Total Newbie with a few basic questions
1971FIATSS
Posts: 3
Hey Everyone this is my 1st post. So hopefully I do not embares myself to bad with mind numbingly simple questions. Also thanks in advance for any help I can get.
1) I went into radio shack (I know, but Fry's is 45min away) to see if they had the rs-232 to usb cable instead of ordering the one off the website cause I am dying to play with my new toy!!! To find out that they did not. However, he did tell me to check ebay for one. So I did that and found one for $1 but being weary of Radio shack employee advice I thought I would check on here before I bought it. As I am a broke student pilot. This is what I know about the cable:
USB specification 1.1 and 2.0 compliant
Supports RS232 serial interface (DB25 or DB9)
Supports over 1Mbps data transfer rate
Supports remote wake up and power management
Windows 98/Se/ME/2000/XP supported, NOT for Windows Vista.
cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-RS232-Serial-9Pin-Cable-Adapter-PC-PDA-GPS-111_W0QQitemZ220234139699QQihZ012QQcategoryZ41995QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Will this work? I know it doesn't have the chip like the one from our good friends at Parallax, but this way I can buy it now , instead of 2 weeks from now when I get payed.
2) Is there a library of basic programs (i.e. sample programs , test programs , or any actual basic program codes) ?
3) Is it possible to execute to functions at one time (or more). Such as two servo moving at the same time (i.e. one moves 40 deg up and one 60 deg. down while and L.E.D. blinks)?
Again thanks for any help and sorry for any spelling errors
1) I went into radio shack (I know, but Fry's is 45min away) to see if they had the rs-232 to usb cable instead of ordering the one off the website cause I am dying to play with my new toy!!! To find out that they did not. However, he did tell me to check ebay for one. So I did that and found one for $1 but being weary of Radio shack employee advice I thought I would check on here before I bought it. As I am a broke student pilot. This is what I know about the cable:
USB specification 1.1 and 2.0 compliant
Supports RS232 serial interface (DB25 or DB9)
Supports over 1Mbps data transfer rate
Supports remote wake up and power management
Windows 98/Se/ME/2000/XP supported, NOT for Windows Vista.
cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-RS232-Serial-9Pin-Cable-Adapter-PC-PDA-GPS-111_W0QQitemZ220234139699QQihZ012QQcategoryZ41995QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Will this work? I know it doesn't have the chip like the one from our good friends at Parallax, but this way I can buy it now , instead of 2 weeks from now when I get payed.
2) Is there a library of basic programs (i.e. sample programs , test programs , or any actual basic program codes) ?
3) Is it possible to execute to functions at one time (or more). Such as two servo moving at the same time (i.e. one moves 40 deg up and one 60 deg. down while and L.E.D. blinks)?
Again thanks for any help and sorry for any spelling errors
Comments
2) There is a huge collection of educational material, sample programs, magazine columns, etc. Browse the "Resources" tab on the main Parallax web page. Particularly look at the "Nuts and Volts Columns" and the "Stamps in Class Downloads". Many of the tutorials are available in languages other than English.
3) Sort of. The Stamp can only do one thing at a time, but some things like servo movement and LED blinking can be interleaved since servos only need a control pulse every 20ms. Several other operations can be done while waiting to send the next servo control pulse. You could turn an LED on and off every few cycles of 20ms.
Some of the statements take a long time to execute. For example, there's a statement to count pulses over a specified period of time. During that time, the Stamp can't do anything else. Another example is serial input. If you don't specify an optional timeout, the Stamp will stop doing anything else indefinitely while it's waiting for the next serial input character.