Sneak Peek on Parallax's $20 Propeller Board (fixed)
Oldbitcollector (Jeff)
Posts: 8,091
Since Ken is posting up about the changes happening at Parallax, it seems like a good time to let another cat out of the bag..
Enjoy a little peek at Parallax Semiconductor's evaluation board:
http://propellerpowered.com/?p=586
OBC
Enjoy a little peek at Parallax Semiconductor's evaluation board:
http://propellerpowered.com/?p=586
OBC
Comments
OBC
:-)
EDIT: He posted while I was typing!
Nothing like teasing you guys and then posting a limited access "draft" link.
You guys will love the new board! We should see an increase in new people trying out our favorite chip because of it!
OBC
Well I did know actually lol coming back from Eindhoven with a load of electronics in a holdall
Didn't know you could use them in the air though! bet you'd get some funny looks!
The purpose of this board is to serve as an open reference design. The DipTrace and Altium files will be available for anybody. Product developers can get their samples quickly, without waiting for a purchasing manager to order it.
If QuickStart distribution remains free for product developers then our program is working. If we eliminate the free aspect then the level of abuse was too high - time will tell. Some amount of cheaters are expected, yet we refuse to let a small percentage dictate our mode of operation. In the same way we open the doors and Parallax and UPEW visitors stay all night. If QuickStart freebie requests appear to be invalid after our early tracking efforts and we are unable to verify that the authenticity then the free distribution will end. Maybe some of you have tips about how we can handle this - at the moment we have a form loaded with some questions about their design. If you can't honestly answer the questions then you can buy one for twenty bucks. This should take care of 9/10ths of the requests.
But why free, anyway? Because we don't want product developers to have any barriers. Sometimes they have to go through purchasing and wait for a purchase order [no purchase order needed :].
Another possible barrier is perceived complexity. We've found that some customers [and a huge portion of our volume users] do not use video, or they find the variety of peripheral connectors almost concerning. They might even think that the Propeller has hardware tied to certain pins when they see a Propeller Demo Board or C3, causing them to stop looking any further. The QuickStart is plain and simple, and it doesn't make decisions for you.
Finally, if an engineer may find the code examples complex then we've eliminated that barrier as well. There's a very simple QuickStart set of programs that they can load and run from our web site. Easy stuff - just enough to get them plugged in and running.
USB powered, too. Baggers, you can use it on the airplane. I am.
Hope you guys like it too. I know that many of your desires from us are more complex than us creating more hardware, and we're working on that list too. IDE requests, Gold Standard objects, etc. are in the queue or underway.
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
Also, what is the mysterious "Parallax semiconductor"? Is Parallax branching off to have a "Professional" branch separate from their current Education based company?
I hope the program helps evangelize the Prop to the masses!
Rick
Follows along the same lines as this one : $20, USB, PCB files provided.
http://media.digikey.com/Photos/Nuvoton%20Technology/NUTINY-SDK-M0516.jpg
I'm lost here, the board is $20 ? (or not ?)
Are you thinking of 'free to qualified developers' ? What about freight ?
At $20, that's essentially free, and yet it gets you into Digikey and similar (see the example I posted of Nuvoton's $20 board)
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=NUTINY-SDK-M0516-ND
They also have the design files on the web.
I don't see $20 as much impediment, I'd rather pay $20, and get good examples, than 'free' (still leaves freight?).
ie to me, this is more important, than wringing hands over $20 ?
It's not fully clear, but I'm guessing this can run from EEPROM, without USB connected ?
How large is the EEPROM, and is it QuadSPI ?
ie once you have developed, you can deploy this for some power-cycling tests & things like test equipment use ?
Test Bench examples and usage I would see as a great way to get designers hooked into Prop.
If you work for a large monolithic dinosaur of a company and want to *BUY* something, the funding approval process can sometimes kill a good idea or delay it to death (or so I've heard) - if you have an idea and need a sample, the new program sounds great.....if you're just trying just scam teh company (any company) for a sample just to save yourself $20, shame on you.
Very shortsighted. My company has a corporate email domain and theoretically I have a first initial - last name - @ company address. I never read it. I use the Yahoo account because it works everywhere, and unlike the current company provider's webmail which drops my mail after 60 days, Yahoo keeps everything I ever received (and didn't explicitly delete) in the cloud. That's come in handy more than once. Meanwhile, what happens to our cute "corporate" email structure if we change providers again? It's happened every 3-4 years or so because nobody knows what the ISP really needs to provide, so they're never quite happy with what the ISP does, especially if part of this is web design and the site sucks (which it does, hard) because nobody is involved who actually knows the industry and products.
I really like those female headers. Are there holes under there for dual-entry stacking?
Cheers.
I wouldn't ask our team to exclude a request based upon the e-mail address, but it could be a flag when combined with other clues: incomplete form, a rushed completion and poor spelling, a company where we can't verify the existence of an individual, etc. At $20 we can't spend much time on the validation aspect. Perhaps we'll just make a quick call to verify that the person exists.
On the subject of free vs. $20, since I may have introduced some confusion I'll clarify.
Free QuickStart - If you are a commercial product developer and you are carefully considering the Propeller for your product (or you've already made the decision) then you qualify for a free sample. You'd complete an on-line form and tell us a bit about your product design, including the type of product and potential volume. Parallax Semiconductor would pair you with an FAE who contacts you to see if you need any particular design assistance, or if you just have a few questions. This isn't the sales-oriented hassle you may have experienced elsewhere - we want to do what we do best and support the effort with engineers talking to engineers. Depending on your needs we will provide technical and sales support to help you reach your goal. If you win, we win!
$20 - Just send me a board! You want it for hobby, education, or a project where you need only a few Propellers. You don't want Parallax staff to contact you. Or maybe you just want us to have $20, which is also a noble thought.
The sample requests will go through www.parallaxsemiconductor.com (not live yet - check back Monday) and the $20 orders are through www.parallax.com. The design has been fully qualified and is headed to production; we ship June 1st.
Ken Gracey
Robert
Starting Monday you can place an order, or a request for sample.
They'll be shipped according to the order in which they are received.
Glad to have your interest, Robert!
Ken
Is something allong this lines going to be available for the PropII once released?
IMHO this is a great starter pcb. It has the propplug (FTDI chip) on board, USB powered, and the no hardware buttons are great to show what the prop can do.
Ken, can you offer a cheaper post method for just this pcb - like unregistered airmail maybe for $10. That would seal the deal for overseas customers.