My Propeller Project

jknightandkarr · 2012-03-05 08:26

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I have designed & planning to start building & selling a Propeller modual I designed. It uses a Propeller P8X32A-Q44, 44-pin LQFPchip on a PCB thats only a little 1.1 * 1.1 sq in size! It features all access to all 32 I/O pins & the Reset pin, with only ONE set of Power/Ground pins to hook up, has a 512Kb EEPROM, port for a Prop Plug & a removable 5 Mhz Crystal for those who want a different freq. The only thing needed for it is 3.3V regulated power supply & a prop plug. I need to make a diagram of my modual, so people can see what it looks like, but the pins run around the outside of the 1.1" * 1.1" chip. I'm still working on final checks of the traces, connections ect, but should be ready to order my PCB's for them shortly.

I've designed this product in mind of people with small projects, mainly like my Knight Rider dash, where PCB space is tight, so this modual takes only a 1" * 1" footprint, again with only a single set of power & grounds to worry about, the pcb routes the single set of inputs to all 4 sets on the propeller chip. I really wanted to add a removable EEPROM so it could be changed if needed, but that seams to be a hard one to add, but maybe in a later version it may feature this as well. I've taken into account all the power requirements into the design for the power & ground as well as the I/O pins as well, & the designed traces are well over the Max amp ratings the propeller is capable of using or putting out. I added the largest traces possable, so I'm not really worried about failure of the PCB itself. I haven't thought of a final price yet, but I hope people will find this modual usefull as I plan on it.

As soon as I get all the checks done & I'm totally happy with my design, I'll make a prototype & post pics of it, untill then, I'll just post a diagram of what the modual looks like as well as the pinouts. I'll post this soon, hopefully today. Please let me know what you think about my project & if you might find it usefull. I plan to use this modual alot on my projects. With its small size & everything but the regulated 3.3v supply & prop clip included, I hope alot of people may find a need for this, esp those who make their own boards & have problems with PCB space. I've put my heart & soul & alot of time into this modual. It's almost ready to produce & sell, so I'm excited & anxious to offer this addition to all the rest of the Propeller systems out there now.

As promissed I've attached a diagram of my modual. I would attach the image directly on this page but I'm on my phone & I think it hates me cause it don't wanna cooperate with me at all.

What does everyone think of this? Could it posably sell at all?

Joe

UPDATE: I have reworked my design some & it now houses a 1000 mA 3.3 voltage regulator & 2-10 uf caps similar to the schmartboard scematic uses. I wanted to add one, but didn't think I had enough room, but I moved stuff around & made one fit. I've also named it the Propeller Core or Prop Core for short. I'm now going over all of my work for erros/problems, but I hope soon to have a working prototype. That's all I have for now.

Duane Degn · 2012-03-05 08:41

Joe,

I don't know if you've seen the other small Propeller boards other forum members have made. There are several about this size.

From reading the forum, I've learned it's a very good idea to have 0.1uF bypass caps near all Vdd pins of the Prop. I'm not sure if your board has these or not.

I've noticed it's become the norm to have pull-up resistors on both the data and clock pins on the EEPROM. Some I2C drivers require the pull-up on the clock.

I'll see if I can find the links to the other boards. One of these small boards is Tubular's Und3rb3lly. It also has a uSD card reading on it.

I just thought you might want to take a look at the competition before getting a bunch of boards made.

Here's Cluso99's stackable 1" x 1" boards. I personally would hate to try to compete with his stuff.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to be such a kill-joy. I'm just not sure if you know about these other boards or not.

turbosupra · 2012-03-05 10:10

Duane is right as far as being something you could sell, but as far as your own it is great.

A Knight Rider display was the very first thing I did when I was learning to use the prop, and technically I didn't even do it, I think Beau wrote the loop for me, but I still have the video of it.

Someone like Jaycar might be interested in it though?

Either way, it's nice to see another gearhead on the forums, there are not many of us here.

turbosupra · 2012-03-05 10:13

Oh, please join this if you'd like

http://forums.parallax.com/group.php?groupid=16

Cluso99 · 2012-03-05 11:24

Joe: As Duane mentioned, I have this 1" sq module. It has a 3v3 regulator on board, optional transistor reset circuit, eeprom with optional write protect, pluggable xtal, and the pinouts arranged for the propplug. The pcb is designed for overclocking and I usually run it at 6.5MHz (104MHz).

I have an SRAM & microSD stackable module and an RTC DS1340C & 1225 coin cell battery stackable module that make a RamBlade3.

Details here http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?132769 and here http://www.clusos.com/home/

The CPU module and SRAM/microSD modules are on the Tubulars open source hardware board, together with my miniature PropPlug board.

I have sold 1 CPU module. I have bare pcbs available if you want? Suggest you don't waste your time unless you specifically require these for yourself only.

My Propeller Project

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