Introduction and questions

Mike Dench

Hello everyone! I have just joined up here to learn more about using Basic stamps. I have very little electronics experience, what I do have is mostly as a result of my main interest which is model railways, specifically Lionel, 3 rail 0-18volts AC supply.

I'm a retired teacher. I used to teach CDT (UK people will recognize this) there really isn't an American equivalent but I taught students in High School taking part in the F.I.R.S.T Robotics contests. My students dealt with the control interface all I did was help them design a simple robot.

Many years ago using Lego LOGO and an Apple 2 we built a computer controlled model railroad. It really wasn't very sophisticated, the engines ran at a fixed speed and the controls were simply FWD REV STOP and the track switching controls. That was about it for the memory and speed capabilities but it worked.

Several times I've been interested reading about what people have done with Basic Stamps and so I'm wondering whether or not this would be a suitable time for me to experiment with one to control my latest model railway which I haven't yet built, so its an ideal opportunity to plan for this.

Is anyone familiar with the old Trane heating and air conditioning system software that ran under DOS and used a modem link to control installations remotely? It had a very easy to use GUI which gave you the ability to draw and animate simple PCX icons so if a fan was turned ON you could do it from the screen with a mouse and see the 'fan' blades turning as a visual indicator it had responded.

I was hoping that perhaps it might be possible to come up with something similar using Parallax only to control my trains with an attractive, customizable screen. I'm not thinking of controlling the track voltage, rather just being able to switch tracks, stop, start and reverse trains running on a preset voltage.

I have absolutely no idea how to start, what I would require, or even if this is possible. I hope it isn't a stupid question!

Thanks in advance for any advice you might give. Mike

bill190

I think you should be able to do what you want.

First would be to create a simple program with the stamp which would switch several things on/off and this could be controlled via the "debug window" also known as the serial connection to the stamp. And you could have various pins of the stamp turn on/off different relays. Then connect the relay contacts to what you want to switch on/off on your railroad. Search the stamp area for relay or look for that in the stamp manual.

Then once that is done, the commands for that would be sent / received to the pc debug screen via the serial connection to the pc.... So instead of using the debug pc software to interface with that, you could write a PC program to do so instead. And any PC program which could access the serial port could do that.

Ahle2

Welcome to this forum Mike!

I would go with the Propeller instead of the Basic stamp if I were you.
It's a much more powerful device, it isn't much harder to code for AND you don't need to upgrade to a more powerful MCU when you want to add more features to your projects. (Like train sound)

/Johannes

Kevin Wood

The best place to start is with pencil & paper. Spend some time mapping out your system, and creating mock-ups of your UI. When you have a blueprint of what to build, it will be easier to determine how to build it.

Spiral_72

Welcome! I think the Basic Stamp and I/O would be fairly easy for this project, with the human interface being the catch. By recommendation would also be, get the system working with the BS and the debug screen first. The debug screen is not very attractive, text only, simple interface. Once that works, the fancy graphics interface and communication could be done with some effort through a language like Visual Basic.

The Prop would be like running a 426 Hemi in your Honda Civic, BUT to my knowledge (and I'm just starting with the Prop) all the human interface including the graphics can be controlled right on the Prop including mouse and keyboard, sound, etc. It COULD be a complete stand alone system without a PC if you wanted

kwinn

I second Ahle2's suggestion to go with the prop, and use Kevin Wood's suggestion to start with pencil and paper to map out your system. Bill190 and Spiral_72's suggestions to start simple and build from that are also good. Also consider the following points:

- Price wise the prop is not much different than the Basic Stamp but is much more capable.
- Spin is not much if any more difficult than basic, and there is a basic available for the prop.
- The prop could also be used for the GUI so no additional computer is required.
- Lots of useful software objects for this available in the OBEX.

Matt Gilliland

Hi Mike - Welcome to the Forums!

Poke around here a little bit and ask questions - at any one time there's hundreds of Stamp and Propeller Experts here with great advice.

My own view would be to start with the BASIC Stamp2, for the primary reason that there is an overwhelming abundance of free code, free information, free schematics, and a huge world-wide support group (just google "Basic Stamp" and you'll see what I mean).

But that's not to say that you should be scared away from the Propeller! There's an ever increasing library of code samples and our own Kits (for example) that walk you through it from the beginning as well.

Listen to what these Forumistas advise, then make up your own mind.

Either way (Stamp or Propeller) - you'll get great coaching along the way by all these guys (and gals!). And by "coaching", I mean standing on the sidelines encouraging, advising, and helping in small ways. You are the "Quarterback" of your own projects - Run with it! And stay involved in these Forums for help when you get stuck, and to post updates on your progress.

Enjoy
-Matt