with it. So far, I've built:
* A temperature sensor that I got running in about 15 minutes with an obex object.
* An IR reader for a Sony remote in about 2 minutes with an obex object
* An SD card in about 2 hrs with an obex object
* A low pass audio filter attached to pins 10/11 to experiment with sound (first I totally cheated and just stuck speaker wires in there without a resistor - I live dangerously [noparse];)[/noparse]
* A pair of EEProms on a little stand off card forming a little bus (still need to get the software working though!)
* The frequency meter in the object exchange: obex.parallax.com/objects/256/ (updates coming in a couple days)
* The VGA learning driver, where I taught myself how the VGA signal works, and hopefully help others learn the same! http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=706423
The Propeller has given me only great successes, in stark contrast to the failures I had with the PIC chip!
So I look forward to hearing about all of you! Please reply and tell me something about you and how you've discovered and used the Prop!
Cheers,
--fletch
Comments
Take the time to document your projects and I'll include them in the next release of the Cookbook. (See below)
This way others can share your success.
Propeller is a blast isn't it??
OBC
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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!)
When I was looking for something to help my kids get into electronics (or at least understand them) I came across this product:
http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/science/mx909.htm
One of the things I liked about it was that in addition to the electronic ideas it included a "computer" and there are a bunch of software experiments you can do as well. The "computer" in this case is clearly something like a PIC which is emulating a simple assembly coded machine with very basic op-codes. I thought it was very smart on the part of the designer not to expose newcomers to a convoluted syntax that had been optimized for some control purpose, rather a basic introduction to computers with registers, input, output, conditional statements, and basic math and logic op codes.
The carry case is also convenient since one can open it up on the kitchen table, do some experiments, and then close it up for later.
So I like it, but I got to thinking about it and realized it could be a *lot* better. In particular with something like the Parallax oscilloscope thing and a stamp connected to an A/D converter and running an LCD display to act as a voltmeter / ammeter there exists the possibility to cover quite a bit of electronic theory in a simple package. Put the propeller in the middle driving the LCD display and you've got the basis for a pretty amazing device.
--Chuck
> http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/science/mx909.htm
I got a flashback!
I started with this: <http://www.retrothing.com/2007/03/electronic_domi.html>
No wonder that my father couldn't resist to buy it for me, he was an architect.
Nick
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Never use force, just go for a bigger hammer!
The DIY Digital-Readout for mills, lathes etc.:
YADRO
Some of us are 'old timers' and worked with flip-flops made of transistors, resistors, diodes, caps. A small pcb only held several F/Fs!! Before IC packages even were available. When TTL ICs were available, finally things fell into place; no more tons of discrete parts (you didn't have to find clay and straw to make bricks; you could buy bricks already made).
Lots of PIC designs before I spied the Propeller. Man, what a joy again with such a wonderful ability. And to think Propeller II will be available in a year or so. Can't wait for that wild improvement (more I/Os, cogs, RAM, speed....).
The attached shows part of a board which is replacing some 55 TTL ICs; took 2 Props to accommodate all the i/o lines (Prop II probably can replace all the remaining 18 or so and the two Props). A Z80 is in the upper left, lower right 3 resistors and J3 provides debugging into to a small monitor. The fun is back with the Propeller.
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Harley Shanko
My first major project was this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit·in electronics
and into the wonderful world of microprocessors· http://oldcomputers.net/kim1.html.
Unfortunately I don't still have them but I have all my own "bits and pieces" intact !
Regards
Gerry (Old Old Timer)
The wiki page metions SMT as a big factor in their eventual downfall. Recently, Al from hobbyengineering.com told me that it is now possible for amateurs to lay down SMT components. I didn't press him for details but I sure will next time I'm down there! He also had a bunch of little mini-kits for smaller circuits. Dang I wish I remembered their name. Maybe these type of kit could make a comeback. The ideas floating around this thread certainly make it seem feasible
Cheers,
--fletch
It has always been possible for amateurs to solder surface mount parts really, the main reason for the downfall of electronics as a hobby as it was is simply that you can buy many of the items people used to build for next to nothing.
Similarly I was interested in micro helicopters until they turned up in Tesco (insert your own supermarket brand).
Cheers,
Graham
I can't say I agree with this Graham.
The base infrastructure for building something used to be pretty simple, a pencil iron, a bulb solder sucker, a roll of solder, some diagonal cutters, and a multimeter. There used to be a number of interesting components that you could buy (the 7400 series comes to mind) which allowed you to put together interesting logic circuits and a few special purpose ICs to do more creative things.
These days to have the same capability you seem to need a lot more. Heathkit could sell you the parts to make a television, now you cannot even get the data sheets on the chips used in a television without signing a non-disclosure agreement (try it! Its pathetic!) It really isn't the "cheapness", nobody built the bigger Heathkits (like the H19 terminal) because it was cheaper, rather they built them because then they could know how they worked. Somewhere I've still got the source code to that terminal. So a motivated individual could learn, in depth, about the technology that was powering the things around them in every day life.
That's become a lot harder. Not only because the complexity of the components have gone up (mp3 player on a single chip for example) but the mindset of secrecy that really started descending on the world with the BIOS wars of the late 80's and then the submarine patent warfare of the 90s into this decade. Do you know the biggest risk to publishing the technical details of how something you sell works is? It isn't copying by some cheaper competitor, its having some intellectual property company get a hold of it and have it go through its list of "patents on file but not issued" and find one that is close to what you're doing and let it issue. BOOM! They drop a multi-million (even billion) dollar lawsuit in your lap. Ever wonder why the Linux guys can get a register level description of modern graphics chips? Yup, this is the reason.
The stuff that Parallax and others do to keep technology accessible to individuals is invaluable, the stuff that the SchmartBoard people have done to make SMT parts more accessible to hobbiests is also important. I don't think "why should I build it if I can get it for $10 from Amazon?" is the question, most people seem to believe that individuals are incapable of building things of technical intricacy. And that is in part because there is no incentive on component makers like TI, Linear Tech, National, etc to stay accessible to hobbiests.
--Chuck
sorry this is something can't help but rant about as a father and a homeschooler I really really want to be sure my kids both understand and believe there is absolutely nothing they cannot do if they put their minds to it.
when, suddenly, free programming and toolmaking by individuals ceased, and plagues
of viruses and spam and blue death screens nearly dimmed all hope of salvation,
until one day something wonderful came hovering down from heaven to rest upon our heads.
Today is a very sad day. Gary Gygax has died. He was a wonderful inspiration in my life and will be sorely missed. Without this man I would not be the person I am today.
RIP Mr. Gygax, you will be missed.
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Join us in the Un-Official Propeller IRC channel: irc.freenode.net #propeller
Newbies, oldies, programmers, math professors, and everyone in-between welcome!
Propeller IRC howto
spinc - open source Spin compiler
dfletcher: I know what you mean, I may have not know about D&D and Gygax, but the people who was an inspiration for me, may be far may be gone, are still with me: Their thoughts, their way of thinking their ideas, what was the inspiration for me is and will accompany me till the end. They did not die, they did not leave, they are a part of me and I am grateful.
VIRAND: dark ages for some, but the open source movement kept all the good still going, no bsods, no viruses, no ads, no nonsense, just plain old and functional (and visible) code (and pluri-version :-D), enjoy.
edit: I forgot the word one