Your bypass caps are not going to be very effective with those long leads, due to the added inductance. Clip the leads as short as you can to get the caps down onto the board.
If Brain posting is not what we're typically used to, it's because all posting is taking place on a tiny Apple iPhone screen. The iPhone does not run Microsoft Windows so we are happy about that. A slightly larger netbook, but not larger by much, is also being geared up for minor use. This is being treated as a small Brain peripheral computer for minor occasional use. These are the only computers for posting during this time interim. While it's hoped that the tiny screens are proportional, it's not known if it corresponds to what you're seeing, especially with photos and formatting. Features are also lacking, like a traditional spell checker, right click linker, etc. It may be some time before the power com is put into use. We simply don't know if it should be shipped here or there. Things are slow too. It took the better part of an hour to download the Propeller Software Tool. Then there's BST - do we download the 32-bit or 64-bit version?
Wonderful, The Big Brain coming to America? What Venue? (err..Where's it gonna be located?) Is this going to be a big move for You and Yours Humanoido? Anyway, Glad to see there is still hope for the Big Brain project.
Ttailspin, this is definitely a very big move from China to America, and looking at all the things accumulated here it's going to be challenging to move. I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you, though it's likely the first shop that we get up and running will be a big internet presence combined with Parallax. Either way, virtual or not, expect future announcements.
It's going to be sooooooo good to cruise with high speed internet and no government intervention and blocking! Plus, we're putting a lot of resources on continuing the Brain. I'm looking at taking about 3 months off to become a carpenter and build the new lab building. I like to work alone, and built my house some time ago - that took 3 years. I hope this goes much faster. I also have the option to do what Steve and Steve did with Apple - just remodel the garage, and build a side car port.
Your bypass caps are not going to be very effective with those long leads, due to the added inductance. Clip the leads as short as you can to get the caps down onto the board.
Definitely the bypass capacitors (and LEDs, wiring and other components) need to have their leads clipped to the length that still fits snug into the solderless breadboards.
This is a rather large project in itself with around a thousand capacitor leads to fit and trim. With these large machines, doing one simple task can be multiplied hundreds or thousands of times making a series of large time-consuming sub-projects.
Studies of solderless breadboards may also show added inductance from hole to hole connections. I don't know of any simple formulae to compute drop-offs with multiple Propeller chips. But I did report on some empirically derived maximums and created some partitions to avoid any significant deviations up to a maxiumum.
I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you, though it's likely the first shop that we get up and running will be a big internet presence combined with Parallax
If you don't mind, what is your agreement with Parallax? Will Parallax be a Brain distributor or supporter? What about the neural injector NDA? I'm guessing that Parallax had you sign the NDA and will release the code in the next 2 months?
Mike G, although one cannot predict what will happen in the future with 100% certaintly, I do know the word "shop" has two meanings, one as a verb, as in to shop in a store, and secondly as a noun, a location or place of work, like a wood shop is a place where furniture is made. The use of the word "shop" was as a noun, to denote a place to work on Brains. The reference to Parallax was only in regard to the Forum, and posting, i.e. the way it could supplement a Brain web site in the capacity of project information and the development of related projects.
There is now some discussion regarding the hard drive and age - a hard drive of 5 years use will be highly susceptible to failure and should be immediately replaced. Exactly when should a hard drive go up for replacement? I don't know. But if you have one that age, now is the time..
The second point made is the mainland Chinese MIS man simply did not know what he was doing, in wiping (or modifying/playing) windows without saving bookmarks, making any backups, or even asking or allowing time for backups to be made, and refusing to follow my explicit instructions to make a backup of everything, or using an anti-virus program which is, in itself, a virus.
Could some of this result in failures of language translation? If so, it would be counter to common sense. I am also told the highest success in recovery, and perhaps the only success, is in recovery of many PDF files. Unfortunately, these are not Brain programs or Propeller code, but only those files of research and tutorial, which could be replaced anyway.
The bad drive was put back into the computer. The recovered files were put onto the bad drive. I really question the sanity of these people. These are the same people telling me not to use the drive because of age. Additionally they did not remove virus from the drive. Plus, Windows was not in any condition to boot, nor was it repaired.
My only idea is to boot the computer from a hot LINUX CD and see if I can copy selected recovered files from the hard drive over to some external USB drive, and hoping that it mounts, using the LINUX operating system.
The tech man at the hard drive restoration company was going to copy the hard drive, with all the virus files still intact, to the President's pc computer! I phoned about NOT doing that, but no one understood my concern. I'd swear that if I'm from some other planet, these Earthlings enjoy creating interminable diverse subversion.
The modern day computer and internet was developed in America. The new conclusion is that if any work is needed on the computer or drive, take it back to the country of origin, i.e. in this example, the USA.
Mike G, although one cannot predict what will happen in the future with 100% certaintly, I do know the word "shop" has two meanings, one as a verb, as in to shop in a store, and secondly as a noun, a location or place of work, like a wood shop is a place where furniture is made. The use of the word "shop" was as a noun, to denote a place to work on Brains. The reference to Parallax was only in regard to the Forum, and posting, i.e. the way it could supplement a Brain web site in the capacity of project information and the development of related projects.
Oh, I understood shop as a noun. It sounds like your starting an e-com site and Parallax is your partner.
I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you, though it's likely the first shop that we get up and running will be a big internet presence combined with Parallax
So you start off with "I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you...". Really, am I the only one that thought that sounds like you intent to sell the Brain in a retail store, brick and mortar or electronic?
Then you say "...though it's likely the first shop that we get up". A shop could be a store, a place of business, a manufacturing facility, or e-com site "
Next "...there will be a big internet presence... ". Excuse me but the entrepreneur in me thought web site, advertising, and products.
Then finally, "...combined with Parallax..." Come on, it sounds like you and Parallax have a business deal related to some internet presence.
If you really meant Parallax forum why not simply say so in the first place?
(Mike G, the business aspect of selling Brains does sound interesting. Let's speculate..)
The opening of Brains Are Us... What kind of brain do you want to buy? Which markets will buy this giant or go for the sale of smaller packaged brains? How about some Brain Plans? Buy Brain Code and roll your own Brain. A Brain in every home? Let your second Brain decide recipes on the kitchen counter. Small wearable Brains, make a fashion statement while doing wireless cloud thinking on the run! Implant a second Brain and out-think your competition, business partners or class mates. BIG Brains come in wearable back packs for every occasion. Toy Brains enable kids to surpass parents. Put a Big Brain in your home and as a ruler, let it rule everything. Exchange the brain in your home humanoid for this more powerful one. Surgically implant the nano version and no one will know your advantage. Buy the multi brain model - double or triple the thinking.
Brains at the Store
Trip to store has shocking results
In a trip to the grocery store, an entire isle of brains was displayed. It appeared the brains on ice were from pigs, dogs, goats, monkeys and other unidentified animals. Prices were reasonable. If you were hungry but wanted to spend less money, some of the older less fresh brains were on sale. While it was shocking to see this (I always leave restaurants that serve dog), there did appear to be a large amount neo-cortex and cerebrum material available. Just sayin..
There are three new types of computers designed and proposed for the Brain project, - low, mid and high end. The high end reached into the price levels of a car and was rejected on exorbitant expense. The low end was, well, just low end without the required amount of processing power or capabilities or even peripherals. The high mid range seems promising, putting together a power unit that remained the most capable and cost effective. However, feedback from the computer financial management department indicates a possible stalling with the proposals. It is not known if this will significantly stall the project or not. Conference meetings will begin sometime next week.
Prolog is an artificial intelligence programming language. The Brain, during this interim period, is being prepped with a tiny Netbook. However it was discovered this Netbook has the power and capability to run Prolog programming language and can contribute to the Brain's ability to extend its machine intelligence.
SWI-Prolog - Prolog programming environment
SWI-Prolog offers a comprehensive Free Software Prolog environment. Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language often used for artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. (the following from Portable Apps http://portableapps.com/)
Kernel licensed under the LGPL. Prolog libraries are distributed under the GPL with an additional statement that allows for use in proprietary applications. Details can be found on the license page.
fast compilation. E.g., loads 140,000 lines of code spread over 500 source-files in 2.3 seconds on an AMD 5400+ system.
Robust and free of memory leaks. In use for several servers that run 24x7 (including this web-service).
Small. The full development environment, including graphics, libraries and many interface packages requires approx.
Scales well for large applications. No limits on program size, atom-length, term-arity or integer values. No performance degradation on predicates with many (indexed) facts.
Unbounded integer and rational number arithmetic based on GMP library.
Comprehensive set of built-in predicates, covering Part 1 of the ISO standard, the de-facto Edinburgh Prolog standard and important parts of Quintus and SICStus Prolog. Fair compatibility to Ciao, YAP and GNU-Prolog.
SWI-Prolog's home http://www.swi-prolog.org/
Open directory cool site SWI-Prolog offers a comprehensive Free Software Prolog environment, licensed under the Lesser GNU Public License. Together with its graphics toolkit XPCE, its development started in 1987 and has been driven by the needs for real-world applications. These days SWI-Prolog is widely used in research and education as well as for commercial applications. See our download statistics.
Building a High Density Brain Breadboard
the solderless kind...
These step-by-step photos show the process to create a high density Brain solderless breadboard for wiring up the maximum number of Propeller chips in the fastest time, most easy way possible and within the smallest footprint.
Step 1: get up before the rising sun
Step 2: Lay out tools and materials. Note the stack of solderless breadboards just unpackaged. These will mount onto the green transparent plastic clipboard after being prepared. Step 3: Use a knife to score the back side of each breadboard along the power bus fold, breaking away the power bus strip and scoring deep with the knife. Then notch out the sticky material around the small connection tabs. Now connect the breadboards together as shown. A couple small power bus strips will be used for each completed assembly.
Step 4: Now arrange the breadboards according to the photo. Note the extra breadboard at the top and two power bus strips, one at top and one at bottom. These mount by removing the paper on the bottom and affixing with the sticky tape already on the breadboards.
Step 5: Now lay out the Propeller chips, insert and begin wiring.
Advantages of the High Density Solderless Breadboard
Easy to construct
No waiting for board etching or ordering
No need to design with CAD/CAM software
Breadboards are locally obtained
Method is low cost
Fast assembly
Wiring is made easy
Trouble shooting is improved
Holds 27 Propeller chips plus components
Holds two decoupling capacitors for each chip
Can include LEDs for each chip
Easy to access all 32 Propeller pins
High visibility excellent for LEDs and labeling
Space included for a dropping resistor on each prop LED
It may be some time before the powerful big new computer is online with the Brain. In the mean time, a tiny Netbook is being prepped. What does it take to get this tiny Netbook up and running on the Brain? A lot of work, apparently. The beginning list of upgrades is below:
install full size keyboard
install new desktop
install internal SD card
install software
install mouse
install propeller software tool
install PST
install usb drivers
install Prolog Artificial Intelligence Programming Language
install Google PICASA
Install Basic Stamp Editor
setup portable links
install Firefox
install supporting WPs
setup linux & UNIX links
install screen protector
install compression decompression
install MWSnap
install CCleaner
Install Chrome etc.
Install Audio Coverter
Photo utilities
PC to Mac
Install Diagram Designer
install tools (calendar
calculator
audio processor
photo handler
notes
magnifying glass..)
install transparency anti blocking
install shortcuts (works
database
char map
scanner & cam utilities
term
paint..)
install bookmarks
setup internet
setup fonts
obtain usb thumb drives
run tests to connect massive usb drives
remove unused software
Disabling some software
begin links section for research, Apple, Netbook, Drives, LINUX, ...
I know it might be a little late to chime in here, but,..
In all fairness, I did ask Huminoido "What Venue?", so an answer of "Theater near You" seems reasonable, At least to me anyway.
Now this on the other hand...
However, feedback from the computer financial management department indicates a possible stalling with the proposals. It is not known if this will significantly stall the project or not. Conference meetings will begin sometime next week.
Keep Your Pimp hand strong, Brother... :cool:
Of course just asking nice can go along way too...
That is alot of Propellers on that little Clipboard, How many Props do You have on hand Humanoido?.
If You don't mind My asking.
@Ttailspin, maybe I infer too much into Humanoido's statement. There's has been a lot of extravagant claims regarding the Brain. It's very difficult, for me anyway, to figure the meaning. For example, the neural injector NDA that Phil was asking about. That was the context of my thinking when I responded. OK Humanoido is working on a project with a company X. Now Humanoido is moving to the US and the Brain will have a "big internet presence combined with Parallax".
Now this comment
However, feedback from the computer financial management department indicates a possible stalling with the proposals. It is not known if this will significantly stall the project or not. Conference meetings will begin sometime next week.
Humanoido do you work for or own a business that is promoting the Brain? Or is the "financial management department" a spouse? Until recent posts, I thought the Brain project was an individual open source project with no source. Now it sounds like some kind of organization. What am I missing?
Mike G, yes, you do have a habit of reading in between the lines and then adding your extended interpretation. I say A, then you infer B, C and D. I clarify B, C and D, then you lead on with E, F and G. There is no end to this. Should be good for a look-ahead game of Chess. You are probably a Chess champion. Right? In the Brain thread, if something is working, you know. If it is not working, then you know it is not. If it is being developed, you know it's under development. If it's a test, you know it's a test. I posted this earlier: The only focus at this point is to work on the computer drive to retrieve the files. The entire Brain project is suspended until further notice. Please do not ask for project information and please do not criticize me or the project for this unfortunate event. BTW, did you find the two Brain Propeller communications programs that were posted to your request? They work well with the Brain.
Ttailspin, I know there's a post that counts up the number of props in the various parts of the Brain. You can also count up props in some of the photos. There's also another post with a number quote. Actually, I lost count. These props came in different orders. The machine parts were built up at different times, in different time zones, and put into various machines. You know, the new Brain, the Twin Brain, the EXT Brain, the first Injector, the three giant injectors, the double partitions, the LED Mach, the MC, the smaller add-ons, PEK, the Summit, Host Boards, the Loader, the Scavenger chips, the loan from US40, all double prop boards, spare boards, they all make up one massive Brain collective! There's another post on multiple prop projects that detail some of the history leading up to larger and larger machines.
I'm just trying to understand what you're talking about. Humanoido, you've made remarkable claims. When asked to share your work you generally reply with some vague excuse or reference but no meat. As Phil said providing something to chew on would provide credibility to your hard work.
BTW, did you find the two Brain Propeller communications programs that were posted to your request? They work well with the Brain.
Yes, I did and I did not want to comment on the code. Since you asked... I can not see how your COM code could possibly function at an acceptable level (or even at all) in a 100 Prop network. It's only good for Peer to Peer, kinda'... more like send and forget The slave has Tx/Rx is on pin 27 and the master only has Tx on pin 27. The slave could easily start to transmit while the master is transmitting depending on how long it takes to process the command. But that does not matter because the master is not listening to anything. The slave has a listener hanging off pin 30. I'm guessing pin 30 goes to a terminal session. I see pictures of the Brain array. How are the Prop nodes communicating? Can you post that code?
I'm not sure what to think about the LED stuff. The LED code simply runs within a Prop.
CON ' Define Constants
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
tx = 27 ' Set transmit pin to 27
baudRate = 9600 ' BAUD @ 9600
polarity = 1 ' polarity
bits = 8 ' Eight stop bits
VAR ' Define variables
BYTE num ' number to send
OBJ ' Objects from OBEX
bs : "BS2_Functions" ' Basic Stamp 2 library
PUB start ' Public Object
BS.start(31, 30) ' Start BS2_Functions
num := 0 ' Init n
repeat ' Set loop
BS.serout_dec(tx, num, baudRate, polarity, bits) ' Send number 1 to BS
waitcnt(clkfreq + cnt) ' Delay one second
num++ ' Incr number by one
if num == 10 ' Reset to one digit
num:=0 ' Begin again with 0
Rx Code
CON ' Define constants
_XINFREQ = 5_000_000 ' Adjust clock frequency to 80Mhz
_CLKMODE = XTAL1 + PLL16X ' Uses a 5Mhz crystal
rx = 27 ' Receives data on pin 27
tx = 27 ' Reserved for Transmit Object
baudRate = 9600 ' Baud set to 9600 (BS Function)
polarity = 1 ' Match Polarity with Transmitter
bits = 8 ' Set eight stop bits
OBJ ' Uses one Object
bs : "BS2_Functions" ' Basic Stamp 2 library
VAR ' Variables
byte number ' Number byte to receive
PUB start ' Public Object
BS.start(31, 30) ' Start Basic Stamp BS2 Functions
repeat ' Communications Loop
number := BS.serin_char(rx, baudRate, polarity, bits) ' Receive routine
BS.serout_char(30, number, baudRate, 1, 8) ' Show data received on screen
waitcnt(clkfreq/2 + cnt) ' Delay
CON ' Define Constants
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
pin = 16 ' Set pin to use
PUB LEDon ' Public method
dira[pin] := 1 ' Pin to output
outa[pin] := 1 ' LED set high
Repeat ' Unending Loop
CON ' Define Constants
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
pin = 16 ' Set pin number here
pulse = 40 ' Set pulsing here, Example: 20 is 1/20th second
PUB BlinkLED ' Public method
dira[pin] := 1 ' Set direction of Pin, make output
Repeat ' Loop
!outa[pin] ' toggle pin
waitcnt(clkfreq/pulse + cnt) ' wait 1/pulse second
Phil was talking about BMI code which was deleted by the the hard drive accident. Negative criticism on me or the project will not bring back that code and will only make you look bad.
The test code posted was based on the mentioned number of props which you inaccurately state. I suggest read the posts again and review the schematics. The test code works perfect for the stated Brain purpose and for those following along who built the Brain circuits. Test code is also designed for expansion and play.
If you want to chew on something, try a packet of chewing gum. FYI, there is no code to post and all files are gone. I suggest you read along more closely from now on.
The project is offered open source, as is. This is an experiment in open source development and has worked well for about a hundred viewers/contributors but not well for two viewers. Those two viewers may want to move on.
Tonight around midnight, the jet will arrive with the computer and drive, plus semi-restored backup. Additional language translations have revealed new information. Apparently the hard drive restoration company did know what they were doing, and did not copy anything back onto the defective drive, which at least in the USA is SOP.
The new released information is that a hard drive 5 years old may have failed anyway.. and appeared to have had virus, when in effect it may have not, but rather accumulated physical errors affecting OS and software.
It is however known that the first MIS man messed up by not making the requested backups and deleting everything on the Windows directories. If he would have left it alone after the deletion, then files could be restored. Unfortunately he proceeded to continuously dink around resulting in numerous HD writes, messing up the system hopelessly. Files ended up butchered, severed, and spread across the drive in different directories.
The numerous PDF files successfully restored won't help because no Brain programs were in this format. Additionally nearly all brain work, including archival coding, was in MS Word format. I'm told perhaps none of these survived. The files by name are there but cannot be opened or will open to garbage. A computer saavy person suggested trying to open these with the more extensive word processor from Google. In anyone familiar with this?
That might be easier if there weren't so many of them. But with 600-plus stream-of-consciousness posts in this thread, it can be exasperating to tease out what substance there is. In all fairness to your readers, Humanoido, who's going to wade through more than 600 posts to find a handful of schematics and a few snippets of code? Maybe you need a table of contents.
That might be easier if there weren't so many of them. But with 600-plus stream-of-consciousness posts in this thread, it can be exasperating to tease out what substance there is. In all fairness to your readers, Humanoido, who's going to wade through more than 600 posts to find a handful of schematics and a few snippets of code? Maybe you need a table of contents. -Phil
"He who has eyes let him see." - Jesus. We've had a complete online index (which is a complete table of contents citing topics and sub-topics, post number, and page number, etc.) to the Brain Thread for some time. It's simple to use, just go to the first post, follow the link, bring up the index post, use your browser's Edit/Find and type in the key word(s). With the correct key word(s), you'll easily and quickly find exactly what you're looking for. Use the simple online version as I no longer have time to update the pdf file.
Edit: as a bonus, you can also search on your name and it comes up with all your Brain post numbers, for some of you regrettably...
The call just came in that other matters have preempted the brain's computer and drives arrival time, and the package will not be on tonight's aircraft flight. It's been delayed another two days due to some pressing business matters said to be more important.
Poor Brain. It can't get any respect now. Just think, later when it becomes bigger and more powerful... I won't slight it for retribution day. Guys, be polite. Your words are in print. I'm telling you now, those of you that did and those of you that will pi$$ off the Brain, he won't go easy on you. AND don't come crying to me just because I didn't put in an off button.
I have read some of the posts in this thread over the past few months and it doesn't seem like you've ever posted a video or picture that demonstrates what the Big Brain actually does or did. I admit that I haven't read every post in this thread, so I may have missed something. To be honest, I really don't understand the reason for using dozens of Props to build the Big Brain. If your programming in Spin you're only getting the equivalent of 0.25 to 0.5 MIPs per Propeller. At that speed you could simulate a thousand independent processors on a single PC.
What is the purpose of the Big Brain. Is it intended to be some form of electronic sculpture, or is it supposed to actually do something? Please help me understand.
The video had become an issue. The video sites are blocked in this country and as a result, the usual 2k bits bandwidth won't load video even if there was no blocking. There is a low res vid posted.
The drive had enough photos for gif format where they could be put together to show the Brain functioning. There is one successful example of this posted earlier.
Windows is about as slow as molasses on a frigid January morning. You won't simulate thousand of anything.
In this project, the current reason for using lots of props is not for speed.
However, I have experimented with overclocking and super cooling for speed, and would like to work in that area in the future.
I believe we covered the idea of emulation of neurons on a PC and did that already.
In another experiment we connected a PC to the Brain to gain some resources.
What does it do? After the computer crash and loss of the drive and programs, it was sealed.
We'll see what was restored on the drive first.
What is the purpose? Just to have some hobby fun - you could follow the earlier posts to see the interest areas.
That is really strange.
Of course there's a page 16.
This link from page 1 works in two different browsers on three computers and one iPhone. http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain/page16
It takes you to page 16 but you need to drop down to post number 304 which contains the Index.
Page number depends on your personal forum settings. I've have mine set to 50 posts per page. Others may have theirs set to something else. So a page number link will produce different results for different people. Why not link to the particular post containing the index instead?
Comments
Your bypass caps are not going to be very effective with those long leads, due to the added inductance. Clip the leads as short as you can to get the caps down onto the board.
-Phil
If Brain posting is not what we're typically used to, it's because all posting is taking place on a tiny Apple iPhone screen. The iPhone does not run Microsoft Windows so we are happy about that. A slightly larger netbook, but not larger by much, is also being geared up for minor use. This is being treated as a small Brain peripheral computer for minor occasional use. These are the only computers for posting during this time interim. While it's hoped that the tiny screens are proportional, it's not known if it corresponds to what you're seeing, especially with photos and formatting. Features are also lacking, like a traditional spell checker, right click linker, etc. It may be some time before the power com is put into use. We simply don't know if it should be shipped here or there. Things are slow too. It took the better part of an hour to download the Propeller Software Tool. Then there's BST - do we download the 32-bit or 64-bit version?
Ttailspin, this is definitely a very big move from China to America, and looking at all the things accumulated here it's going to be challenging to move. I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you, though it's likely the first shop that we get up and running will be a big internet presence combined with Parallax. Either way, virtual or not, expect future announcements.
It's going to be sooooooo good to cruise with high speed internet and no government intervention and blocking! Plus, we're putting a lot of resources on continuing the Brain. I'm looking at taking about 3 months off to become a carpenter and build the new lab building. I like to work alone, and built my house some time ago - that took 3 years. I hope this goes much faster. I also have the option to do what Steve and Steve did with Apple - just remodel the garage, and build a side car port.
Your bypass caps are not going to be very effective with those long leads, due to the added inductance. Clip the leads as short as you can to get the caps down onto the board.
Definitely the bypass capacitors (and LEDs, wiring and other components) need to have their leads clipped to the length that still fits snug into the solderless breadboards.
This is a rather large project in itself with around a thousand capacitor leads to fit and trim. With these large machines, doing one simple task can be multiplied hundreds or thousands of times making a series of large time-consuming sub-projects.
Studies of solderless breadboards may also show added inductance from hole to hole connections. I don't know of any simple formulae to compute drop-offs with multiple Propeller chips. But I did report on some empirically derived maximums and created some partitions to avoid any significant deviations up to a maxiumum.
If you don't mind, what is your agreement with Parallax? Will Parallax be a Brain distributor or supporter? What about the neural injector NDA? I'm guessing that Parallax had you sign the NDA and will release the code in the next 2 months?
There is now some discussion regarding the hard drive and age - a hard drive of 5 years use will be highly susceptible to failure and should be immediately replaced. Exactly when should a hard drive go up for replacement? I don't know. But if you have one that age, now is the time..
The second point made is the mainland Chinese MIS man simply did not know what he was doing, in wiping (or modifying/playing) windows without saving bookmarks, making any backups, or even asking or allowing time for backups to be made, and refusing to follow my explicit instructions to make a backup of everything, or using an anti-virus program which is, in itself, a virus.
Could some of this result in failures of language translation? If so, it would be counter to common sense. I am also told the highest success in recovery, and perhaps the only success, is in recovery of many PDF files. Unfortunately, these are not Brain programs or Propeller code, but only those files of research and tutorial, which could be replaced anyway.
The bad drive was put back into the computer. The recovered files were put onto the bad drive. I really question the sanity of these people. These are the same people telling me not to use the drive because of age. Additionally they did not remove virus from the drive. Plus, Windows was not in any condition to boot, nor was it repaired.
My only idea is to boot the computer from a hot LINUX CD and see if I can copy selected recovered files from the hard drive over to some external USB drive, and hoping that it mounts, using the LINUX operating system.
The tech man at the hard drive restoration company was going to copy the hard drive, with all the virus files still intact, to the President's pc computer! I phoned about NOT doing that, but no one understood my concern. I'd swear that if I'm from some other planet, these Earthlings enjoy creating interminable diverse subversion.
The modern day computer and internet was developed in America. The new conclusion is that if any work is needed on the computer or drive, take it back to the country of origin, i.e. in this example, the USA.
Oh, I understood shop as a noun. It sounds like your starting an e-com site and Parallax is your partner.
So you start off with "I can't predict if the Brain will appear in a theater near you...". Really, am I the only one that thought that sounds like you intent to sell the Brain in a retail store, brick and mortar or electronic?
Then you say "...though it's likely the first shop that we get up". A shop could be a store, a place of business, a manufacturing facility, or e-com site "
Next "...there will be a big internet presence... ". Excuse me but the entrepreneur in me thought web site, advertising, and products.
Then finally, "...combined with Parallax..." Come on, it sounds like you and Parallax have a business deal related to some internet presence.
If you really meant Parallax forum why not simply say so in the first place?
(Mike G, the business aspect of selling Brains does sound interesting. Let's speculate..)
The opening of Brains Are Us... What kind of brain do you want to buy? Which markets will buy this giant or go for the sale of smaller packaged brains? How about some Brain Plans? Buy Brain Code and roll your own Brain. A Brain in every home? Let your second Brain decide recipes on the kitchen counter. Small wearable Brains, make a fashion statement while doing wireless cloud thinking on the run! Implant a second Brain and out-think your competition, business partners or class mates. BIG Brains come in wearable back packs for every occasion. Toy Brains enable kids to surpass parents. Put a Big Brain in your home and as a ruler, let it rule everything. Exchange the brain in your home humanoid for this more powerful one. Surgically implant the nano version and no one will know your advantage. Buy the multi brain model - double or triple the thinking.
Trip to store has shocking results
In a trip to the grocery store, an entire isle of brains was displayed. It appeared the brains on ice were from pigs, dogs, goats, monkeys and other unidentified animals. Prices were reasonable. If you were hungry but wanted to spend less money, some of the older less fresh brains were on sale. While it was shocking to see this (I always leave restaurants that serve dog), there did appear to be a large amount neo-cortex and cerebrum material available. Just sayin..
There are three new types of computers designed and proposed for the Brain project, - low, mid and high end. The high end reached into the price levels of a car and was rejected on exorbitant expense. The low end was, well, just low end without the required amount of processing power or capabilities or even peripherals. The high mid range seems promising, putting together a power unit that remained the most capable and cost effective. However, feedback from the computer financial management department indicates a possible stalling with the proposals. It is not known if this will significantly stall the project or not. Conference meetings will begin sometime next week.
Prolog is an artificial intelligence programming language. The Brain, during this interim period, is being prepped with a tiny Netbook. However it was discovered this Netbook has the power and capability to run Prolog programming language and can contribute to the Brain's ability to extend its machine intelligence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolog
Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.[1][2][3] Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: The program logic is expressed in terms of relations, represented as facts and rules. A computation is initiated by running a query over these relations.[4]
Prolog Tutorial
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jrfisher/www/prolog_tutorial/contents.html
SWI-Prolog - Prolog programming environment
SWI-Prolog offers a comprehensive Free Software Prolog environment. Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language often used for artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. (the following from Portable Apps http://portableapps.com/)
- Kernel licensed under the LGPL. Prolog libraries are distributed under the GPL with an additional statement that allows for use in proprietary applications. Details can be found on the license page.
- fast compilation. E.g., loads 140,000 lines of code spread over 500 source-files in 2.3 seconds on an AMD 5400+ system.
- Robust and free of memory leaks. In use for several servers that run 24x7 (including this web-service).
- Small. The full development environment, including graphics, libraries and many interface packages requires approx.
- Scales well for large applications. No limits on program size, atom-length, term-arity or integer values. No performance degradation on predicates with many (indexed) facts.
- Unbounded integer and rational number arithmetic based on GMP library.
- Comprehensive set of built-in predicates, covering Part 1 of the ISO standard, the de-facto Edinburgh Prolog standard and important parts of Quintus and SICStus Prolog. Fair compatibility to Ciao, YAP and GNU-Prolog.
SWI-Prolog's homehttp://www.swi-prolog.org/
Open directory cool site SWI-Prolog offers a comprehensive Free Software Prolog environment, licensed under the Lesser GNU Public License. Together with its graphics toolkit XPCE, its development started in 1987 and has been driven by the needs for real-world applications. These days SWI-Prolog is widely used in research and education as well as for commercial applications. See our download statistics.
Download Prolog
http://www.swi-prolog.org/Download.html
- Stable release Sources and executables for MS-Windows, Linux and MacOS X version 5.10.x
- Development release Sources and executables for MS-Windows and MacOS X version 5.11.x
- Some popular old versions
- GIT access, browse GIT repository
- Available SWI-Prolog versions
- Information on Linux packages and building on Linux
Portable Version of Prologhttp://portableapps.com/apps/development/swi-prolog_portable
Going Beyond
There's a Tiny Prolog implementation and C/C++ written in Tiny Prolog!
http://www.google.com/#q=tiny+prolog&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&bih=450&biw=1024&fp=ce8cf6c57a0e4fbe&hl=en
the solderless kind...
These step-by-step photos show the process to create a high density Brain solderless breadboard for wiring up the maximum number of Propeller chips in the fastest time, most easy way possible and within the smallest footprint.
Step 1: get up before the rising sun
Step 2: Lay out tools and materials. Note the stack of solderless breadboards just unpackaged. These will mount onto the green transparent plastic clipboard after being prepared.
Step 3: Use a knife to score the back side of each breadboard along the power bus fold, breaking away the power bus strip and scoring deep with the knife. Then notch out the sticky material around the small connection tabs. Now connect the breadboards together as shown. A couple small power bus strips will be used for each completed assembly.
Step 4: Now arrange the breadboards according to the photo. Note the extra breadboard at the top and two power bus strips, one at top and one at bottom. These mount by removing the paper on the bottom and affixing with the sticky tape already on the breadboards.
Step 5: Now lay out the Propeller chips, insert and begin wiring.
Advantages of the High Density Solderless Breadboard
It may be some time before the powerful big new computer is online with the Brain. In the mean time, a tiny Netbook is being prepped. What does it take to get this tiny Netbook up and running on the Brain? A lot of work, apparently. The beginning list of upgrades is below:
In all fairness, I did ask Huminoido "What Venue?", so an answer of "Theater near You" seems reasonable, At least to me anyway.
Now this on the other hand... Keep Your Pimp hand strong, Brother... :cool:
Of course just asking nice can go along way too...
That is alot of Propellers on that little Clipboard, How many Props do You have on hand Humanoido?.
If You don't mind My asking.
Regards
Tommy
Now this comment Humanoido do you work for or own a business that is promoting the Brain? Or is the "financial management department" a spouse? Until recent posts, I thought the Brain project was an individual open source project with no source. Now it sounds like some kind of organization. What am I missing?
Ttailspin, I know there's a post that counts up the number of props in the various parts of the Brain. You can also count up props in some of the photos. There's also another post with a number quote. Actually, I lost count. These props came in different orders. The machine parts were built up at different times, in different time zones, and put into various machines. You know, the new Brain, the Twin Brain, the EXT Brain, the first Injector, the three giant injectors, the double partitions, the LED Mach, the MC, the smaller add-ons, PEK, the Summit, Host Boards, the Loader, the Scavenger chips, the loan from US40, all double prop boards, spare boards, they all make up one massive Brain collective! There's another post on multiple prop projects that detail some of the history leading up to larger and larger machines.
Yes, I did and I did not want to comment on the code. Since you asked... I can not see how your COM code could possibly function at an acceptable level (or even at all) in a 100 Prop network. It's only good for Peer to Peer, kinda'... more like send and forget The slave has Tx/Rx is on pin 27 and the master only has Tx on pin 27. The slave could easily start to transmit while the master is transmitting depending on how long it takes to process the command. But that does not matter because the master is not listening to anything. The slave has a listener hanging off pin 30. I'm guessing pin 30 goes to a terminal session. I see pictures of the Brain array. How are the Prop nodes communicating? Can you post that code?
I'm not sure what to think about the LED stuff. The LED code simply runs within a Prop.
Here it is....
Tx Code (code with comments)
CON ' Define Constants _clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz _xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal tx = 27 ' Set transmit pin to 27 baudRate = 9600 ' BAUD @ 9600 polarity = 1 ' polarity bits = 8 ' Eight stop bits VAR ' Define variables BYTE num ' number to send OBJ ' Objects from OBEX bs : "BS2_Functions" ' Basic Stamp 2 library PUB start ' Public Object BS.start(31, 30) ' Start BS2_Functions num := 0 ' Init n repeat ' Set loop BS.serout_dec(tx, num, baudRate, polarity, bits) ' Send number 1 to BS waitcnt(clkfreq + cnt) ' Delay one second num++ ' Incr number by one if num == 10 ' Reset to one digit num:=0 ' Begin again with 0Rx Code
CON ' Define constants _XINFREQ = 5_000_000 ' Adjust clock frequency to 80Mhz _CLKMODE = XTAL1 + PLL16X ' Uses a 5Mhz crystal rx = 27 ' Receives data on pin 27 tx = 27 ' Reserved for Transmit Object baudRate = 9600 ' Baud set to 9600 (BS Function) polarity = 1 ' Match Polarity with Transmitter bits = 8 ' Set eight stop bits OBJ ' Uses one Object bs : "BS2_Functions" ' Basic Stamp 2 library VAR ' Variables byte number ' Number byte to receive PUB start ' Public Object BS.start(31, 30) ' Start Basic Stamp BS2 Functions repeat ' Communications Loop number := BS.serin_char(rx, baudRate, polarity, bits) ' Receive routine BS.serout_char(30, number, baudRate, 1, 8) ' Show data received on screen waitcnt(clkfreq/2 + cnt) ' DelayCON ' Define Constants _clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz _xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal pin = 16 ' Set pin to use PUB LEDon ' Public method dira[pin] := 1 ' Pin to output outa[pin] := 1 ' LED set high Repeat ' Unending LoopCON ' Define Constants _clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' Set clock to 80MHz _xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal pin = 16 ' Set pin number here pulse = 40 ' Set pulsing here, Example: 20 is 1/20th second PUB BlinkLED ' Public method dira[pin] := 1 ' Set direction of Pin, make output Repeat ' Loop !outa[pin] ' toggle pin waitcnt(clkfreq/pulse + cnt) ' wait 1/pulse secondPhil was talking about BMI code which was deleted by the the hard drive accident. Negative criticism on me or the project will not bring back that code and will only make you look bad.
The test code posted was based on the mentioned number of props which you inaccurately state. I suggest read the posts again and review the schematics. The test code works perfect for the stated Brain purpose and for those following along who built the Brain circuits. Test code is also designed for expansion and play.
If you want to chew on something, try a packet of chewing gum. FYI, there is no code to post and all files are gone. I suggest you read along more closely from now on.
The project is offered open source, as is. This is an experiment in open source development and has worked well for about a hundred viewers/contributors but not well for two viewers. Those two viewers may want to move on.
Best regards
Tonight around midnight, the jet will arrive with the computer and drive, plus semi-restored backup. Additional language translations have revealed new information. Apparently the hard drive restoration company did know what they were doing, and did not copy anything back onto the defective drive, which at least in the USA is SOP.
The new released information is that a hard drive 5 years old may have failed anyway.. and appeared to have had virus, when in effect it may have not, but rather accumulated physical errors affecting OS and software.
It is however known that the first MIS man messed up by not making the requested backups and deleting everything on the Windows directories. If he would have left it alone after the deletion, then files could be restored. Unfortunately he proceeded to continuously dink around resulting in numerous HD writes, messing up the system hopelessly. Files ended up butchered, severed, and spread across the drive in different directories.
The numerous PDF files successfully restored won't help because no Brain programs were in this format. Additionally nearly all brain work, including archival coding, was in MS Word format. I'm told perhaps none of these survived. The files by name are there but cannot be opened or will open to garbage. A computer saavy person suggested trying to open these with the more extensive word processor from Google. In anyone familiar with this?
-Phil
"He who has eyes let him see." - Jesus. We've had a complete online index (which is a complete table of contents citing topics and sub-topics, post number, and page number, etc.) to the Brain Thread for some time. It's simple to use, just go to the first post, follow the link, bring up the index post, use your browser's Edit/Find and type in the key word(s). With the correct key word(s), you'll easily and quickly find exactly what you're looking for. Use the simple online version as I no longer have time to update the pdf file.
Edit: as a bonus, you can also search on your name and it comes up with all your Brain post numbers, for some of you regrettably...
The call just came in that other matters have preempted the brain's computer and drives arrival time, and the package will not be on tonight's aircraft flight. It's been delayed another two days due to some pressing business matters said to be more important.
Poor Brain. It can't get any respect now. Just think, later when it becomes bigger and more powerful... I won't slight it for retribution day. Guys, be polite. Your words are in print. I'm telling you now, those of you that did and those of you that will pi$$ off the Brain, he won't go easy on you. AND don't come crying to me just because I didn't put in an off button.
I have read some of the posts in this thread over the past few months and it doesn't seem like you've ever posted a video or picture that demonstrates what the Big Brain actually does or did. I admit that I haven't read every post in this thread, so I may have missed something. To be honest, I really don't understand the reason for using dozens of Props to build the Big Brain. If your programming in Spin you're only getting the equivalent of 0.25 to 0.5 MIPs per Propeller. At that speed you could simulate a thousand independent processors on a single PC.
What is the purpose of the Big Brain. Is it intended to be some form of electronic sculpture, or is it supposed to actually do something? Please help me understand.
Dave
That just returns me to the top of this page, which is page 13, not 16. (There is no page 16 -- yet.)
-Phil
The video had become an issue. The video sites are blocked in this country and as a result, the usual 2k bits bandwidth won't load video even if there was no blocking. There is a low res vid posted.
The drive had enough photos for gif format where they could be put together to show the Brain functioning. There is one successful example of this posted earlier.
Windows is about as slow as molasses on a frigid January morning. You won't simulate thousand of anything.
In this project, the current reason for using lots of props is not for speed.
However, I have experimented with overclocking and super cooling for speed, and would like to work in that area in the future.
I believe we covered the idea of emulation of neurons on a PC and did that already.
In another experiment we connected a PC to the Brain to gain some resources.
What does it do? After the computer crash and loss of the drive and programs, it was sealed.
We'll see what was restored on the drive first.
What is the purpose? Just to have some hobby fun - you could follow the earlier posts to see the interest areas.
That is really strange.
Of course there's a page 16.
This link from page 1 works in two different browsers on three computers and one iPhone.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain/page16
It takes you to page 16 but you need to drop down to post number 304 which contains the Index.
-Phil