It’s unheard of for an individual to single-handedly design a chip in the computer electronics industry, which typically relies on teams of brainiacs to achieve such feats. At large companies such as Intel Corp. or Atmel Corp., teams of 40 to 50 engineers would collaborate to develop these chips.
I thought that there were two people involved with Propeller design - Chip and Beau.
Chuck Moore has designed several chips single-handed, including the new GreenArrays device with 144 processors, and David May and Ali Dixon were responsible for the design of the XMOS chips. There are several other examples.
Not to diminish the magnitude of Chips achievements which we all admire but Leon is right there have been many processors designed by very small teams, including one man teams.
From the wikipedia article on the ARM:
Acorn would need a new architecture, having tested all of the available processors and found them wanting. Acorn then seriously considered designing its own processor, and their engineers came across papers on the Berkeley RISC project. They felt it showed that if a class of graduate students could create a competitive 32-bit processor, then Acorn would have no problem. A trip to the Western Design Center in Phoenix, where the 6502 was being updated by what was effectively a single-person company, showed Acorn engineers Steve Furber[6] and Sophie Wilson that they did not need massive resources and state-of-the-art R&D facilities.
I would just like to comment that "unheard of" does not mean that it has never been done.
For example you might say that charging $20 for a USB cable is "unheard of". That doesn't mean that it has never happened, just that it is very outside the norm.
I know that Chip didn't come out and said "I did this all by my self and that's UNHEARD of" and then the reporter based their comments on that. It's unheard of that a reporter for a regional business magazine is an expert in electronic or chip design and fabrication history! As with any news reportage, there are going to be various mistakes made!
Nice, extremely nice. Chip Gracey and his family - especially Ken and their dad - are some of the best of what America has to offer. I am happy to see the Propeller2 is going to do HDTV.
Moreover I remain grateful for all I've learned from Parallax - they offer the chance to learn hardware at a much lower level than the use of other hardware platforms. Right now I am muddling through a Linux kernel and wondering why.
Why do they make this statement: "Gracey in 2006 developed the versatile Propeller 1, a powerful multiprocessor chip with audio capability. " as if the main highlight of the Propeller chip is audio capability? What about video generation? 8 cores?
I was interviewed by Detroit Crains which seemed to go very well at the time. They actually twisted the story completely and I was both embarrassed and angry when I came to read it (plus they took the worst possible photograph...LOL). I bet that Chip's story would read quite differently had he had the opportunity to proof-read and edit it....which never happens.
It's always sobering to read an article that you know something about and find the flaws in it and then think about the articles you read on other subjects/topics you are less knowledgeable about that are potentially filled with just as many flaws. The power of the pen can't be underestimated.
Abraham Lincoln's Internet Wisdom:
Shortly after the rise of the blogosphere Abraham Lincoln hosted a dinner party at his Cabin Estate and birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
After this dinner Abraham Lincoln read from his unpublished memoir: A Humble Man's Advice For Life in the Information Age.
By the fireside he read many portions, but the section that most impressed his guests was this one, simple sentence:
"The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot confirm their validity."
I'm not real impressed with the photograph either. If you don;t know what the ELEV-8 is, it looks like some sort of ceiling fixture or fan.
When I landed here some years ago, Chip and I talked. I'm one of those guys who was away, saw the Prop and is back! The story is kind of shallow, but it does highlight a few things I really like. Private company reinvesting to grow, company culture, and the desire to build great stuff are very attractive things. Great job guys!
I'm not familiar with Comstock's magazine, but it is apparently a business magazine. It's not surprizing that a writer for a business magazine would get a few technical details wrong. I thought it was a good article. I like the quote from Ken at the end of the article -- “Fun and freedom is a big part of our company,”
Today, at Parallax’s 20,000-square-foot facility, its 44 employees design and make a cache of robots fly, roll and walk. Elev8, an unmanned aerial vehicle, flies and can be used for aerial photography, among other things. Employees also create educational materials for teachers and hobbyists and program microcontroller chips.
Aha. The Elev8 flies.
Now, what is that nice fan with the lit blades in the photo?
Really, that is a great article. I have seen so many articles that get it totally wrong. Go Parallax !!!!!
One person designing the propeller was totally amazing. Two people developing prop 2 is just as amazing. The norm is 40-50 people, chip/beau and the very few others represent highly exceptional people. Period.
For what CAN go wrong in an article, this one actually turned out really well. I did explain to the interviewer, who was a very nice woman, that Beau and I work together, but that didn't come out in print. I also mentioned the company doing our synthesis work.
It usually goes that the magazine or newspaper has some theme in mind that they want to apply the facts to. In this case, it was "small company plans to upset status-quo", which is not our driving ambition, but makes for compelling reading.
One time, a magazine sent a photographer over to Parallax to take pictures of me and while chatting with her, I mentioned that she needs to be careful if she gets down to southern Thailand on her vacation. All of the sudden, her demeanor went south and she didn't like me from that moment, on. Things got weird. At one point, she was having me pose with an old Conway Twitty album that she noticed in a stack of old records that someone had given me - as if to say, look at what an idiot he is. When I first heard that someone was coming up from San Francisco, I was worried there might be trouble. Artiste trouble.
@Chip
Regardless of the article or the interviewer, what remains amazing about Parallax is that you and others with a wealth of wisdom and experience remain accessible to the average guy. I am sure making $15 million is a nice goal for Ken, but these days I suspect that still qualifies Parallax as a small business by federal SBA standards.
What the general public doesn't always understand is that you are a family business with very deep values about what should be life for a family business. The fact that you have a creative streak that comes up with something as fresh and fun as the Propeller (or Propeller2) is just icing on the cake.
Parallax has devoted much of its time and effort to bring electronics and computing into the school by providing teaching materials and programs when companies with far more resources merely show up for photo ops.
At one point, she was having me pose with an old Conway Twitty album that she noticed in a stack of old records that someone had given me
Chip, As long as it wasn't this one you should have been okay!
The slant she took was fine, but I would have picked up on those mighty fine numbers she peppered throughout the piece: $9.5 mil gross, 44 employees (ergo, effective employee productivity about twice the national average). I'm sure there were one or two VCs who picked up on this, too. Time for Ken to get out the stick again and beat 'em back!
Beau working with you from outside the state is also a good slant, and something many readers in business might be interested in knowing more about. As someone who used to write this sort of stuff (thankfully I no longer do), as this comes up again you should always feel free to suggest an editorial angle -- best done well before the actual interview. Same with posing with album covers. Don't be shy to dig out that old copy of Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space. Show 'em what you're really made of!
"Chip Gracey was fascinated by electronics, even as a child. At just 8 years old, he took apart a calculator and hooked it up to a stereo just to see what would happen."
What was hooked up to what?
Sounds like the time I connected a 9V battery to the output of a doorbell transformer and expected 120 volts to come out the other end (primary)!
I can totally agree with the idea expressed by Chip...that journalists try to fit the facts into stereotyped categories, perhaps for the sake of easy recognition. If your readers have to think too hard, they'll just tune you out.
The hex above Chip's head was not mounted to the ceiling or any type of mount, I was flying it right there. We did four or so different takes of that picture. Having the boss' head in your hands, can anyone say "Sweaty palms"!?! Needless to say, the writers were great to have here, and Chip and Ken are some of the most exceptional and generous people I know.
Comments
Chuck Moore has designed several chips single-handed, including the new GreenArrays device with 144 processors, and David May and Ali Dixon were responsible for the design of the XMOS chips. There are several other examples.
From the wikipedia article on the ARM:
There are plenty of one man processor designs here: http://opencores.org/projects
For example you might say that charging $20 for a USB cable is "unheard of". That doesn't mean that it has never happened, just that it is very outside the norm.
Bean
Moreover I remain grateful for all I've learned from Parallax - they offer the chance to learn hardware at a much lower level than the use of other hardware platforms. Right now I am muddling through a Linux kernel and wondering why.
Cheers!
Mickster
Abraham Lincoln's Internet Wisdom:
Shortly after the rise of the blogosphere Abraham Lincoln hosted a dinner party at his Cabin Estate and birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
After this dinner Abraham Lincoln read from his unpublished memoir: A Humble Man's Advice For Life in the Information Age.
By the fireside he read many portions, but the section that most impressed his guests was this one, simple sentence:
"The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot confirm their validity."
I'm not real impressed with the photograph either. If you don;t know what the ELEV-8 is, it looks like some sort of ceiling fixture or fan.
When I landed here some years ago, Chip and I talked. I'm one of those guys who was away, saw the Prop and is back! The story is kind of shallow, but it does highlight a few things I really like. Private company reinvesting to grow, company culture, and the desire to build great stuff are very attractive things. Great job guys!
I know what an ELEV-8 is, and I thought it was some sort of ceiling fixture. (But don't tell anyone.)
I don't feel so bad now!
Aha. The Elev8 flies.
Now, what is that nice fan with the lit blades in the photo?
Really, that is a great article. I have seen so many articles that get it totally wrong. Go Parallax !!!!!
One person designing the propeller was totally amazing. Two people developing prop 2 is just as amazing. The norm is 40-50 people, chip/beau and the very few others represent highly exceptional people. Period.
It usually goes that the magazine or newspaper has some theme in mind that they want to apply the facts to. In this case, it was "small company plans to upset status-quo", which is not our driving ambition, but makes for compelling reading.
One time, a magazine sent a photographer over to Parallax to take pictures of me and while chatting with her, I mentioned that she needs to be careful if she gets down to southern Thailand on her vacation. All of the sudden, her demeanor went south and she didn't like me from that moment, on. Things got weird. At one point, she was having me pose with an old Conway Twitty album that she noticed in a stack of old records that someone had given me - as if to say, look at what an idiot he is. When I first heard that someone was coming up from San Francisco, I was worried there might be trouble. Artiste trouble.
Regardless of the article or the interviewer, what remains amazing about Parallax is that you and others with a wealth of wisdom and experience remain accessible to the average guy. I am sure making $15 million is a nice goal for Ken, but these days I suspect that still qualifies Parallax as a small business by federal SBA standards.
What the general public doesn't always understand is that you are a family business with very deep values about what should be life for a family business. The fact that you have a creative streak that comes up with something as fresh and fun as the Propeller (or Propeller2) is just icing on the cake.
Parallax has devoted much of its time and effort to bring electronics and computing into the school by providing teaching materials and programs when companies with far more resources merely show up for photo ops.
Thanks.
Chip, As long as it wasn't this one you should have been okay!
The slant she took was fine, but I would have picked up on those mighty fine numbers she peppered throughout the piece: $9.5 mil gross, 44 employees (ergo, effective employee productivity about twice the national average). I'm sure there were one or two VCs who picked up on this, too. Time for Ken to get out the stick again and beat 'em back!
Beau working with you from outside the state is also a good slant, and something many readers in business might be interested in knowing more about. As someone who used to write this sort of stuff (thankfully I no longer do), as this comes up again you should always feel free to suggest an editorial angle -- best done well before the actual interview. Same with posing with album covers. Don't be shy to dig out that old copy of Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space. Show 'em what you're really made of!
-- Gordon
What was hooked up to what?
Sounds like the time I connected a 9V battery to the output of a doorbell transformer and expected 120 volts to come out the other end (primary)!
I can totally agree with the idea expressed by Chip...that journalists try to fit the facts into stereotyped categories, perhaps for the sake of easy recognition. If your readers have to think too hard, they'll just tune you out.
I had to look up dearth...
-Tommy