Today I updated the links in http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/index.htm
There should not be any references to the links you posted.
I'll add a timestamp to force a refresh tomorrow just in case. I'm too tired to do it now.
Here are links in case the page still does not work.
Any consideration of how VGA and a keyboard might interface with it? And how a SDcard might attach?
These items are becoming integral with any development platform.
I suspect I'd rather buy it assembled. I like the compactness of SMDs, but hate the assembly.
Any consideration of how VGA and a keyboard might interface with it? And how a SDcard might attach?
These items are becoming integral with any development platform.
I suspect I'd rather buy it assembled. I like the compactness of SMDs, but hate the assembly.
What are the expected applications for this board?
Weather forecast? Molecular modelling?
well, a stack of four boards should be able to rival a Gibson, lol
but seriously, how bout a stack of 8 and we can rent out the processors to stuff like quantum physics research, or helping detect the worlds first Higgs particle?
I've finally ordered Props to go on the boards I purchased. Digi-Key had been out for a while.
One of my recent projects requires two Propellers (one is used to drive a 4.3" touchscreen). After inspecting Jazzed TetraProp board, I realize it shouldn't be hard to make two double-Prop boards from one TetraProp board.
By cutting a straight line through J1, R4, J4 and R8, I should be able to make two double-Prop boards. The missing jumpers and resistors can easily be repositioned since they all connect, on one side, to either ground or Vdd. There's a nice big ground plane on the bottom of the board and the top of the board is a power plane. I figure if I scrape a little solder mask off the top or bottom of the board to replace the homeless resistors and jumpers.
I'm still excited about trying some quadruple Propeller experiments but I know I'll have lots of applications for double-Prop boards.
Yes. I'm shipping one today. More info here. Forum user prices: bare boards are $12.50 each and SMT assembled kits are $99.00. Shipping costseparate. Send me a PM.
Wow Looks great Duane. Your pictures are much better than mine.
I made a connectivity test board with some LEDs and perf-board that I use for testing finished assemblies.
You can find a picture of the test board and some SPIN code at the end of the TetraProp User's Guide.
@Jazzed, Yeah, now the hard part starts. Software!
I used your Guide to build my boards. I added pull-up resistors on the I2C clock line. There wasn't much board space to add the resistors so I soldered a 0603 smt on top of the EEPROM's clock pin and ran some wirewrap wire from the other end of the resistor over to Vdd. You can see a little piece of heat shrink tubing on the top left EEPROM on the board on the left.
I used a solder bridge between the brown out enable pin and the Vss pin next to it (on the chip leads). I doubt I'll be using the Prop to Prop programming anytime soon so I didn't think I'd need the three pin header and jumper.
I'm using 6.25 MHz crystals. Hopefully these Props wont mind being overclocked a bit. Thanks for making room for the crystal sockets. I like having the option of switching crystals.
I'm planning on using pins 16 through 23 as an 8-bit inter-Prop data bus. Pins 0 through 7 will likely be used for a SRAM interface. I'm not sure what pins will be used for clock and chip select yet.
This is getting exciting to me. I've been looking for a reason to use multiple Propellers together. This should be fun (remind me of that later).
I added pull-up resistors on the I2C clock line. There wasn't much board space to add the resistors so I soldered a 0603 smt on top of the EEPROM's clock pin and ran some wirewrap wire from the other end of the resistor over to Vdd. You can see a little piece of heat shrink tubing on the top left EEPROM on the board on the left.
Just curious on this. Can you explain why you need a pull-up on the SCL pin?
Just curious on this. Can you explain why you need a pull-up on the SCL pin?
Some I2C objects require a pull-up on the clock line. Kye's Real Time Clock driver (part of his FAT driver) requires a pull-up on SCL.
From DS1307_RTCEngine:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// I2C Circuit:
//
// 3.3V
// |
// R 10KOHM
// |
// Data Pin Number --- DS1307 SDA Pin.
//
// 3.3V
// |
// R 10KOHM
// |
// Clock Pin Number --- DS1307 SCL Pin.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I also think it's required by slave I2C devices that use "clock stretching".
Many (most?) Propeller boards I know of have a pull-ups on the SCL pin. Propeller Protoboards, QuickStart boards, GG Propeller Platform, Spinneret, Laser Range Finder and Tubular's UN3RB3LLY all have pull-up resistors on their SCL pins. (I had all those boards within arms reach from where I'm sitting. That's kind of scary.) The two boards I know of without pull-up resistors on the SCL pin are the Propeller Demo Board and the Propeller Professional Development Board. (These are also within arms reach.)
I think the main reason I added the pull-ups was to use the TetraProp boards with Kye's FAT driver (including a RTC).
I thought a pull-up on the SCL pin was called for by the I2C protocol? I thought chips on an I2C bus were only supposed to pull the lines low, not drive them high?
I didn't check my Hydra board or Rayman's PTP for pull-up resistors on the SCL pin. They're on the other side of the room and I would have had to get out of my chair to do that.
All these Propeller boards make me sound like I have some sort of compulsive disorder (I think my wife would agree).
I thought a pull-up on the SCL pin was called for by the I2C protocol?
The Phillips I2C (January 2000) specification does call for pull-ups on SDA and SCL.
The reason for a pull-up on SCL is for allowing master mode and clock stretching as you mention.
This is an oversight on my part.
The Propeller boot ROM always drives SCL however, so it is not unreasonable for other code to drive SCL.
Thanks.
--Steve
Addit: I will be soldering pull up resistors directly to the EEPROM pins for any fully assembled boards to be shipped.
Originally Posted by Duane Degn Hey, one of my pictures from post #132 is on AdaFruit.
How cool is that?! Am I famous now?
Okay, maybe not, but I still think it's cool. Duane
I have a question: Is the board plated through - I would like to use solderless headers like these for the non-surface mount parts. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10527
Let me know - my email is michael at obrienlabs.com
I have a couple of these boards. The holes are plated through but I'm not sure how they will hold up to those solderless headers. I found those solderless headers to be very hard on boards. IMO, they would destroy the plating of the holes in the TP board.
How can I order 2 fully assembled boards to check out how internal/external routing functions. I can't seem to find info on CC or paypal on the site.
Hi Michael,
My web site is mostly a place-holder for materials. I've had no time yet to add the store. I accept PayPal and usually send an invoice to customers.
All of the component through-holes are plated through per industry standard and solder tinned. I've never used the headers in your link. My header holes are 0.04" (less with the solder tinning) and the diameter of the springy part of those headers is 0.047".
TetraProp PCBs are now available. I have 50 bare boards in stock.
PM with your mailing address, and I'll respond with my PayPal email and the total order cost.
Price list (1):
1 to 9 boards at $12.50 each
10 to 19 boards at $11 each
20 to 49 boards at $10 each
50 to 99 boards at $9 each
1x8 headers at $0.30 each
Assembled board + headers at $99 each (2)(3)
Notes (1),(2),(3):
California residents add %8.25 sales tax (my rate is higher, but I'll pay the difference).
Introductory price for kits with assembled boards and 24 separate 1x8 stacking headers.
Please allow demand dependent lead time for assembled boards.
TetraProp(tm) is a Gadget Gangster Propeller Platform compatible board design.
TetraProp(tm) 4 Propeller Feature Set
Headers allow interconnections for user's design
Four independent Propeller islands on one board
Propeller and EEPROM are SMD
Other components through-hole for easy modification
Jumper selectable reset type
Socket for crystal
PropPlug header for every Propeller
All stacker pins on 0.1" grid for connecting to a protoboard.
The strengths of this board are that it allows any connection for the user and saves board cost.
The reset circuit can be configured for normal propeller operation with BOE low or reset hold until released with BOE high.
:nerd: The green and blues on the board are beautiful, and make me want to get a color printout, put a light behind it, and use it as a nightlight!
What applications did/do you have for this board? Could this be "jacked" into a Raspberry PI, for Tetrapower!?
Blank PCBs (and no other parts) are FREE as-is with no guarantees of functionality whatsoever. Limited to the number of boards (at least one of course) that I can put into an envelope at the first class rate.
:nerd: The green and blues on the board are beautiful, and make me want to get a color printout, put a light behind it, and use it as a nightlight!
What applications did/do you have for this board? Could this be "jacked" into a Raspberry PI, for Tetrapower!?
Thanks.
Applications are limited to one's imagination. The board was designed to be as flexible and generic as possible. People have even used a hacksaw to make 4 little boards out of one (I don't recommend that since FR4 is essentially glass, and we don't need people breathing dust from that).
I'd love a few myself. I'm almost out of the ones I originally purchased (I think I have an unused quarter of one).
I'll send a PM.
Edit: I told Steve, to put me at the bottom of the list. I think I originally purchased five TetraProp boards so I've already had fun with these boards.
Comments
I started here the last time:
http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/index.htm
But when I navigate to :TetraProp Kit UserGuide (.pdf)
I get the error
I was trying to download the PDF to have a look .
This URL doesn't work either:
TetraProp Schematic (.pdf)
Bob
Today I updated the links in http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/index.htm
There should not be any references to the links you posted.
I'll add a timestamp to force a refresh tomorrow just in case. I'm too tired to do it now.
Here are links in case the page still does not work.
The html user guide is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/UserGuide.htm
The .pdf user guide is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/TetraProp_Kit_UserGuide.pdf
The .pdf schematic is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/TetraProp_A1.pdf
Thanks for reporting the errors.
--Steve
The html user guide is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/UserGuide.htm
The .pdf user guide is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraPro..._UserGuide.pdf
The .pdf schematic is here: http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/TetraProp_A1.pdf
Ok this worked. Thanks!
You did a great job on the User Guide.
The TetraProp board looks *cool* populated.
These items are becoming integral with any development platform.
I suspect I'd rather buy it assembled. I like the compactness of SMDs, but hate the assembly.
The PropellerPlatform-USB has an SDCARD. The Propeller Platform A/V Board has Keyboard/Mouse DINs, TV/Audio, and VGA. The A/V board is out of stock at GadgetGangster. You can find the module here at wulfden.org
well, a stack of four boards should be able to rival a Gibson, lol
but seriously, how bout a stack of 8 and we can rent out the processors to stuff like quantum physics research, or helping detect the worlds first Higgs particle?
One of my recent projects requires two Propellers (one is used to drive a 4.3" touchscreen). After inspecting Jazzed TetraProp board, I realize it shouldn't be hard to make two double-Prop boards from one TetraProp board.
By cutting a straight line through J1, R4, J4 and R8, I should be able to make two double-Prop boards. The missing jumpers and resistors can easily be repositioned since they all connect, on one side, to either ground or Vdd. There's a nice big ground plane on the bottom of the board and the top of the board is a power plane. I figure if I scrape a little solder mask off the top or bottom of the board to replace the homeless resistors and jumpers.
I'm still excited about trying some quadruple Propeller experiments but I know I'll have lots of applications for double-Prop boards.
Duane
Are these boards still available?
I finally got around to populating a couple of the TetraProp boards.
Wow, you packed a lot into those squares of PCBs!
Here is a picture of the two boards I populated.
I also build some SRAM modules to go with the TetraProp board. Four modules will fit on the board with each Propeller connected to one module.
And like the TetraProp boards themselves, the modules can also be stacked.
I'm hoping to use these boards with the new Laser Range Finder to capture a high resolution color image (and hopefully do something useful with it).
Thanks for the great boards.
Duane
Your SRAM boards are cool. I can appreciate custom hand built boards like that.
Nice job!
Robert
I made a connectivity test board with some LEDs and perf-board that I use for testing finished assemblies.
You can find a picture of the test board and some SPIN code at the end of the TetraProp User's Guide.
Congrats on finishing your build!
Thanks. Those SRAM board got tedious to build. (I didn't post a picture of my stack of SOIC SRAM chips. That was hard on the nerves.)
@Jazzed, Yeah, now the hard part starts. Software!
I used your Guide to build my boards. I added pull-up resistors on the I2C clock line. There wasn't much board space to add the resistors so I soldered a 0603 smt on top of the EEPROM's clock pin and ran some wirewrap wire from the other end of the resistor over to Vdd. You can see a little piece of heat shrink tubing on the top left EEPROM on the board on the left.
I used a solder bridge between the brown out enable pin and the Vss pin next to it (on the chip leads). I doubt I'll be using the Prop to Prop programming anytime soon so I didn't think I'd need the three pin header and jumper.
I'm using 6.25 MHz crystals. Hopefully these Props wont mind being overclocked a bit. Thanks for making room for the crystal sockets. I like having the option of switching crystals.
I'm planning on using pins 16 through 23 as an 8-bit inter-Prop data bus. Pins 0 through 7 will likely be used for a SRAM interface. I'm not sure what pins will be used for clock and chip select yet.
This is getting exciting to me. I've been looking for a reason to use multiple Propellers together. This should be fun (remind me of that later).
Duane
Some I2C objects require a pull-up on the clock line. Kye's Real Time Clock driver (part of his FAT driver) requires a pull-up on SCL.
From DS1307_RTCEngine:
I also think it's required by slave I2C devices that use "clock stretching".
Many (most?) Propeller boards I know of have a pull-ups on the SCL pin. Propeller Protoboards, QuickStart boards, GG Propeller Platform, Spinneret, Laser Range Finder and Tubular's UN3RB3LLY all have pull-up resistors on their SCL pins. (I had all those boards within arms reach from where I'm sitting. That's kind of scary.) The two boards I know of without pull-up resistors on the SCL pin are the Propeller Demo Board and the Propeller Professional Development Board. (These are also within arms reach.)
I think the main reason I added the pull-ups was to use the TetraProp boards with Kye's FAT driver (including a RTC).
I thought a pull-up on the SCL pin was called for by the I2C protocol? I thought chips on an I2C bus were only supposed to pull the lines low, not drive them high?
I didn't check my Hydra board or Rayman's PTP for pull-up resistors on the SCL pin. They're on the other side of the room and I would have had to get out of my chair to do that.
All these Propeller boards make me sound like I have some sort of compulsive disorder (I think my wife would agree).
Duane
How cool is that?!
Am I famous now?
Okay, maybe not, but I still think it's cool.
Duane
The reason for a pull-up on SCL is for allowing master mode and clock stretching as you mention.
This is an oversight on my part.
The Propeller boot ROM always drives SCL however, so it is not unreasonable for other code to drive SCL.
Thanks.
--Steve
Addit: I will be soldering pull up resistors directly to the EEPROM pins for any fully assembled boards to be shipped.
Hey, one of my pictures from post #132 is on AdaFruit.
How cool is that?! Am I famous now?
Okay, maybe not, but I still think it's cool. Duane That's fantastic. Do you think we could get his autograph?
Your 4 propeller board is an excellent platform for concurrent programming research.
I was introduced to it yesterday at
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?137668-help!!!-from-pro-regarding-multiprocessing
How can I order 2 fully assembled boards to check out how internal/external routing functions. I can't seem to find info on CC or paypal on the site.
http://www.microcsource.com/TetraProp/index.htm
I have a question: Is the board plated through - I would like to use solderless headers like these for the non-surface mount parts.
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10527
Let me know - my email is michael at obrienlabs.com
thank you
/michael
I have a couple of these boards. The holes are plated through but I'm not sure how they will hold up to those solderless headers. I found those solderless headers to be very hard on boards. IMO, they would destroy the plating of the holes in the TP board.
Hi Michael,
My web site is mostly a place-holder for materials. I've had no time yet to add the store. I accept PayPal and usually send an invoice to customers.
All of the component through-holes are plated through per industry standard and solder tinned. I've never used the headers in your link. My header holes are 0.04" (less with the solder tinning) and the diameter of the springy part of those headers is 0.047".
PM your PayPal address, and we can go from there.
Thanks,
--Steve
I'm no longer selling these boards as a kit. I have blank PCBs left though, and will send them to people in the USA on first class postage.
The PCBs are the same price as listed in post #1?
:nerd: The green and blues on the board are beautiful, and make me want to get a color printout, put a light behind it, and use it as a nightlight!
What applications did/do you have for this board? Could this be "jacked" into a Raspberry PI, for Tetrapower!?
I've edited post one.
Blank PCBs (and no other parts) are FREE as-is with no guarantees of functionality whatsoever. Limited to the number of boards (at least one of course) that I can put into an envelope at the first class rate.
Thanks.
Applications are limited to one's imagination. The board was designed to be as flexible and generic as possible. People have even used a hacksaw to make 4 little boards out of one (I don't recommend that since FR4 is essentially glass, and we don't need people breathing dust from that).
I'll send a PM.
Edit: I told Steve, to put me at the bottom of the list. I think I originally purchased five TetraProp boards so I've already had fun with these boards.