New to the Propeller

Capdiamont

I finally got a non usb propeller protoboard with last week's sale. I also got the accessory kit. Plan is to eventually put it in a old blueberry imac. One problem is the site I've seen the mod I want to do for the pin outs, is having problems(MacMod). Thinking of making it my rs485 control/logging brain, I have the parallax usb stick interface, and the wiznet ethernet interface. The rest of the home network would be using SX's. That is the plan.

Since it won't show up till Tuesday, I've gotten the parts together for a programming interface, via rs-232, and been reading through tricks/traps, spin examples, and the manual.... wondering what did I get myself into.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

Wade on in, the water is fine.. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

I'm guessing by your avatar/msg count that you've jumped over with some BASIC stamp experience.
You'll have a good time with the Propeller. [noparse]:)[/noparse] Have a glance at the Cookbook (below). It will give you some
more ideas for your Protoboard.

OBC

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New to the Propeller?

Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS

Capdiamont

I figured that you would be one to respond. I also figure you'll be the 1st one to figure out how to do 7.1 surround sound with a propeller supercomputer stack.

I actually received it on Monday, but wasn't allowed to play with it.

Tuesday started assembling rs-232 programmer, forgot to buy the 3906 transistor. Put together the accessory kit except the servo part. Don't know if I'll do servo's on this one. Most likely, move it to a SX board.

Today, haven't time to finish the programmer. Should of gotten the prop clip.

I also download, but forgot that I did so, the cookbook. Tried to download as much as possible to try and figure things out. I have one bs2, that I haven't dedicated to anything, just seems a bit expensive to do so.

One sx dedicated at the local fair, for the lighthouse flasher.

Wasn't able to view the forums for a few days due to some internet error, and ended up finding my topic on page 3!

StefanL38

OK,

that's the story around it

where's your first propeller-related question ?

the forum is keen on answering propeller-related questions
We are waiting ! Don't test our patience too much

best regards

Stefan

Capdiamont

Ok hit 1st snag, propeller not found with propeller tool. using 1.2.5

using www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/prop/SerialtoPropeller.pdf

for usb to rs232/9pin Parallax usb to serial adapter. Works great with other stuff, phone systems, VM etc.

Waiting till tomorrow to post more, for fresh eyes(mine)

SRLM

Is is on? When you hook up the USB, does your computer make the Ba-Dum sound of found new hardware?

Capdiamont

The usb adapter itself works great, I use it quite a lot with my job. It is one of those things, you can pry from my cold, dead hands.

Mike Green

You don't know that the USB to Serial adapter works "great". The Propeller download protocol depends on the DTR line working properly which not all USB to serial adapters do. It depends on the timing of the serial transmission. The default Windows driver for USB to serial adapters doesn't work with the Propeller (or the Stamps). You have to use the manufacturer's USB driver. FTDI-based adapters are known to work as well as Keyspan's High Speed USB to serial adapter.

Capdiamont

driver is set to 9600, 8, n, 1, no flow control.

I'm using a fresh set of 4 d cell batteries in series, voltage out is 6.44v, center pin positive, led on propeller board does come on when turned on. I turn it on, before attempting to program.

I've probability wired the programming adapter wrong, but I don't see any errors. I've checked it vs circuit diagram. I've checked for shorted traces, visually, and ohm meter. I've checked for cold joints. I did change the order so the output to the propeller board matches the regular programming adapters. I do have 3.3v going where it is supposed to go.

The usb adapter power led is on, activity led will do a quick blip when I try a identify hardware. comm 1 is the adapter.

Capdiamont

driver provider is FTDI version 2.4.6.0

it is the Parallax USB to 232 rev b.

the cap is a .01uf polyester-film.

Capdiamont

included schematic, of how i reconfigured things. It is actually my 1st schematic I've done on the computer. Hopefully it is readable. This should be the exact same schematic as Parallax's, just different order.

update, previous schematic was failing on the netlist checker

Post Edited (Capdiamont) : 12/13/2008 5:18:57 AM GMT

Capdiamont

Did a express PCB file, also a 1st time. How do you get the normal PCB view to post? IE the one posted as an image doesn't show much. I'm not sure the file is correct, I did it to learn.

I'm thinking I reversed my transistors. Will check tomorrow.

Timothy D. Swieter

If your programming cable is still not working then I would double check all the transistors in the circuit as it can be very easy to get one in backwards.

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto for SunSPOT, BitScope
www.tdswieter.com

Capdiamont

Still not able to program, though found out more about interfacing it to the iMac

Somebody said...
A: The monitor in the iMac has a fixed horizontal scan frequency. All the video modes it supports are "non-standard" divisions of said frequency. (In MacOS you'll see, for instance, that 640x480 is only supported at 100-something Hz refresh, 800x600 is only 85-ish, and only 1024x768 69-ish. The monitor physically won't sync with anything else.) You might have noticed when running Linux on it that your distribution probably automatically inserted some special modelines into the xorg.conf file to deal with the situation.

So what it boils down to is you could certainly wire it up to a VGA port and drive it as long as you adjust your video driver accordingly. (The pinout is the "mac standard" 15 pin D-sub connector) However, it won't work at the standard VGA BIOS refresh rates, which means if you're using a PC you won't be able to see the BIOS screen, do a "normal" OS install, etc.

As for using it with something *other* then a PC, I guess (from reading) that the VGA display on a Propeller microcontroller is completely software driven. Thus it *should* be pretty trivial to hack up code to work with any arbitrary set of timings. Just remember that you'll have to hack *every* piece of example software you might want to run, and you'll also likely have to be much more precise in said timings since you'll have to work within a much narrower band of tolerance then you would with a normal multisync monitor.

B: I've never seen an adapter to use a "real" USB-only keyboard or mouse on a PS/2 port. (Yes, I know of the little green widgets that came with some older USB mice and keyboards to let them plug to a PS/2 port, but those arn't protocol translators. When one's present they signal the dual-mode circuitry built into the peripheral to switch to PS/2 mode. That's not gonna work with a Mac keyboard.) Not saying they don't exist, just never seen one.

So I'll have to drive it specially. More research.

Capdiamont

I said forget it, about building my own program adapter, for now. pinouts.ru/VideoCables/vga2macintosh_pinout.shtml for pin out. I went ahead and bought a propclip. 1st test was running the vga demos. It works!!!!! I gotta say, running video, that easy, is going to be addicting. Looks like I have female connectors on each end, which is nice, to test fit connections.

One question though, is refresh rates. I'm not sure how to change them, to meet the special imac requirements.

Post Edited (Capdiamont) : 4/25/2009 5:54:57 AM GMT