(OT) Returning to stamps and also working with the Prop

Buck Rogers

Hello!
I'm posting this here, with both the Prefix code, and the [(OT]) titling because it might not be appropriate for the others.

After spending an uncountable amount of time this year, and the majority of last year away from the stamps, and now the Prop, I've decided to return. Back in May when the cycle of the Maker Faires would be starting, one other thing happened. Google threw an event regarding their phones. At it they confirmed that it would be okay with them if the continuing events of people connecting non-cell accessories to them, there is a Google Group, and a site concerning these Cellbots. In fact one of the members there, is advocating the use of the Prop in his based designs. And indeed there is code branded by him in the Exchange. If you look for the term ADB you will find it there.

At that Google event, FTDI announced a board for people to evaluate their VNC2 chipsets, they could also be convinced to communicate with the G2 and later phones, (It requires the later releases of Android, one of those is present on the Nexus S, and some Tablets running the OS.)

Since FTDI described the thing as a superset of the A***** gizmo, I decided then, (June) to buy one.

See http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/FTDI-Vinco-and-Microchip-starter-kit/ here for details. And of course here http://www.ftdichip.com for more.

I found the thing to be interesting, and even useful. I also discovered that its behavior was different compared to the A****** gizmo. Not as easy to program as the Basic Stamps, but certainly different compared to the Prop family.

And upon visiting the Maker Faire this year, I received a remarkable surprise, that of finding Parallax there. I eventually bought a Prop board from them, that one was the Prop Proto USB Board, and for those of us who're interested it can be found here: http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerDevelopmentBoards/tabid/514/CategoryID/73/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/509/Default.aspx .

It was an interesting time there. My first efforts with the Prop were an interesting and rewarding one. See my threads on the Prop board for those ones.

Regarding the Stamp, I am gratified that the programs I wrote earlier still run. Of course the power supply issues are always present. This is the Stamp One here.

LoopyByteloose

Nothing wrong with BasicStamps, in fact they are rather remarkable. Way too many people think bigger and faster is necessarily better when the lowly BS1 still is adequate for many projects with the lowest amount of power required.

It would be quite wonderful if Parallax took advantage of Microchips inclusion of a stable oscillator in some of their PIC chips and created a revision of the BS1 or just the BS2 for low-cost and low-power. There are loads of projects that might have a Propeller on one end and a BasicStamp on the other.

AND, there is still a market with beginner for an easy entry point into programming. I suspect there always will be.

Hmmm. I suppose I should buy some BS1s now, they are just $29.95. I have an IR project that I was feeling a BS2 was a bit of overkill.