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The SX future — Parallax Forums

The SX future

Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
edited 2008-05-30 00:19 in General Discussion
I recently received SX hardware from Parallax - thank you guys!

I haven't had time yet to jump into reviewing everything.· A couple years ago I skimmed a lot of the material, so I am excited to finally get the hardware so I can have a "general purpose" 8-bit micro to use in projects.·

Since I am "new" in this forum, I am curious·what the future may hold for the SX?· Prallax just release the USB SX-key, what else may be in the works?· Anyone have any tools or projects they are developing that will be sold to the public?

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Timothy D. Swieter

www.brilldea.com·- uOLED-IOC, RGB LEDs, TLC5940 driver PCB
www.tdswieter.com
One little spark of imagination is all it takes for an idea to explode

Comments

  • Peter VerkaikPeter Verkaik Posts: 3,956
    edited 2008-05-27 11:35
    Hi Timothy,

    You can find sx projects in both this forum and the Completed Projects forum.
    Attached are two pictures of my latest project. This board is designed to fit
    a specific housing and integrates a SX18 (for video overlay, button input and watchdog)
    with a javelin/spin/basic stamp, rtc, eeprom,·floating point processor, buzzer and lcd.
    The board in the housing is revision A (with umFPUv2), the other is revision B (with umFPUv3).
    I used SX18 because I still have about 200 SX18 chips. As you can see from the
    pictures I reserved space to replace the SX18 with a SX28.
    I think the SX chips will be around for a long time.

    regards peter
    DSCF0137.JPG
    1280 x 960 - 314K
    DSCF0013.JPG
    1280 x 960 - 334K
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-05-27 11:51
    NIce looking design Peter, thank you for sharing it.

    I don't mean to question if the chip is going to be around, but I am curious what is on the near horizon for products/projects and what are others using the chip for.

    Thanks again!

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    Timothy D. Swieter

    www.brilldea.com·- uOLED-IOC, RGB LEDs, TLC5940 driver PCB
    www.tdswieter.com
    One little spark of imagination is all it takes for an idea to explode
  • Lord SteveLord Steve Posts: 206
    edited 2008-05-27 14:49
    My plug:· http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=717059
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,404
    edited 2008-05-27 15:34
    Hello Timothy,

    I've spent many years instilling faith in the future of the SX and managing supply issues, so I'm pleased to answer your questions.

    The SX chip shall be available as long as there is a market for the device. Considering Parallax is the only source, that we use it in our BASIC Stamps, and we have control over the supplier-foundry-packaging-testing process you can count on long-term supply unless there is some unknown variable we cannot anticipate. Much of this happens in your backyard, between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Ubicom and Parallax have a productive agreement, too.

    We are about to release the complete SX/B reference "Practical SX/B" this July. We are in the process of renovating our SX Tech Tool Kit and Guenther is revising our SX-Key Manual. Our editing staff is incorporating portions into our Help file, and SX/B help file is also out for updating. Over the past month we've had Peter Montgomery (SX-Key IDE), Chip Gracey (holds two patents pertaining to the SX), Guenther Daubach (SX Key USB firmware and documentation), Jon Williams (SX/B) and Terry Hitt (SX/B) at our office to plan progression of our support for the product. We have made a commitment to the SX and plan to continue support.

    There will not be changes to the SX line, however. The die and package selection is frozen at this point.

    Thanks for taking the time to check out the SX.

    Ken Gracey
    Parallax, Inc.

    P.S. Just last week we had two customers in our office with SX-based products. Both of them had used SX/B to develop their products, which are sold commercially in hobby and industrial applications.
  • RobotWorkshopRobotWorkshop Posts: 2,307
    edited 2008-05-27 15:36
    I've got a nifty little kit that lets you use the SX48 on a breadboard:

    http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=7&p=2&m=166781

    It is same pinout as a BS2p40 module and can be used in place of that if anyone wants more performance by using SX/B or assembly. It is also a nice surface mount kit for anyone who want to try building a surface mount kit.

    If you read SERVO I have used the SX28 and SX48 chips in a couple articles. They are very handy little chips and are great for making intelligent peripheral devices and smart sensors. There is another article due out in SERVO (perhaps next month) which uses the SX28. It helps with interfacing projects as well.

    Robert
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-05-27 23:54
    Awesome. Good to hear all of this feedback. Now to carve out more time to keep reading and trying out the chip.

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    Timothy D. Swieter

    www.brilldea.com·- uOLED-IOC, RGB LEDs, TLC5940 driver PCB
    www.tdswieter.com
    One little spark of imagination is all it takes for an idea to explode
  • T'SaavikT'Saavik Posts: 60
    edited 2008-05-28 15:08
    said...
    We are about to release the complete SX/B reference "Practical SX/B" this July

    WOOT!! Can't wait for this to come out. Have you considered selling a hard copy version of this?
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,404
    edited 2008-05-28 15:14
    T'Saavik:

    Yes, and two other ways:

    - free download
    - included in the SX Tech Tool Kits

    Everybody will get access of their choice.

    - Ken
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-05-30 00:19
    Cool!· I am looking forward to the release of the SX/B book.

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    Timothy D. Swieter

    www.brilldea.com·- uOLED-IOC, RGB LEDs, TLC5940 driver PCB
    www.tdswieter.com
    One little spark of imagination is all it takes for an idea to explode
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