Chip Gracey Interview on YouTube
Photronix
Posts: 16
We are using the Propeller in my Microprocessor Electronics II course here at UCF.· Earlier this week Chip was nice enough to talk to my class for over an hour.· I posted the interview (all of it!) on YouTube this morning.
Parts 1 and 2 of 7 are now available.· All 7 will be available in the next few days.
The interview was done using Skype between Florida and California.· The audio on Part 1 is not that great but was adjusted for later parts.
Chip talks about the history of Parallax, the new version of the Propeller, and even his boyhood paper route.
Check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R9LZ0Th77U
Photronix
·
Parts 1 and 2 of 7 are now available.· All 7 will be available in the next few days.
The interview was done using Skype between Florida and California.· The audio on Part 1 is not that great but was adjusted for later parts.
Chip talks about the history of Parallax, the new version of the Propeller, and even his boyhood paper route.
Check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R9LZ0Th77U
Photronix
·
Comments
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It's Only A Stupid Question If You Have Not Googled It First!!
Nice to hear about a one cycle multiply for Prop II. Should make MP3 decode possible...
I didn't realize Chip is so young. Seems like I've been using the Stamp and SX for so long, but in reality, it's just been a few years. Man, I feel old! Anyway , can't wait for the next episodes
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Bad spellers of the world untie!
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
Is part 3 to 7 coming soon?
So when can I buy my Prop II ??? I mean single cycle instructions including multiply, 4 port RAM.... and 16 of them !!!!
Loved the bit about the prop being fun to program, I personally think that's it's most powerful aspect, you just don't wanna put it down [noparse]:)[/noparse]
And I constantly think, the amount of fun we have now on the Prop, nobody will be able to get on with their professional life when Prop II comes out lol.
Only X teen months to go [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Baggers.
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http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite
·
He hints to some nice functionality, and seems that there is no room in the cog's assembler for that, so maybe they will merge cmps/subs (like cmp and sub) and extract a bit more from unused combination, like HUB instructions having loads of free slots for those new bits, cordic (it was not an "american" invention, sorry, it was all laid out 4 centuries ago...), longer rdlong/wrlong. The single cycle execution is going to blow!, especially if it is going to go as fast as 160 MHz as said, even if they keep it at 80 will be ways faster than what we have today !. I hope they bring it soon...
Chip's enthusiasm is infectious. Just wish I lived in Rocklin (not UK!) - how I'd love a job at Parallax
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Cheers,
Simon
www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk
You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style
CORDIC
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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CORDIC (digit-by-digit method, Volder's algorithm) (for COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) is a simple and efficient algorithm to calculate hyperbolic and trigonometric functions. It is commonly used when no hardware multiplier is available (e.g., simple microcontrollers and FPGAs) as the only operations it requires are addition, subtraction, bitshift and table lookup.
The modern CORDIC algorithm was first described in 1959 by Jack E. Volder. It was developed at the aeroelectronics department of Convair to replace the analog resolver in the B-58 bomber's navigation computer, although it is similar to techniques published by Henry Briggs as early as 1624. John Stephen Walther at Hewlett-Packard further generalized the algorithm, allowing it to calculate hyperbolic and exponential functions, logarithms, multiplications, divisions, and square roots.
Originally, CORDIC was implemented using the binary numeral system. In the 1970s, decimal CORDIC became widely used in pocket calculators, most of which operate in binary-coded-decimal (BCD) rather than binary. CORDIC is particularly well-suited for handheld calculators, an application for which cost (eg, chip gate count has to be minimised) is much more important than is speed. Also the CORDIC subroutines for trigonometric and hyperbolic functions can share most of their code.
CORDIC is generally faster than other approaches when a hardware multiplier is unavailable (e.g., in a microcontroller based system), or when the number of gates required to implement the functions it supports should be minimized (e.g., in an FPGA). On the other hand, when a hardware multiplier is available (e.g., in a DSP microprocessor), table-lookup methods and power series are generally faster than CORDIC.
Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORDIC
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Aka: CosmicBob
Post Edited (Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)) : 7/27/2008 8:20:26 PM GMT
by Willy himself [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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
Cordic is good because it is very general and uses little silicon I suspect. It is also great for polar based signal processing.
Graham
Thanks !
It's amazing how cheep you can get some of this equipment for
now, at basically scrap prices. This is how Symyx Technologies
got going with combinatorial chemistry.
I bet Parallax is a great place to work
Thank you for sharing this with us!!!
Regards,
Coley
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PropGFX Forums - The home of the Hybrid Development System and PropGFX Lite
It's actually my class...Im the professor.· And I used the Propeller this semester because I couldn't find the time to learn it.· So I figured use it in class then I HAD to learn it.· The first part of the semester I teach the PIC18F452 on the PICDEM2 Plus board.· I found students getting into the Propeller and Spin much faster.· They were finally having some fun!
I wish the audio was better too...but it was originally just a fun interview with Chip so we did it over Skype.· I could have made a better recording but Chip and I would have tested a bit more...always more testing...arghhh.· There is no transcript.· However, you can view the original recording by going to my course lecture site.· All of my lectures are included on this site.· Feel free to check it out.
http://tegrity.ucf.edu/TegrityUtils/GetCourseListing.asp?courseId=cet4134-su2008
I ask forgiveness in advance because I was learning as I was teaching.·
Chip is as down to earth as he comes across in the video.· It's hard to have a quick conversation with Chip because he's so interested in everything!
Now that the semester is over....what to build next....hmmm
Photronix
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Dave Ratcliff· N6YEE
Great insight into Chip and his company. As I have said numerous times - can't wait for the Prop II.
It is interesting to note the professors comment "I found students getting into the Propeller and Spin much faster. They were finally having some fun!"
Chip is doing a great job by thinking outside the square and comming up with radically new ideas. This was the basis for companies such as Intel with the programmable calculator chip that the customer didn't want turned out to be arguably the first microprocessor. Apple (Hewlett Packard didn't want their ideas). Commodore. Xilinx produced downloadable FPGA's. All these companies (too many to name) came out with ideas that were radical in some way. They took a while to get understood by engineers, and then they were swamped. Mostly though, the fun goes away, and the company becomes a mee too.
Apple in particular has continually bucked this trend. Jobs and Wozniak continually come up with radical ideas, some work (Apple ][noparse][[/noparse], Mac, iPod, iPhone) and some don't (Apple ///, Newton, oh and don't forget that cube thing). Note I didn't classify Microsoft - the only radical bit they did I believe was put a Z80 card with CP/M into the Apple ][noparse][[/noparse]. They happened to be in the right place to do the deals with IBM and windoze is really only a inferior product to the Mac (and I don't have a Mac). Back in the 80's I believe Microsoft had full access to apple's code before windows on the pc - if not they were at least heavily involved with Apple, and yet it is still inferior.
Chip's obvious focus is on the education market, and is extremely successful in that market. It also obviously gives him great satisfaction and work is fun to him - he is playing full-time!!! Note he stays at home to work to avoid the disruptions, and going by the comments he is so passionate and enthusiastic he would be easily disrupted.
Do not underestimate the amazing commercial prospects of the Propeller. The commercial companies will come on board without his focus. They always do! As soon as word gets out by us (the hobbyists) they will realise the potential of the Propeller and particularly the future upgrade path to the Propeller II. (I know some of you are commercial - you are the forerunners before the groundswell). Expect to see some similar commercial chip concept copies soonafter. I hope Chip has plenty of patents.
@CHIP: Congratulations
I would thoroughly recommend the Propeller·to any commercial company. Call it a Parallax P8X32 if you don't like the name Propeller, but don't discount it because of the name. It won't suit all applications, but then no chip really does.
For the record, I have designed 6800, 68701, 6802, 68705, Z80, Z8 68xxx commercial products. I have programmed in Fortran, Cobol and a few more obscure languages, and commercially in Assembler* (Singer/ICL System Ten and 25), 6800/68701/6802/68705, 6502, Z80, Z8, 68000, 486, Basic (Apple ][noparse][[/noparse] and ///),· TurboPascal and VB3-6 (PC). I wrote cross-compilers on the ICL System Ten (a 1970's minicomputer which I had at home) originally for my 6802, 6805, Z80 designs. And of course I have been playing with Props for a· few months.
* The Singer ICL/System Ten and 25 are similar in some aspects to the Propeller. It is a RISC style mini-computer which was used 1969-1999. It was a decimal computer with 2 operands (no registers), 20 partitions (cogs) and hub memory (common). The Ten had a 60 bit instruction word with 16 instructions including a 10 digit by 10 digit decimal multiply (20 digit result) and decimal divide·20 digits by 10 digits yielding a 10 digit result and 10 digit remainder. Its memory was decimally addressed. It used 6 bit ASCII. Therefore an instruction was 10 characters. However, it was hardware time sliced and originally built in TTL logic. http://members.iinet.net.au/~daveb/Sys-10.html
Hey - I am in and out of Orlando, Ocoee, and Winter Garden every now and again. Maybe we can organize an unofficial Propeller Expo someday in FL. Good job Photronix!!
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
www.tdswieter.com
Do it in Fort Myers and I'll get you a location... (lived there for years....)
Timothy, it's worth the wait...Even by modem. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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
Some cool tricks with the prop-tool (e. g. alt-select) are explained.
@cluso 99
I think it was "Intro to the Propeller" but it probably makes no sense for you to look through the whole lecture because you know most of it.
What was new for me:
1. Press the alt key while selecting code to select it colum based (for example only the comments at the end of the lines) and tab them or drag them further to the right. You have to relase outside the selected square and it will move the block according to the distance to the right border of the selection. This saves a lot of time when trying to get all comments aligned nicely.
2. You can Toggle between THREE different input modes with the insert key:
··· Insert: Default, behaves like you expect
··· Align: Nice, only moves the code, not the comment behind it when you change code
··· Overwrite: behaves like you expect
3. Right-Click on an object-tab gives you the option: close all others.
Most people here probably knew all of this already.
can't wait for Prop Education Kit to arrive on Monday.
All i can do now is re-read Manual and examples, want to try some of this out myself.