PropGFX Lite DIP40 *** WIP UPDATE ***
Coley
Posts: 1,110
It's been a long time coming but finally I have a pre production model.
It's a prop in a DIP40 footprint that can act as the primary graphics adapter for your projects.
Comms is by either 2 wire RS232 protocol or by a 10 bit databus.
No pricing details have been finalised just yet but I am working on the supply chain.
We are just finishing off the API (thanks Baggers!), more details can be found here...
www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/Blah.pl?b-pb/m-1198808109/s-0/
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Post Edited (Coley) : 2/27/2008 9:57:57 PM GMT
It's a prop in a DIP40 footprint that can act as the primary graphics adapter for your projects.
Comms is by either 2 wire RS232 protocol or by a 10 bit databus.
No pricing details have been finalised just yet but I am working on the supply chain.
We are just finishing off the API (thanks Baggers!), more details can be found here...
www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/Blah.pl?b-pb/m-1198808109/s-0/
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Post Edited (Coley) : 2/27/2008 9:57:57 PM GMT
Comments
Can not wait to have further details on the API, realise this is being worked on still. You have both covered so much work in not a lot of time on this project.
@Coley
Do you have a supplier part number easily at hand for the DIL headers you used here?
Don't put the soldering iron down just yet, well not until after you have done 200 modules
Regards,
Mike.
Thanks!
I've emailed the DIL header details on to you.....
As for production, there is a small smd assembly house very close to me and they have already given me a price.
I've neither the time nor patience to do them all myself! lol
Regards,
Coley
Well done, I take my hat off to you my friend, you are correct!
Well, it's actually 52 * 28 mm but what is 8mm between friends...
@Fred
One of the demo's we will be putting together will be to fit this inside a keyboard case to act as a portable RS232 terminal (with an accompanying MCU of course).
Regards,
Coley
Very cool design... I too would like to get some info on those SMT 0.1" headers you used. How robust are they? I'm afraid they will pull the pads away after use with a proto plug-board.
Thanks, David
These headers took a long time to source, they are the same as those used in the DLP-PROP.
Pin 1 and 20 are through hole with pins 2-19 being surface mount, this helps to keep the strain on the pads to a minimum.
Datasheet is attached but beware the minimum order quantity I could find was 1000 from www.toby.co.uk
Regards,
Coley
Post Edited (Coley) : 2/10/2008 3:30:10 PM GMT
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E3 = Thought
http://folding.stanford.edu/·- Donating some CPU/GPU downtime just might lead to a cure for cancer! My team stats.
is a true SMT header. The leads are bent to the inner and outer side alternately. This assures they will be mounted absolutely perpendicular. They are very robust and stable
Thanks for the pin header info. I've used right-angle headers (not with alternating pins and a couple of straight pins like you've found) before on SMT boards with mixed results. The plastic headers stand-off the PCB, and after careful manual soldering, the plastic spacers slide on the pins after pressure being applied. Not a huge problem, but annoying. I wish someone would make something like a "true" SMT 0.1" header with a flanged pin and footer for a pad connection. Of-course one could simply cut the headers off after soldering, but that's not a "production level" solution. I've been trying to come up with a decent break-out-board for a specialized MCM SMT GPS module that needs to break-out around 28 pins at 0.1". The MCM package is wider than a 40 pin DIP hence my interest in your headers. But I'll probably go with right-angle through-hole headers (reluctantly).
There's another issue. The header pins you are using seem too large for plug proto-boards and almost any DIP socket, they stress the sockets (even if you can get them to plug-in in the first place). Anyone that's tried to plug wire-wrap sockets into a proto plug-board (forget a DIP sockets all together) knows what I'm referring to. Machined-pin headers are a better solution, then you can plug the break-out board into anything; plug proto-board, DIP socket, or even a DIP wire-wrap socket. But machined-pin heder solutions are through-hole only as far as I can find, through-hole would make your PropGFX Lite DIP40 too large perhaps.
Rgds, David
The PropGFX Lite is not intended to be plugged into an IC Socket, I know exactly what you mean about them stressing the sockets too much.
With each Lite I will be including 2 * 20 way SIP through hole sockets that are matched exactly to my headers.
They do plug into rapid prototyping boards without too much fuss, but, like with all multi pin IC's, you have to be careful taking them out
@DeSilva
My original design used this type of header until my SMT assembly house pointed out that due to surface tension of the solder they can sometimes be pulled out of position whilst in the oven.
Hence why I switched to this version that has the locating pins 1 and 20 which guarantee alignment.
If you are hand soldering of course that doesn't matter so much....
@RinksCustoms
No plans as yet for a VGA variant however PropGFX (full version) will have composite and S-Video outputs but is still some time away from final production.
Yes I will be selling them to the Americas not sure how we set this up just yet but for the time being I can ship direct.
Regards,
Coley
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I am 1010, so be surprised!
That's exactly the idea we had in mind for this product.
It is user programmable if you supply it with 3V3 and plug your PropPlug directly onto pins 5-8.
Baggers will no doubt finish the API real soon and he has included a multitude of configurable video modes for you to use.....
Watch out in the next week or so of some tech demos we have done during the beta testing phase.
You can see some of our work on our own forum :- www.propgfx.co.uk/forum
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
And maybe that silver thingy (power jack? RCA video?) will need its own hole... Judging by your link, that's not a power plug. So how do you get power to this board?
This may help....
You could always have a version that doesn't have the headers or rca jack on them.
The board is either 3V3 or 5V but you will have to add resistors if you are using it in 5V mode.
I've not finished the datasheet yet but all the information will be in there.
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Hi,
you can use it for whatever you want but then you will have to do your own video driver.
We will be releasing the PropGFX Lite with firmware built in it is not meant to be modified in any way.
However, if you give it 3V3 and connect a PropPlug directly to it you can do whatever you wish with it.
We will of course be making the binary available to registered customers for upgrades etc...
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Post Edited (Coley) : 2/11/2008 9:26:08 AM GMT
Maybe I'm missing something but in that case, why not forego the 0.6" spacing, move the
legs further apart ( keeping a 0.1" width pitch ) and use through-hole pins ? There seems to
be plenty of space at the edges of the board if you shifted the Prop and crystal off centre.
I must admit that was originally what I had planned, I used the DIP40 footprint for compatibility with existing libraries that is all.
It works well enough as it is. (and it fits into my zif socket for programming
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
Post Edited (Coley) : 2/12/2008 12:12:32 AM GMT
Can you give us an ETA release date? [noparse]:)[/noparse]
These look just awesome!
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
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I know you are gagging to get going with this!
Realistically we are at least two months from full release.
The biggest delay being the lead time on the surface mount connectors!
I posted as I wanted to see the reaction from you guys.
We have started the beta testing phase now and are putting some tech demos together for other micros as well as the propeller.
We will of course post on any progress we make.
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
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www.fd.com.my
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· I have 50,000 leadframes that fit on the edge of a board.
· They work best on 0.050" PCB, they will fit on a 0.062" board but it is a really tight fit.
· Let me know if you want to try some samples. I'll send you some. Just send me a PM.
· See item CN1002 on this page http://www.hittconsulting.com/miscforsale.html
Bean.
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www.iElectronicDesigns.com
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I'd like to humbly request a 40x24 or 40x25 text mode (like the C64 or the 8 bit Ataris). 32 column text can be too limiting for some applications.
A "high resolution" monochrome 320x200 mode would probably be pretty cool too, but if I had to choose, I'd pick the 1000 character text mode.
Post Edited (Fabian Nunez) : 2/13/2008 8:56:55 AM GMT
We have already included a similar specification text charmap display.
We are just experimenting with a 640*480 Text only mode, so far it looks great but needs fine tuning.....
@ William.
There is no price set as of yet as I am still tying suppliers down to volume pricing but I expect it to be in the $80 - $90 range
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
640x480 text would be fantastic... beware of interlacing the display though, I had an Amiga and the interlaced modes could be hard on the eyes. The C128 had a 640x200 text mode, and that was pretty good.
Can't wait for you guys to release the developer docs, I'm itching to see what this baby can do [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Baggers has been working real hard on the API, he's just added the movie player function.
128 * 96 Resolution with 256 Colours
Check it out here
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcaKqKeBZ44
Enjoy.