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thinking about propeller questions — Parallax Forums

thinking about propeller questions

henry99henry99 Posts: 67
edited 2008-10-30 12:04 in Propeller 1
I'd like to start using the propeller and have the following questions:
1) Can the propstick USB device be powered from the USB hub through the voltage regulator without additional power requirements?
2) Can the propstick USB emulate a serial port and send data to the comm port easily?
3) The propeller demo board seems to have everything the prostick usb has and more - is there a reason not to go with the demo board to evaluate the propeller over the prostick?
4) The basic stamp used to have a carrier board that you could plug the chip into and it would give you screw terminals that connect to all the output lines. This makes connecting wires much easier than dealing with them falling out of the breadboard. Is something like this available for the propeller or aftermarket?

I've been using the Silabs Toolstick and TI EZ430 chips but think I'm going to move to propeller for the savings with board design and stop using the interrupts.

Thanks for answering my questions!

Comments

  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2008-10-27 21:21
    Hi henry, some quick answers to your questions
    1) No it needs a seperate supply. Terry Hitt (Bean) has a USB powered Propeller board, but Parallax doesn't offer any USB powered dev boards.
    2) Yes it can
    3) The advantage of the PropStick USB is that you have access to all of the Propeller's I/O. The demo board only has 8 unused I/O pins for you applications.
    4) The Propeller ProtoBoard would be closest of the Propeller products to the Carrier Board.

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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • henry99henry99 Posts: 67
    edited 2008-10-29 18:07
    Are there any other manufacturers that make propeller based boards with additional features other than parallax and Hitt Consulting? I'd like to compare all the options available. I saw some on ebay from a guy in malaysia I think. Thanks.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2008-10-29 18:58
    There are several manufacturers currently making boards. One is 4D Systems which makes the uOLED96-Prop which uses the Propeller as the controller for an organic LED display. It includes the tiny display, Propeller, and micro-SD card socket. Parallax carries this. Wulfden still sells PCBs and kits for their Propeller Robot Controller. There's the Prop-GFX which uses the Propeller as a graphics controller. I'm sure there are several I've forgotten.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2008-10-29 20:23
    I've got a design for a simple prototyping board that can be made at home. I could provide the design files if anyone wants to get one made professionally. It's a single-sided PCB with a few wire links:

    www.leonheller.com/Designs/Prop.gif

    Here is the schematic:

    www.leonheller.com/Designs/Propeller.pdf

    Leon

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
    Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle

    Post Edited (Leon) : 10/29/2008 8:28:49 PM GMT
  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,752
    edited 2008-10-29 21:10
    Good idea to switch to the propeller! I just tried, if it will work: and it does:
    I use a protoboard and take the supply from the usb-clip. So I can work with my propeller, whenever my notebook is running! The photos show how the wire is fixed and connected to the LED's. smile.gif
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  • henry99henry99 Posts: 67
    edited 2008-10-29 22:16
    I'm not sure why parallax doesn't draw power from the USB bus for the 5V supply.· Would make life a lot easier...

    Both my TI EZ430 and SiLabs Toolstick draw power and include a USB connector.· I know Hitt Consulting makes a board that has integrated USB power and hope other people could point me to others...

    Thanks!
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2008-10-29 22:33
    There are rules for the availability of power from a USB connection. All devices are required to draw no more than 100mA by default and to only draw up to 500mA if enabled to do so by the USB host. The Propeller can certainly handle this (a single cog at 80MHz talking to a USB host), but it would need a program always run at reset to handle enumeration and specifying high power mode, then waiting until it's available.
  • henry99henry99 Posts: 67
    edited 2008-10-29 22:58
    Wouldn't it be pretty easy to have a little dip switch you toggle to go high power mode or not? Saving external power is huge when doing a rapid development...
  • simonlsimonl Posts: 866
    edited 2008-10-30 12:04
    @henry: You might also want to take a look at uController's 'SpinStudio'. This is a modular Propeller-based system; makes all I/O available; and is very reasonably priced.

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    Cheers,
    Simon

    www.norfolkhelicopterclub.com

    You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again wink.gif
    BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offence at my writing style smile.gif
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