Learning curve and $$ for prop level productivity -revisited
Stampmyster
Posts: 27
This is a continuation (in a new thread) of the original thread What you reckon, the average learning curve and $$ for prop level productivity?
Picaxe, uOLED, PASM, Arduino, Sid, Ness ?? I felt like I was in a past episode of the Twilight-Zone falling in an endless-well with a really bad graphic of a rotating pinwheel in the background.
But first, without sounding to goofy, I want to thank everyone who responded in the original post. Outstanding!
I had a wealth of information laid out before me. If I had to sum it all up, I learned much about available hardware, what to purchase, and alternative programming methods. $Wmc% even enlightened me about PropBasic. Everyone suggested keeping it simple while reaching for achievable goals. I also I learned I shouldnt lose sight of the potential. Coley, never looked back. (I liked hearing that!) Johnet is still crunching away at learning spin, and apparently has a good handle on it in only a few weeks.
Graham, helped me realize I really have to give it the ole college try, and Im not alone with my anxiety. (-Trust Yoda) I get that message from everyone in one way or another, and it has done wonders to help eliminate some of the fear factor.
Potatohead (with the cool avatar), Ravenkallen, WBA, and others, all helped me look at it with a fundamental hardware approach, and to think about potential applications. I still need to check out the Gadget-Gangster, and Cluso also gave me the needed nudge to spell it out in black and white.
Dr_Acula laid out some fundamental differences from what I know (about Pbasic) and translated it into Spin. Wow! That info is invaluable. It really gives me some rule-of-thumb to follow and it makes sense! Doc should write a book! I would buy it!
I must add, Im fascinated with the Sid Player PASM, they call it the sound of the Commodore 64! (Is this a coincidence?) Did my 64 sound that good? No wonder I so loved the old Boat-Anchor! We are talking 1980s here. (Many kitchen floors, believe it or not ,were still carpeted in gawd-awefull-colors like pea-soup green! You read it right carpet in kitchen Yuck!)
Sorry, I digress - Check out the you-tube video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrAhle2#p/a/u/0/EJcbxrdErkY
I like to gather all the chips that are thrown at me, put them in a jar, shake them around a bit, then neatly stack them in little piles, reorganizing and sub-categorizing them as I go. At least, I like to think I do.
Yesterday morning, I find a Demo-Board Rev. F (2006), and Propeller manual sitting on my desk. (Gee you think they are watching me?) I guess someone had it laying around. I cant wait to dig in! But, not only do I have to come here, they want me to accomplish something too! Go figure? I will try and read more this evening.
First set of dumb questions:
Do I need to get a monitor, or a TV? How does the Parallax Mini LCD A/V Color Display measure up? I like the reduced desk-space and portability, but I want to be able to see it also? Anybody used one? For around $100 I may be able to find something a little bigger?
On the Demo Board I see a keyboard input jack, a Mouse jack, RCA jack, 15 pin video jack, headphone jack? I actually think I have an old serial mouse and keyboard somewhere? Perhaps I just have an older board?
Also, I see only outputs on the header for only pins 0-7? What about the rest? Can I get at all of them with this board?
What does the acronyms PLL stand for, and even though I know what a COG is; what does C O G stand for? HUB make common sense to me. Like a hub on a wheel.
So I spent a little time reading in the can?
Ok..OK to long of a post, and to many questions I hope it is ok?
Thanks!
Picaxe, uOLED, PASM, Arduino, Sid, Ness ?? I felt like I was in a past episode of the Twilight-Zone falling in an endless-well with a really bad graphic of a rotating pinwheel in the background.
But first, without sounding to goofy, I want to thank everyone who responded in the original post. Outstanding!
I had a wealth of information laid out before me. If I had to sum it all up, I learned much about available hardware, what to purchase, and alternative programming methods. $Wmc% even enlightened me about PropBasic. Everyone suggested keeping it simple while reaching for achievable goals. I also I learned I shouldnt lose sight of the potential. Coley, never looked back. (I liked hearing that!) Johnet is still crunching away at learning spin, and apparently has a good handle on it in only a few weeks.
Graham, helped me realize I really have to give it the ole college try, and Im not alone with my anxiety. (-Trust Yoda) I get that message from everyone in one way or another, and it has done wonders to help eliminate some of the fear factor.
Potatohead (with the cool avatar), Ravenkallen, WBA, and others, all helped me look at it with a fundamental hardware approach, and to think about potential applications. I still need to check out the Gadget-Gangster, and Cluso also gave me the needed nudge to spell it out in black and white.
Dr_Acula laid out some fundamental differences from what I know (about Pbasic) and translated it into Spin. Wow! That info is invaluable. It really gives me some rule-of-thumb to follow and it makes sense! Doc should write a book! I would buy it!
I must add, Im fascinated with the Sid Player PASM, they call it the sound of the Commodore 64! (Is this a coincidence?) Did my 64 sound that good? No wonder I so loved the old Boat-Anchor! We are talking 1980s here. (Many kitchen floors, believe it or not ,were still carpeted in gawd-awefull-colors like pea-soup green! You read it right carpet in kitchen Yuck!)
Sorry, I digress - Check out the you-tube video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrAhle2#p/a/u/0/EJcbxrdErkY
I like to gather all the chips that are thrown at me, put them in a jar, shake them around a bit, then neatly stack them in little piles, reorganizing and sub-categorizing them as I go. At least, I like to think I do.
Yesterday morning, I find a Demo-Board Rev. F (2006), and Propeller manual sitting on my desk. (Gee you think they are watching me?) I guess someone had it laying around. I cant wait to dig in! But, not only do I have to come here, they want me to accomplish something too! Go figure? I will try and read more this evening.
First set of dumb questions:
Do I need to get a monitor, or a TV? How does the Parallax Mini LCD A/V Color Display measure up? I like the reduced desk-space and portability, but I want to be able to see it also? Anybody used one? For around $100 I may be able to find something a little bigger?
On the Demo Board I see a keyboard input jack, a Mouse jack, RCA jack, 15 pin video jack, headphone jack? I actually think I have an old serial mouse and keyboard somewhere? Perhaps I just have an older board?
Also, I see only outputs on the header for only pins 0-7? What about the rest? Can I get at all of them with this board?
What does the acronyms PLL stand for, and even though I know what a COG is; what does C O G stand for? HUB make common sense to me. Like a hub on a wheel.
So I spent a little time reading in the can?
Ok..OK to long of a post, and to many questions I hope it is ok?
Thanks!
851 x 634 - 56K
Comments
"cog" refers to cogs on a gear.
The demo board only makes I/O pins 0-7 easily available. All the rest are used for the other I/O that you see on the board. If you don't use the VGA socket, there are LEDs attached to those I/O pins and they can be used as indicators for debugging. This board is used to demonstrate all the features of the Propeller, so naturally most of the I/O is used for those demonstrations (VGA (8) and TV (4) displays, keyboard (2), mouse (2), stereo sound output (2), monaural sound input (2)) plus 2 pins for the USB connection to your PC and 2 pins for the EEPROM used to store your program. If you want to have more I/O available, consider getting a Protoboard or one of the many 3rd party Propeller boards.
I use a 7" Axion TV with a video (and audio) input jack with my Propeller boards.
Look up PLL on the Wikipedia and you'll find a nice article on Phase Locked Loops.
You can even look on this thread for another possible hardware.
3D pictures and descriptions.
PCB's for www.mikronauts.com E-mail: mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com.
PLL = Phase Locked Loop. It's the thing that multiplies the clock input by 16, the result of which is divided (either by 1, 2, 4, or 8) and then used to drive the internal clock of the chip when running from a crystal.
Monitor or TV: Either works well. If you have a PC monitor already, check the back - it might have other inputs, and it might even have a picture-in-picture mode. If so, you can plug it all in together and save even more desk space.
The demo board only gives you access to pins 0 to 7. The others are "reserved" for other features on the board, like the TV, VGA, mouse, keyboard, LEDs (pins 16 to 23 if I'm not mistaken), microphone, and headphones. I use the demo board for quickie prototyping of stuff, and use protoboards for more permanent things.
A nice thing about the demo board is that all the examples that ship with the Propeller tool work on it with no modification for pin assignments or anything other fooling around, so it's a good way to dip a toe in before you're comfortable.
Welcome to the Prop!
I stand corrected....They are PS2 jacks.
Yes great article about PLL. The race track analogy is a great way to look at it.
COGS on a gear...another good one.
480 x 234 vs 729 x 480 DPI in the Avalon for about the same price. No brainner!
Thank you!
Yes, perhaps the limitations are worth it to have turn key tutotials and examples available for use.
The www.mikronauts.com appears to worthy a closer look-see. Very interesting!
Nice!
We even build Custom made PCB's if necessary.