New Book: Getting Started With the Propeller
Nick McClick
Posts: 1,003
'Getting Started With the Propeller' just went up on Amazon.com this afternoon:
Amazon.com Page Nook Page
There are two parts to the book: The first half is a step-by-step introduction to the Propeller, starting with setting up the IDE, blinking a light, and expanding to multitasking and objects. The second half includes several projects that are fun and help the reader get comfortable with Spin.
It's on Kindle for $3, and it will be available on Nook in a few days, too. If the ebook sells well enough, I'll also get it printed.
Let me know what you think! A great capability of ebooks is the ability to update the text, so your feedback is helpful. One change (revising the book description) is already in place, it just takes Amazon a while to update their page.
Amazon.com Page Nook Page
There are two parts to the book: The first half is a step-by-step introduction to the Propeller, starting with setting up the IDE, blinking a light, and expanding to multitasking and objects. The second half includes several projects that are fun and help the reader get comfortable with Spin.
It's on Kindle for $3, and it will be available on Nook in a few days, too. If the ebook sells well enough, I'll also get it printed.
Let me know what you think! A great capability of ebooks is the ability to update the text, so your feedback is helpful. One change (revising the book description) is already in place, it just takes Amazon a while to update their page.
Comments
I skimmed through and the synthesizer section looks really interesting. Are you planning to stock your SIDstick product again?
P.S. On the last page you spelled the name of your own product wrong! :-)
Is there a Kindle ap that allows you to read them on a PC? Have both vista and XP available
Jim
Nick, downloaded the book yesterday and started reading it last night. I'm relatively new to the Propeller so I'm looknig forward to the adventure!! More feedback to come, I'm sure.
Rick
Jim
Congrats - at present you are #6 in Books > Computers & Internet > Hardware > Microprocessors & System Design
- Ed
Also, I'm working on the first revision for the end of next week to make minor fixes and add a chapter on Spin operators. The book will automatically be updated on your device, but if you have any feedback / spot any mistakes, let me know so I can fix it.
I am thinking of trying Sigil.
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
OBC
Formatting is a pain because each device renders content differently. Formatting capabilities overall are limited, too. A few resources for you:
Just downloaded your fine book and started reading it.
It looks as though you're welcoming corrections and suggestions, so:
"Finallly" - one "L" too many?
"blue circle" - on a Kindra (grey-scale) all colours are pretty much the same. Maybe "top left blue circle" or some such? It's obvious from the context when you read further, so as trivia go this is pretty extreme.
Feel free to ignore. But thanks for the book!
Also, content suggestions are welcome, right now I'm working on a chapter for Spin operators, but let me know if you think something is missing, explained poorly, etc.
VAR
LONG led
PUB main
led := 1
That would blink a LED attached to pin 1, but the previous examples and the circuit instructions had the LED attached to pin 0.
Or was that intended as an "exercise for the reader" ?
What size (number of pages) is the book?
I just recently ran across Amazon's deal on soon to be released Kindle deal. So in a short while (long time waiting) should have access to your book. Lab126.com designed quite a package. Of course, it is a n'th iteration on the Kindle.
Re-reading this thread, I noticed the Sigil reference. Just out of curiosity I downloaded Sigil and also read about it. Didn't realize how much is involved in getting a book reader to work properly. About the same as setting up a Web site, it appears. I'd tried CSS several years ago so understand a bit about what's going on.
I wish I could buy and download the whole book to the iMac and later to the Kindle when it arrives. But appears to only be sent wireless; is that correct??? This is new stuff for me.
Yep, formatting an ebook is just like formatting a website. You use a subset of HTML / CSS and have to include a few special xml files. Formatting takes quite a while if you want to look nice.
How many pages depends on what size paper you print it on. If you printed it on 8.5" x 5.5", it would probably be 110 pages, a little bit shorter than the Getting Started with Arduino book from Make.
You can buy the book for any version of the kindle reader (PC, Mac, Blackberry), when you buy it from the amazon page, it will appear in the Kindle program's library in a few moments.
I did purchase your book, and also the Kindle. Someone sure did a nice job on that design. Haven't the unit in my hands yet (ouch, will be about a week before then) but did download Kindle for Mac and have read a quick first pass through the book without doing any exercises. Too much to do to get acquainted with what all the Kindle provides. A Lot.
I'd like to see a tear-down of the unit; haven't run across it yet if one exists. Does anyone know if there are any 'easter eggs' with it, or any app that allows one to find out what's inside?
I love to peek inside such devices to understand how everything fits. Man, 1/3" inch thick doesn't give much pcb parts, battery, antenna, etc. space. I may be an electronic engineer, but enjoy the mechanical part too many times. What a diversion from my project the Kindle has become. A tech junkie?
I have the old kindle (the kindle 1) but there are a few easter eggs: Minesweeper = Alt+Shift+M, Alt+1 gives you a rough approximation of your location on google maps, and Alt+T shows you the time. I think most of them are also in the current Kindle. Ifixit did a kindle 2 teardown here.
Thanks for that reference to a Kindle 2 teardown. I've bookmarked that web site for future use.
Interesting to view how all the parts are arranged. The Kindle 3 is even thinner, somehow.
Don't think I want to open mine when I get it next week. Well, would be nice to see what's inside, but at least not until using it for a long while. Thanks again for the help.:cool:
Also, don't forget to leave a review on Amazon! Good or bad, it helps other people to figure out if the book is worth their $3.00. And any additional feedback is welcome, I'm preparing another update in about 2 weeks.
I was collecting a list of things I was noticing while going through the book, and I see it's now at v1.1. So some or all of these will probably have been fixed. Anyway, here's what I'd seen.
1. "being connect to ground"
connected ?
2. "dira[0] := 0 and dira[0] are equivalent"
Missing "~" ?
3. "Before you watch the video to see the program running"
No video on my Kindra and no visible reference to it.
4. "seperate"
separate ?
5. "contstant"
One "t" too many ?
6. "which is installs"
?
7. "In SPIN, underlines (_) are disregarded"
In numbers, but not in identifiers.
8. Hyperrefs to web sites don't work on Kindra, and there are several cases where a hyperref is indicated but without the URL being visible.
9. "The graphics demo (included when you download the Propeller tool) includes methods to display text, color and graphics; a screenshot is below"
Not on my Kindra it isn't...
10. In the AI Generic section: "40 x 24 text (1000 character positions)"
40 x 25 ?
11. End of first gaming chapter: the text in the table runs past the right edge of the screen.
Hope it helps
John
I wish to recommend your work to another Atari TT user, he does not own or wish to own an ebook reader, or a modern PC or Mac. Also I have resolved not to buy your book until I can recommend it to others like him.
Joking aside, if you require a printed book, Programming and Customizing the Propller (on amazon) is great.