The Basic Stamp Tower

ngl

·· This project - The Basic Stamp Tower (BST) - is the direct result of humanoido's inspiration and imagination.· It can be viewed both as a contraction and expansion of his Basic Stamp "Supercomputer". A contraction, since there are only 5 processors as compared to 10+ in the BSSS. An expansion, in that it incorporates 4 different basic stamps, 2 math coprocessors, wireless capabilities, and multiple external storage options. My objective was to combine several different basic stamp development boards into a single unit, so that computing power could be distributed among multiple processors. The tower arrangement conceived by humanoido was ideal for this purpose. The BST consists of five stacked modules on a 5x8 inch base, communicating through a bidirectional single wire. As shown in the·attached photos (front & rear views), the front panel contains the power distribution switches and activity LEDs associated with each module as well as a uOLED. A rb500 bluetooth·accessory is inserted in the top module. The LCD is visible attached to the right side and an infrared temperature sensor is plugged into a port on the left side.· The rear view shows the placement of the speaker and the USB data logger attached to the top module.·A summary of the BST architecture follows.

·· Ground Floor - Module #1 - Master Computer

·BS2p 24/40 DEMO BOARD with added uM-FPU v2 (SPI mode) and 64K eeprom (I2C bus).· Ports are provided for debugging the FPU, extending the· BST net to other processors ·(e.g., Penguin),·connecting to additional I2C devices, and·accessing the LCD. Unlike the BSSC, the LCD is only controlled by the master. All unused pins are brought out to·self-powered ports to facilitate connecting to sensors and/r other acceseories. THis feature is common to all modules.

···2nd Floor - Module #2 - Slave #1

·BS2 HOMEWORK BOARD controlling a uOLED-128-GMD1 Display. Module #2 is dedicated to the uOLED color display. In addition to graphics and data display, it enables access to removable storage in the form of a micro SD card.

·· 3rd Floor - Module #3 - Slave #2

·BS2 populated CARRIER BOARD controlling an EMIC Speech Synthesis Board. Module #3 is dedicated to·interfacing with the EMIC and any processing involving sound generation. A connector on the carrier board facilitates attaching an external speaker.

·· 4th Floor - Module #4 - Slave #3

·BS2pe populated SUPER CARRIER BOARD dedicated to collecting data from sensors and other external devices. Ports are accessed through the application module connector.

·· 5th Floor - Module #5 - Optional

·BS2sx populated BOE BOARD with added uM-FPU v3, eb500 Bluetooth module, and Memory Stick Datalogger module.· Module #5 is dedicated to processing data which might be transferred from other modules. The eb500 provides wireless bidirectional communication with a PC through a terminal emulation program. The uFPU adds advanced floating point computation, in addition to temporary data storage in its embedded eeprom and two 12-bit ADC ports.· The USB datalogger adds additional removable storage in the form of a memory stick (currently, 1 GB).

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ngl

·BSTower Project - Part 2

··Attac hed find demo software in the form of 5 programs, one for each module, The demo is designed to exercise most of the hardware features of the BST, as well as demonstrate variations in communication between the modules. Please review the software for a more detailed description of module designs and the operational features of the software.

·· Future expansion will not be possible, due to height restrictions in our neighborhood. However, we were able to get permission to add a penthouse to the Basic Stamp Tower. Current plans are to add a SpinStamp populated basic stamp carrier board, dedicated to interfacing with 3.3 volt devices. We may also consider using the SpinStamp as the master computer.

Mike2545

Very Cool

I kind of have my own development tower going here also. Got some cutting boards and threaded rod.

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Mike2545

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Humanoido

NGL said...
This project - The Basic Stamp Tower (BST) - is the direct result of humanoido's inspiration and imagination. It can be viewed both as a contraction and expansion of his Basic Stamp "Supercomputer". A contraction, since there are only 5 processors as compared to 10+ in the BSSS. An expansion, in that it incorporates 4 different basic stamps, 2 math coprocessors, wireless capabilities, and multiple external storage options. My objective was to combine several different basic stamp development boards into a single unit, so that computing power could be distributed among multiple processors. The tower arrangement conceived by humanoido was ideal for this purpose.

NGL: It is a great honor that my Basic Stamp Supercomputer BSS project inspired your wonderful creation - the BST Basic Stamp Tower project, which is totally awesome and immensely impressive!!! This is a fantastic job well done, has outstanding use of materials, resources and sensors, the control panel is especially cool, and I like your mods and additions to the software. It is very clear how much work you successfully put into it. I look forward to seeing more information in this thread, including the wireless apps with the eb500. Job well accomplished! and, don't stop now!

humanoido

Humanoido

Mike2545,

please post your project in a new "Completed Projects" thread. I'm looking forward to learning more.

humanoido

Mike2545

Humanoido,

I think you have inspired many people with your creation. You should be flattered. I simply posted my development platform to show support for this type of 'vertical tower electronics'. I don't think I will dedicate my unit for a collection of Stamps and sensors, instead I am using mine as an experimental platform. The space savings, wire management and close proximity in the tower makes sense as a multipurpose addition to my wireless breadboard. Parallax might consider putting something similar out, though it is easy enough to make yourself.

Thanks for the idea

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Mike2545

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Humanoido

Mike2545: Your platform using threaded rods as spacers and cutting boards as platforms appears to work well. The nice thing about scrounging parts is that we can use the things at hand, leftovers, junk, around the house materials, in the workshop, even some stuff from department stores or a dollar store. The kitchen is a good place to find stuff. One time I took the kitchen clock and reworked it to count cycles on a 6-foot telescope mirror grinding machine. My family never stopped talking about that! They thought the idea was ingenious but were shocked to find the clock missing. So, did anyone miss the cutting boards? [noparse]:)[/noparse]

I have two ultra low cost versions of the "Tower framing," and will post more information at this thread.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=765140

humanoido

Mike2545

I often will use whatever works for the purpose, even if it means sacrificing some cutting boards. I often go looking for raw material and avoid the 'helpful' sales person asking what you are doing. They only see the item as a finished product with certain characteristics, whereas, like many of the creative types here, I will see it for the intrinsic value of the sum of its parts.

The cutting boards were purchased specifically for this project, I must say they machine very well.

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Mike2545

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ngl

BSTower Project - Part 3

The Penthouse (Module #6) - SpinStamp populated BS2 Carrier Board

The attached photo (Penthouse) shows the top view of the carrier board. Three Digilent style ports (4 pins,grd,Vdd), two Parallax ports (1 pin, Vdd,grd), a power switch, a green power indicator led, and a red activity led have been added to the board. A Digilent PMOD-REG1 board is plugged into port 3, in order to provide an auxilary 3.3v power supply to power the ports (Vdd), while still allowing full access to the port.

The addition of a·SpinStamp module to the BST·allows potential access to 3.3v devices and enables basic stamps to utilize the video generation features of the propeller chip.· The attached·spin demo program demonstrates its use as a slave module.·Note that it was not possible to use a single wire bus, since the required 1K series resistor at the·propeller input pin·acted as a voltage divider with the·1K pull-down resistor on the BST bus, lowering the output signal to unacceptable values. Therefore, another pin on the SpinStamp was used as the input connection to the master (module #1).

The next step in the evolution of the BST project·will be to redesign the system so that the·SpinStamp will be the master.

Nick

Humanoido

Nick, great job! Your technical skill is very impressive - this is an excellent project addition because it demonstrates how effectively other "unlike" processors can interface into the BST project - originally comprised of Basic Stamps, and it exemplifies simultaneous programming in two languages (PBASIC and SPIN). The added feature of handling 3.3v devices will be very useful, along with the new resources of the Propeller chip. Since you added another pin to make the Spin Stamp function, and made other changes, can you please show a complete schematic?

humanoido

ngl

BSTower Project - Part 4······· Spin Stamp as Master

The attached figures, Scheme1 & Scheme2, show connection diagrams for the BST system with the Spin Stamp module programmed as a "slave and as the "master".· In the latter case, 2 wire communications are required for each BS2 module, all controlled by different cogs.· This design enables true parallel operation of the basic stamps.

I have selected JDCogSerial.spin as the serial object which is replicated in each of the 5 cogs assigned to the BS2 modules.· This serial object is compact and includes both receive and transmit buffers in cog memory.· The single wire communication bus is also retained, allowing intercommunication between BS2 modules if desired.· The receive lines associated with each cog have a dual function.· They serve as control lines signaling the master when a BS2 module has finished processing or has data ready for transmission to the master as well as a serial transmission line for data.· The attached demo programs (StampMaster.spin, Module1.bsp and Module4.bspe) show how this works. Assuming all programs have been loaded in their modules, the BS2 modules are first turned on and allowed to settle in their waiting state (the activity leds stop blinking) before the master is powered up.

The Spin Stamp functions to schedule and synchronize BS2 module operations, as well as manage data generated by these operations.· The BST may be programmed in many different configurations without changing connections, where the Spin Stamp or any BS2 module can function as slave, master, or neither.

Humanoido

Nick:

This is an amazing upgrade to the BSTower and a job exceedingly
well done! Congratulations, and keep up these great additions.

I especially like the inventive concept of how the Spin Stamp can
can control each BS with a single Cog. I think these models with
multiple computers may have more autonomous self thinking
cores in the future. Already we see at least 3 muli-cored devices
with concepts of muli-function purposed for master-not master.

I like how you created two applications with two separate programs
to forge out differing creative concepts. My only request is a detailed
wiring schematic (in addition to the block diagram), so others can
reproduce your scientific results and create new versions of their own.
I look forward to seeing more of your fine work!

humanoido