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Gadget Gangster Propeller Platform — Parallax Forums

Gadget Gangster Propeller Platform

John A. ZoidbergJohn A. Zoidberg Posts: 514
edited 2010-12-04 07:08 in General Discussion
Hello there,

My friend wants to purchase the Gadget Gangster Platform for a review in a tech review webpage. However, he needs some "proof-of-concept", simple applications on the Propeller microcontroller.

There will be some few examples thrown in like blink an LED, multiplex displays, alphanumeric display interfacing (HD44780) and other simple stuff.

Also, is the micro-SD card slot on the platform guaranteed to work with one of the SD card examples in the Gadget Gangster Prop Tutorials? I might need to show them some data logging too. I've manually wired an SD card slot on my own breadboard just to find mixed results, whether pull-ups or not, so I need a small platform to prove to the students that these are actually done.

Thanks.

Comments

  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-12-01 03:48
    There are multiple applications that he can simply download and run. The OBEX is full of them. For example, I'd point him to the simple Graphics demos to start off with.

    As for your experience with SD... I'm not sure what the problem is, but I've had very good luck with getting SD cards to work... especially with my Gadget Gangster SD boards... they work great.' You're asking if it is "guaranteed to work"... there isn't a warranty on it, but yes, they do work with the demos from the Obex as long as you have the pin settings correct.

    If he's interested in more, have him check out something like PropBasic or one of the other very advanced tools.

    Bill
  • John A. ZoidbergJohn A. Zoidberg Posts: 514
    edited 2010-12-01 04:49
    wjsteele wrote: »
    There are multiple applications that he can simply download and run. The OBEX is full of them. For example, I'd point him to the simple Graphics demos to start off with.

    As for your experience with SD... I'm not sure what the problem is, but I've had very good luck with getting SD cards to work... especially with my Gadget Gangster SD boards... they work great.' You're asking if it is "guaranteed to work"... there isn't a warranty on it, but yes, they do work with the demos from the Obex as long as you have the pin settings correct.

    If he's interested in more, have him check out something like PropBasic or one of the other very advanced tools.

    Bill

    He had already learned up many basics of the Prop too, and he had worked with PIC 16/18F so he's actually more comfortable with the Propeller. Right now we had the problem of sticking the SD card slot into a breadboard, even our homemade breakout board give very bad and mixed results.

    I do believe that we might not put all the pull-ups on all the pins, or the connection is still too loose. Even referring to the circuit diagram of the Prop Platform - it only uses 4 pull-ups, or because the 4 pull-ups is intended for the microSD and not the full size SD cards.

    I will get the Prop Platform and test the micro SD card slot immediately. It is not easy to diagnose SD card connection unlike the other stuff we were working with. :lol:
  • max72max72 Posts: 1,155
    edited 2010-12-01 05:13
    I haven't tested the Gadget Gangster Propeller Platform yet, but in my experience SD is usually reliable.
    I have one on a small sailing boat, soldered on a veroboard, no pull ups, using fsrw. It is connected with wires (4 data, Vcc and GND) to a proboard, and nonetheless it works perfectly.

    Massimo
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2010-12-01 09:59
    I've had excellent experience with the Propeller Platform.. No issues with SD here.

    OBC
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-12-01 12:53
    I've also had great results with straight connections to my SD cards without pull-ups. In fact, I've got several hundred units in the field without pull-ups and I've never had a single read or write issue.

    Bill
  • Nick McClickNick McClick Posts: 1,003
    edited 2010-12-03 12:59
    Hey John! The Propeller Platform is warrantied against defect. The SD card is connected the most common way (P0..P3), if the demo uses those pins, it will run without modification.

    The Prop talks to SD cards in SPI mode, which is a 4 pin connection regardless of microSD or regular SD cards. The Propeller Platform has 10k pullups on those pins (per the SDA guidelines). But I've had the same experience as Bill - every card I've tried works just fine without pullups, too. When I hook up SD cards to a breadboard, I usually solder wire to the pads on the 'microSD - SD' card adapter & that's worked fine.

    Hope it helps!
  • John A. ZoidbergJohn A. Zoidberg Posts: 514
    edited 2010-12-04 07:08
    Dear Nick,

    Thanks for the reply. I intend to show these to my students and my friends that a simple WAV player can be done on a microcontroller with other tasks at hand too.

    Also, the board will be a testing ground to make a musical Christmas tree too, so it'll be awesome. :)
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