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Video / Internet module — Parallax Forums

Video / Internet module

Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
edited 2009-09-06 16:34 in General Discussion
I spent some quality time with DipTrace this weekend and put together an ethernet / video module for the Propeller Platform. It has an ethernet connector / 28j60 controller, a piezo speaker (LS1), and a red LED.

I'm not sure if I'm going to build it, but I've got some extra space on the board. I could fit an SD card slot, or maybe some prototyping space or a few other things. Any thoughts on what I should add (or should I just keep the board comfortably spaced)?

The schematic and PCB design are attached - what do you think?

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Comments

  • Brandon C.Brandon C. Posts: 106
    edited 2009-09-02 20:31
    Hi Nick,

    If you have room left I would suggest you add a VGA connector.

    Just my $0.02

    Brandon C.

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  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2009-09-03 16:52
    A VGA connector fits the theme of the board, but I'm not sure that a lot of projects would use it. Do people really do a lot of things with the VGA out? Would a PS/2 make more sense? If I couldn't fit both on, which would be more useful?

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  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2009-09-03 16:56
    Vote for PS2..

    OBC

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  • Agent420Agent420 Posts: 439
    edited 2009-09-03 17:28
    > Do people really do a lot of things with the VGA out?

    Perhaps it's just me, but I value the vga capabilties more than ntsc.·· vga offers better resolution allowing more options, and lcds have been around long enough to become available dirt cheap.· I understand that for physically smaller sized projects ntsc works well, but when the size of a std monitor is not an issue, vga wins; it's also viewable from a further distance.

    i'm building a couple of wall mounted pong / space invaders clocks and some other terminal based projects...· Eventually I'll work my way up to networked wall mount projects.

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  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,938
    edited 2009-09-03 19:59
    Nick,
    I'm a fellow DipTrace user and I just wanted to say your design looks nice and clean. Which method did you use to get the GG logo on the PCB? I have done mine a couple ways, but never end up with results as clean as yours.

    I would agree that VGA would be useful as Agent420 mentioned, I use VGA more than Composite because I have LCDs all over the place and can buy a 17" like-new-used one for about $40. Also, most of my "panel only" style projects are done with a VGA driver board and flat panel. One project used a CF media player connected to a VGA driver board for a 10" LCD panel. It plays 8 different MPEG videos off the CF depending on which button you press on a membrane keypad. (the firmware for the CF media board was modified so that it plays 000.mpg in a continuous loop until a button is pressed. When a button is pressed, button 1 plays 001.mpg, 2 plays 002.mpg, etc) It was for a store display that had videos for the various items in a product line.

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  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2009-09-03 19:59
    NTSC seems pretty last century now.

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  • Brandon C.Brandon C. Posts: 106
    edited 2009-09-03 23:37
    Glad i'm not the only one! cool.gif

    Brandon C.

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  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-09-03 23:41
    I use VGA much more than ntsc - allthough it is fun to stick a wire in the board and make a mini transmitter over to a tv (ala Propeller Cookbook) - H

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  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2009-09-05 02:06
    Shouldn't the DAC for the TV OUT start at either pin 8 or 12?

    Rich H

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  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2009-09-05 02:51
    @Wba - thanks! I have a Gadget Gangster font, and just used that. The module font is univers condensed. That way it imports as a vector and scales well. For previous boards I just did a bmp import (with viewmaster), but it still came out looking fine. Silkscreen is pretty tolerant of low dpi images.

    I'm glad to hear there are a few other diptrace fans out there. It took me about a day and a half to figure out how to use it, but I find it much easier than eagle. Using the copper pour was a little confusing, but I've got it now. I've been meaning to write a review on it sometime.

    @W9gfo - You could probably use any 3 pins, but the TV driver just requires that they're sequential. I connected the ethernet / tv while keeping in mind how other modules use each pin. So the LED goes at P16, which is where the bi-color LED for the LCD UI module goes.

    @holly - yeah, ntsc is last century, but so is VGA. Personally, I just use the TV to do debugging (when I have the memory), but I'm hoping people can come up with some cool audio / visual based projects. Maybe a second audio connector would make sense...

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  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2009-09-05 05:00
    @Nick - Have you considered using the YBox2 as your model? It already has NTSC/PAL video and a piezo-speaker. If you stick to the same I/O pins for those functions, there'll be less to change to use the existing bootloader and other software. The YBox2 also has a 64K byte EEPROM so the bootloader can use the 2nd 32K.
  • dMajodMajo Posts: 857
    edited 2009-09-05 07:20
    @Nick, for TV out you must use one of the 8 IO nibbles (perhaps discarding the 8th(p28..31) because of the serial/i2c stuff)

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  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2009-09-05 19:26
    I said pin 8 or 12 because it looked easy to modify the layout for those two. I looked briefly for where it is documented that the TV start pin must be divisible by 4 by didn't find it.

    Rich H

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  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2009-09-05 21:49
    I like TV output, NTSC or PAL, because then a video capture puts the propeller in a window on my laptop. Also, running monochrome and or S-video easily delivers 640 pixels. Plenty, IMHO.

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  • hinvhinv Posts: 1,255
    edited 2009-09-06 16:34
    Hi Potatoehead,

    What card are you using for video capture?
    I tried one of my O2s video inputs, but it didn't like the propellers output of AiGeneric. It might have been the specific O2 I was trying, so I will have to test my hardware with another video source.
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