Price: I2C EEPROM vs. SD Card

Luis Digital

24LC512
Size: 64 KBytes
Price: $3.50 +Shipping


SD Card
Size: 512 MBytes!
Price: $2.936

Ok, I have mad luck, "Out of Stock" today, when was opening an account.

But the point is that the memories SD have a big reduction price today.

I expect that for Propeller III have it present.

A small boot sector protected against reading/writing is thanked also.

william chan

You forgot to add in the cost of the SD card holder.

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www.fd.com.my
www.mercedes.com.my

Luis Digital

That it is done easily, for example:


In my country one must be creative.

And for I2C EEPROM You forgot to add in the cost of board.

scanlime

I just bought a 1GB micro SD card for my prop. $9.99, and it included a free socket (a micro-SD to full-size SD adapter, that I soldered directly to a 0.1" header). Now I just have to figure out what to do with all that space [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Cluso99

Micah - thats smart

Probably you could also solder a 0.1" socket to the SD holder so it could be removable as well.

But you won't be able to buy 1GB for much longer - so what will you do with 16GB or so?????

Is the file structure used on these cards for the prop·compatible with the camera & pc (seemed to recall FAT16 only goes to 4GB)?

Luis Digital

William, see the work that I have to do with the memories I2C.

Micah, was thinking about the same thing. Also it can be built using components used of old Motherboards.

hippy

While SD may be becoming more cost competitive the disadvantages are more complex software drivers, more I/O required and the connection issues. I wouldn't say "no" though.

I'm still intrigued as to what the Prop II will have by way of bootload memory and what it's boot time is going to be. If moving towards SD booting I think it would make a lot of sense to reduce the ROM footprint to a bare minimum and double RAM size. Any 'on-chip development system' can then be booted from SD having been put there by the PropTool and those who didn't want that could have programs twice the size. I haven't factored in silicon costs.

Luis Digital

A little out of theme:
The cards is in stock, but Newegg.com saw my IP from Dominican Republic and they do not want to sell (my credit card has address in Miami and the shipping address is also in Miami).

I have seen that many people have had equal problems.

You know some another place with low prices?
It is able the Propeller to convert audio and to record a card in real-time?

Thanks.

rokicki

SD boot could probably be *hugely* faster than EEPROM boot (although I'm hoping Chip has some tricks up his sleeve for
improving the boot time for the Prop II).

Note that *advertising* SD boot and compatibility may be a problem since (I think) actually using the name Secure Digital
in a commercial context requires specific permission. But it would perhaps not be bad to simply advertise MMC support
that just so happens to work with SD cards as well.

The speed, large size, and low price available with secure digital is *extremely* tempting, however.

(Should booting off one of these cards actually be under consideration, I'm hoping there will be some consultation on
how precisely the "boot sector" or "boot file" will be loaded, to maximize compatibility with various file systems that might
be on the cards.)

Cluso99

I would expect to still see boot support for the I2C EEPROM, although extra alternatives would be good.

I note from SpinStudio the interface uses 4 Prop pins to interface the SD card. (plus power of course)

Can DO and DI be tied together? That would reduce the interface to 3 pins.

Can CS be tied/Pullup/pulldown (whichever)? Maybe even tie it to the Prop reset pin if it is the right plarity? That could reduce the interface to 2 pins. Yes, it wouldbe permanently enabled and use more power. It may possibly even permit corruption - need to look at the specs.

So I don't see the number of pins being a problem. It's cheap and removable (replaceable, just like a floppy was to the pc)

I see added benefit of using microSD because these are becoming popular and cheap and you can get an SD adapter cheap (as previously mentioned).

Therefore, I see the file compatibility issue with the pc as being a prime objective, so that data can be transferred to/from the pc either via USB directly to the propeller or to the card direct or via an adapter.

hippy

On "SD Card" licensing and trademark issues I'd guess that can be resolved by specifying being boot capable from anything which is "Propeller Boot Bus(TM) compatible"

Cluso99

Just bought an SD to Micro SD / Transflash adapter with a 1GB Micro SD card in a retail shop (Officeworks) in Australia A$7.07. The adapter alone was A$4.95. (US$ is marginally less than A$)

I also bought a USB to Micro SD HC / Transflash adapter with an 8GB Micro SDHC card for A$79.95. I wanted this to use as an 8GB USB memory stick for my PC, but can also use it for the 1GB which I will use on my Prop with the SD adapter (after I've done the RamInterpreter - note to self: don't get distracted!)

I think anytime soon, the 1GB and 2GB's will disappear.

Paul Baker

As I mentioned before, at least with the 2GB cards, we wont be seeing them dissapear anytime soon. Densities higher than that fall into high capacity SD cards which do not use the same formatting. All the millions of products sold before the SDHC cards were made and the cheap electronics sold since cannot use these cards. Market demand should keep 2GB cards availible for several years to come.

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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer

Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Paul Baker (Parallax)) : 7/30/2008 10:23:26 PM GMT

Cluso99

Thanks Paul. I knew there was a compatability issue somewhere around this point. Well, at least we should have cheap 2GB cards

I hadn't realised just how small the micro SD cards were till I got my hands on one. I struggle to get my fingers around the USB converter as it is sooo small.

Luis Digital

Another out of theme:

I tried to buy some things for a friend from Geeks.com, because had seen good references in this forum, but all was a headache.

Worse still Geeks.com violated the terms of privacy and sold my data to another company.

The complete history here in Spanish, with links in English of other cases of fraud seemed.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Wow.. I've been buying from them for ten years without issue...
We've even setup a commission sales link without issues.

Oh well, no one can be everything to everybody.. still..

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Getting started with the Protoboard? - Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card? - PropDOS
Need a part? Got spare electronics? - The Electronics Exchange

Luis Digital

Oldbitcollector said...
Wow.. I've been buying from them for ten years without issue...
We've even setup a commission sales link without issues.

Oh well, no one can be everything to everybody.. still..

OBC

Any day can pass.

In my case after two days waiting did not they accept my credit card. By telephone they told me that the credit card was international (That is a problem or a solution?). I do not understand to this people, I buy in another store of California (Jameco Electronic) without no problem.

Then they wanted a Bank wire transfer and to charge me besides 20 dollars more. I asked him if they accepted Paypal and the Mister always repeated, like a parrot: "Bank wire transfer".

- Which is the problem with my card?
- "Bank wire transfer".

So I canceled my order.

Also I canceled my credit card, to avoid the fraud.

A nightmare.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Ah, I've almost always used my Paypal account for this..
(I like the 1% return so I use it as my debt card.)

Thanks for sharing the details..

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Getting started with the Protoboard? - Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card? - PropDOS
Need a part? Got spare electronics? - The Electronics Exchange