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Holiday Propelloring — Parallax Forums

Holiday Propelloring

g3cwig3cwi Posts: 262
edited 2012-04-11 17:47 in Propeller 1
Hi all

I'm off to Singapore for the summer and want to do some more Prop experiments during my down time while there. What would you recomend for this? I see that cheap tablets have USB ports as do netbooks of course. Looking for a low-end solution. Ideas.

Regards

Richard

Comments

  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-04-11 06:49
    Richard,

    you might have a look at this:
    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?132692-Netbook-for-hosting-prop-development

    I don't know how low you want to go but I just bought an Acer laptop for $400 from Walmart and it works great.

    Also this:
    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?112224-Will-a-Netbook-work-with-a-Propeller
  • MacTuxLinMacTuxLin Posts: 821
    edited 2012-04-11 07:30
    g3cwi wrote: »
    'm off to Singapore for the summer and want to do some more Prop experiments during my down time while there. What would you recomend for this? I see that cheap tablets have USB ports as do netbooks of course. Looking for a low-end solution. Ideas.

    Regards

    Richard

    Try Sim Lim Square (http://www.simlimsquare.com.sg/). Its a 6-level building pack with shops selling computers & accessories etc, something like Fry's. But if you want more Radio Shack-type, try Sim Lim Tower. It is about 500m away from Sim Lim Square. Have fun bargaining!
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-04-11 07:58
    MacTuxLin wrote: »
    Try Sim Lim Square.
    Dang, you make me want to take a trip to Singapore!

    For those of us more opportunity-challenged, I would echo ElectricAye's advice. After mucking around with cheaper solutions that inevitably left much to be desired, I had to admit that a cheap Acer laptop, either new or 'refurbished', was far more satisfying and far less frustrating. Some are quite thin and light.

    I'd like to know if anyone has ever taken a stand-alone Sphinx system on holiday, and was happy with it.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2012-04-11 11:32
    One can use Propforth on any stock prop board or equivalent, and only needs a terminal program like teraterm or minicom.

    I use a quickstart and a OLPC-XO (300Mhz) and it works just fine. The The only time I need a more powerful machine is the rare occasion when I have to run the proptool to reload a spin for the kernel. But this is only needed when the kernel is updated.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-04-11 16:21
    I've got commitment issues. Too many half-finished projects make me skittish to begin another. But it seems like a moral imperative to find some space inside a PS/2 keyboard case for a Propeller and EEPROM loaded with a terminal program. I inherited from my teen-aged son a small LCD VGA monitor that would be a suitable companion to the keyboard, and would complete a dirt cheap terminal.

    All I'd have to do after that is connect the terminal to a Prop board running Propforth, like Prof_B mentioned. Perhaps there would be room for the Propforth Prop in the same keyboard case... Perhaps I could even steal 5V from the monitor's internals...
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,706
    edited 2012-04-11 16:25
    User Name wrote: »
    All I'd have to do after that is connect the terminal to a Prop board running Propforth, like Prof_B mentioned. Perhaps there would be room for the Propforth Prop in the same keyboard case... Perhaps I could even steal 5V from the monitor's internals...

    Many monitors have a USB hub inside for your convenience. I believe you should be able to pick up 5v here without having to get inside the monitor
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-04-11 17:47
    @Tubular: I can't find the secret to revealing the inner wonders of this little Chimei monitor without cracking plastic so, for the time being, Prop and KBD power will have to come from a NiMH pack. But this is really cool that some monitors have a USB hub. I didn't know anything about it.
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