Brutal advice needed
whiteoxe
Posts: 794
I havent touched elecronics for near 3 years . I started out with picaxe in 2007 and had too much fun. I was controlling things from my computer using both the serial and parallel ports. Iwrote a few programs in VB and C# to help.
WelIm starting all over again. I never really understood what all the different electronics partsdid i just followed directions, from manuals and forums.
I would like to have a mch better understanding. I bought the prop, thinking id never get to understanding but with forum help Imanaged some fun experiments.
Could I ask for a few different opinions?, Should I buy the new new Prop book and continue working withthat multi cog chip or do you thinkI should go back to basics and say buy the Basic Stamp Kit and the two books that come with it it along with lots of experiments.
Thats going to cost around $160 USmore in aussie dollars, whereas the new prop book is only$30or $40 US.
Is only money [noparse]:)[/noparse] , maybe I can speed through the Basic StampKit and get back rightback into spin !
What do you fellows think. I hold your opinions in the highest regard. I just think the Basic stamp kit might be the best way to understand al the different components?Maybe im wrong and I should just keep going with the multi prop ???? Any thoughts much appreciated. Thanks, mike.
Mike.
ps.I was enrolled in Electrical engineering and microprocessor programming but they withrew the course for 2010. I hope its back up for 2011.
Post Edited (whiteoxe) : 7/9/2010 5:46:29 AM GMT
WelIm starting all over again. I never really understood what all the different electronics partsdid i just followed directions, from manuals and forums.
I would like to have a mch better understanding. I bought the prop, thinking id never get to understanding but with forum help Imanaged some fun experiments.
Could I ask for a few different opinions?, Should I buy the new new Prop book and continue working withthat multi cog chip or do you thinkI should go back to basics and say buy the Basic Stamp Kit and the two books that come with it it along with lots of experiments.
Thats going to cost around $160 USmore in aussie dollars, whereas the new prop book is only$30or $40 US.
Is only money [noparse]:)[/noparse] , maybe I can speed through the Basic StampKit and get back rightback into spin !
What do you fellows think. I hold your opinions in the highest regard. I just think the Basic stamp kit might be the best way to understand al the different components?Maybe im wrong and I should just keep going with the multi prop ???? Any thoughts much appreciated. Thanks, mike.
Mike.
ps.I was enrolled in Electrical engineering and microprocessor programming but they withrew the course for 2010. I hope its back up for 2011.
Post Edited (whiteoxe) : 7/9/2010 5:46:29 AM GMT
Comments
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Leon Heller
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
For a newbie I doubt you could do better.
You could of course just start with the propeller.
It is not so difficult to use. You will not get any
experience with interrupt code though. But if
you only want to do personal hobby type work
than I say who needs interrupts! If you want to
do this sort of thing for a living though I would
suggest getting experience with several different
controllers....most shops code them in C so that
could be important for you to learn if you want
to get a job working with controllers.
Lots of fine people here on this board will help
you however they can, this is a great resource
and I really don't think the group here would let a
newbie fail. Just ask for help whenever you need it.
We were all newbies at this once
Welcome back and welcome aboard!
logical sections inside the microcontroller like counter, IO-directionregister, io-state-register COG-RAM, HUB-RAM?
or do you mean things like resistors, diodes, transitsors, Operational Amplifiers?
This makes a big difference.
For the first I would recommend the What's a microcontroller
It is based on the basic stamp and as you have to learn about microcontrollers you should use it with the basic stamp
But stop stop no hurry to order a basic stamp !
Take a look into the Propeller Education Kit Labs Fundamentals
If you understand that stay with it
If you don't understand it come back to the forum with questions
and test if you can understand it with the support of the forum
If you find it too hard buy a basic stamp2 and go with the what's a microcontroller
for the second I recommend lessons in electric circuits
lot's of material starting at the lowest base and going up from there
best regards
Stefan
That said, since you asked about learning electronics, I suggest that you find a copy of a good electronics text such as Grob's Basic Electronics. You can find older editions (current edition is 11) of the book used (ebay, alibris, amazon) for not much money, or spend some serious cash for a new edition. But it will help you to learn electronics as opposed to microcontrollers.
Another decent beginner book is the recent Make: Electronics book. It's not as detailed as Grob, but it isn't designed to be (Grob is a college text). You can also check out the Art of Electronics, which is very good, but not strictly for raw beginners. Combined with one of the above books + google, you would be fine with it.
I thinkIll bight the bullet(hope its not a hollow point [noparse]:)[/noparse] and continueon with the prop. Illorder the book tonight. Thanks for your help.
I think I am going to buy a book on basic electronics, writers name is Forrestwhittaker or similar.Its on amazon and has very good reviews, even old hands say they sometimes still refertoit !
Post Edited (whiteoxe) : 7/9/2010 7:44:52 AM GMT
www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Paul-Scherz/dp/0071452818/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1
The Spin language is just as easy to learn/use as any BASIC I have seen.
When you have the need for speed the PASM assembler language is about the easiest to learn/use I have come across.
Having multiple cores, can lead you to all kinds of "interesting" programming but from a beginners point of view makes life very easy with drop in objects for serial, SPI, I2C, SD cards etc. Just find a ready made object from OBEX or elsewhere and it's "plug and play".
The Propeller Tool is dead easy to use.
On the hardware/electronics side the Prop is great because you can get it running with almost nothing. A DIP Prop, a power supply, a few decupling capacitors and a Prop Plug and you are programming already. I started with no PropPlug just the two transistor circuit to use with a serial cable.
After that you can start to add circuits and gadgets to the Prop step by step as your you electronics knowledge grows.
And finally, but most importantly, there is this forum. Not sure I've ever seen such a large group of enthusiastic, smart and helpful people. No question is to stupid to be answered here, trust me I know[noparse]:)[/noparse]
With all that experience in place you will be ready to tackle any other micro, the only downside being that with them you will be frustrated at how hard they are to use. What with needing interrupts, and the C language, a clumsy IDE, and understanding a billion special purpose registers, and peripheral hardware blocks, and dedicated pins for this and that etc etc etc.
Have fun.
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For me, the past is not over yet.
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IMO the Platt book is easier to understand, better composed, and more up to date than the Mims book. Both follow a hands on approach, and are similarly priced. You can preview each on Amazon. The Mims book may be in your local Radio Shack, and if you have a Barnes & Noble nearby, they might have the Platt book, if you want to see them first hand.