TV_Text compatibility?

ed kirk

Hey,

I have struggled since the Prop's inception trying to know whether my various cogs are doing what I intended. Mostly I debug using led lamps.

Early on, and again recently, I copied the example from page 190 in my old printed copy of the "Propeller Manual." I guess it ran ok, but I never knew for sure.

When I load TV_Text to look at the results, nothing works.

Same experience in my most recent work on my new robot.

Any suggestions?

Ed Kirk

Cluso99

I posted a very simple program to use 1pin and a resistor for debugging to a TV. It uses minimal hub resources and a cog. Look in the obex for debug 1pin TV text.

I know this does not really answer your question, but this is a very simple and easy way to debug without affecting your normal TV program.

Otherwise, post your program so that we can see what you are doing and where it is going wrong.

jazzed

You're thread looked lonely at the end of the list with no replies.

1. Can you describe your hardware?
2. What file do you see before you hit F10?
3. Have you tried TV_Text_Demo.spin from Propeller Tool\Library\Examples?

Humanoido

Cluso99 wrote: »

I posted a very simple program to use 1pin and a resistor for debugging to a TV. It uses minimal hub resources and a cog. Look in the obex for debug 1pin TV text. I know this does not really answer your question, but this is a very simple and easy way to debug without affecting your normal TV program. Otherwise, post your program so that we can see what you are doing and where it is going wrong.

Cluso, will both tv and keyboard run on a demo board and how to make the settings? I see the tv circuilt is compatible with the schematic. What about the keyboard?

How much memory does it take up in a cog and what is left over? I'd like to run some other programs in the same cog at the same time. Thanks very much.

Humanoido

Cluso99

humanoido: In the writeup (in the code) it states it will run with the standard TV and Keyboard hardware although it only uses 2 of the pins. IIRC it uses about 2KB of hub ram (depends on the screen text size) as the hub code is re-used as the screen buffer. There is basically no space in the cog as 1KB is used as the font and the remainder is used as minimal VT style functions such as clear screen, scroll, cursor movement, etc.

ed kirk

Jazzed,

I have run the TV_Text Demo many times to prove to myself that it really works. It is remarkable to me that it does.

I have attached my latest test. TV_Text appears to work fine at the beginning after I strike F10; then my 5" monitor loses sync and nothing more is readable.

I did modify the original example from the Manual as stated in my comments. I added a blinking led that behaves exactly as if all is working well, but that is hardly a substitute for seeing the actual numbers on the screen.

Clusso99,

Thanks for your 1 wire suggestion which I downloadedd. I shall pursue that method later.

Ed

jazzed

ed kirk wrote: »

I have run the TV_Text Demo many times to prove to myself that it really works. It is remarkable to me that it does.

I didn't know how new you were to Propeller.

Now, the file you've attached does not have any TV_Text object included. I'm not sure how that will work. Regardless of that and assuming that you have some other file including TV_Text and using it, there could be another explanation.

Looking at your file, you have set P15 to an output. If that pin is connected to the TV DAC, that gets you in trouble if you use the pin to toggle an LED (often TV pins are set for pin 12 to 15). I recommend using another pin for your LED and trying again.

This question still seems useful: Can you describe your hardware?

--Steve

ed kirk

Jazzed -- Steve

Thank you for your patience.

In refreshing my demo of my trouble It began to work--kinda.

So you have already helped me by asking that I state my problem clearly.

I have now attached 'Square Example2.spin'.

I cannot explain how the extra lines and spaces were issued to the CRT screen??

And thoanks again.

Ed

ed kirk

Jazzed,

I forgot that you had asked about my hardware.

I use one of several computers each running xp. One has Propeller Tool v1-2-7 installed in a san disk to try to avoid loss to viruses.

I have a usb connected to one of the computers in into an MSR2 servo board which has two H bridges for my two robot motors.

Confusion happens when I bring my 128 GB pocket memory where my software accumulates on my robot project over to the other one connected more conveniently to the Internet.

Iam retiredd from a rewarding career in engineering machine tools from the inception of tracer controls to hard wired numberical control then to computerized NC.

I have accumulated many classical servo text books; in most of them chapter 1 page 1 states that the theory applies only to linear systems. PID 'linear' controls were used. I have yet to see anythng but non-linear systems.

Any digital machine control system is not linear to begin with. Elastance combined with backlash makes matters much worse.

Rex is the name of my robot built from scrap lumber and accumulated parts found mostly in my basement. The name is derived from the fact that Rex will use dead 'rexoning' to follow a pre-programmed path over the floor, hopefully returning to the starting point if the wheels did not slip much. The rubber belts and coarse wheel resolution will make very advanced Fuzzy Control a necessity. We will see.

Ed

jazzed

So your TV connection is on P0-P3.
I can't positively explain your blanks. Maybe someone else can.

You should put a repeat at the end of your Main method though so that random code doesn't get executed once your code is finished.

--Steve

I see we cross-posted. I like the phrase "Dead Rexoning" ... I have a bunch of old pill bottles that I've been thinking to put together with servos to make a "Pill-Bottle-Bot"

ed kirk

Jazzed,

I, too, have many, many pill bottles. I guess a large one at the front could contain 3 or 4 standard RC servos that pull on strings. Each bottle in a long string has a weight glued to the inside to keep it belly down. Different strings onthe right hand sides make the snake curl to the right at different places. similarly on the Left. May be he could crawl along thru the shag carpet.

Is that what you had in mind?

Ed

jazzed

A snake-bot I never thought of that.
I was thinking about a boring bipedal bot.
I'm sure there are other possibilities too.