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FTDI's Vinculum and the Propeller — Parallax Forums

FTDI's Vinculum and the Propeller

Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
edited 2009-06-01 02:56 in Propeller 1
I am piecing together a project idea that may use the Vinculum (www.vinculum.com/index.html). From what I gather from a brief review of the IC it has two USB ports, one of which could be a slave or a host. My thought is to have a host port for thumb drives (for data logging or play back purposes) and the other port as a programming port for the Propeller. Has any one create a hardware setup like this? What pitfalls may there be in this kind of setup?

I see that others have used the datalogger (from Parallax) or VDIP1 modules (from FTDI) with the Propeller, but I haven't seen them use the device as the slave to a PC for programming the Prop. What advantages or disadvantages is there over using an SD card for logging or data playback? Obviously the Vinculum is more expensive in the design and hardware cost than adding an SD card slot, but maybe the software for reading/writing to SD cards is intensive too. I have the Hydra SD card and plane to reread the manual and try the examples out again to refresh my memory on that.

My first prototype maybe to use a Propeller Protoboard married with a VDIP module. If I get that working OK with the host port and the slave port, then the next step would be to create a dedicated circuit board with all the components on it.

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
www.tdswieter.com

Comments

  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,223
    edited 2009-05-23 00:23
    I built a board using the RL232 for the USB to Pro, and the Vinculum to read and write the USB thumb drive. I am not sure if you could do what you want or not as far as programming the Prop on one USB port, but I would study the Vinculum manual and VDAP or VMusic firmware manuals. Using the USB drive for reading and writing is easy, I use UART mode only. One thing to think about though is is the speeds at which you may need to log or read versus the SD card format. Another nice thing about getting the Vinculum tackled is adding the mp3 playback chip (VS1033). I have the layout using the Prop/RL232/Vinculum/VS1033 in Eagle if you want to see it.
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2009-05-23 00:34
    Timothy,

    I will buy one if you take the time to develop it. Your business site is becoming a great resource for me.

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    JMH
  • PhilldapillPhilldapill Posts: 1,283
    edited 2009-05-23 05:53
    If you could consolidate the whole sha-bang into a single board that could be mounted, like your programmable RGB LED board, to another PCB, I may have demand for 25 or more. I'd like to be able to have a solid unit that I can solder to my own PCB. This way, your design can be a drop-in unit for my own board. I was actually just looking into this the other day, but it seemed rather complicated. If you can provide the drop-in solution, I think alot of us would love it!
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-05-23 07:39
    Thanks for the encouragement guys!! I will look into it a little deeper over the next couples weeks. Once item that I started to sketch out and do some schematic work for combine a Propeller, WIZnet Ethernet Module and a datalogger (SD or now maybe the Vinculum). I need to keep reading and sketching and see what I come up with. A key characteristic of the device that I have been sketching is the ability to jumper or solder jumper select the bus widths to the devices. So, for instance, if you wanted an SPI bus or an 8-bit bus the WIZnet IC. I think I might be able to do something similar to the Vinculum.

    For software, talking to the Vinculum I imagine would take either one or two cogs, depending on what processing and overhead you do inside the cog. If there was an SD card how many cogs are needed?

    I'll keep this thread alive with my thoughts and notes from research.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2009-05-23 08:12
    Timothy,

    I have Wiznet W5100 and W5300 Ethernet modules sitting on my lab bench.
    Which one are you targeting?

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    JMH
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-05-23 08:20
    I have both IC/modules too, but I was thinking if I include ethernet on it I would probably use the W5100 as it allows communication at SPI or 8/16 bit bus. I believe the W5300 is only at 8/16 bit bus and like I mentioned above one key feature of the product is being able to use solder jumpers to configure bus widths for the number of I/O lines you want to dedicate to it. Do you like this idea?

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Mike HuseltonMike Huselton Posts: 746
    edited 2009-05-23 08:39
    W5100 it is, then. You are correct about the W5300 and lack of SPI.

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    JMH
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-05-25 03:04
    Research note: There is an article series in Nuts & Volts December 2008 and in January 2009 that talks about the Vinculum and the VDIP2 module. I am reviewing those articles now to see what possibilities can be done with the Vinculum as I proposed above. Next after this is reviewing the Vinculum data sheet.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2009-06-01 02:56
    Research Note:

    I have read the Vinculum data sheet and the articles mentioned above. I am drooling to use the Vinculum. However I see that in uart mode there is no DTR signal, which is used as a /RES to the Propeller by the Propellent/Propeller Tool.

    The VDPS firmware sounds like the firmware to use, however you have to use the CTS and other signals and you can't just use Rx/Tx.

    I have a support e-mail to FTDI to confirm my findings and to see if there is someway to have the Vinculum act as a FT232R and a USB thumb drive IC at the same time.

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
    www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT
    www.tdswieter.com
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