Just bought - Boe-Bot + FREE BASIC Stamp Activity Kit
kcdclan
Posts: 3
Hello, I dont have to much time right now to rummage thought topics so excuse me for just posting this without any research.
Anyways I bought the Boe-Bot + FREE BASIC Stamp Activity Kit
Sounded like I would get the most of my money for it.. ehh who needs usb anyways..
I also picked up some censors and such to be able to expand.
I've many goals set out for this but my primary is introducing myself to the design and development part of electronics.
I would say I have a more advatge going into this.I've a background with computers significantly.Programing and hardware mainly dealing into the field. have been interested for some time but never had the time to progress on it.
Anyways the questions.
My first biggest drive is to learn assembly language. Not just ohh okey i know... I think being in the field having a firm grasp on the understanding of systems as tech progresses and people straf way from the core foundations they will play a big advantage. I mean I understand it now but have no idea... I get the concepts but never did practus. It is one of my own desires itself to know and understand how to.
..... Therefor do you guys thing this kit was a good idea for me to get?
I know there are simulators out there ... but im hands on kind.
Second.
One of my main issues in searching for my first kit... why took so long. Is that I need to have a solid understanding of everything going on... Witch I'm not happy about on this product but I'll get over it.. I mean knowing what every thing on the board is and what it does and how to change ... knowing all the variables I am working with. I am not fond of the idea of a chip preprogramed doing work for me... I want to design the program with the I/O and be able to understand every aspect.
I see the PING))) Ultrasonic Distance Sensor and see these chips on it and cant help wonder what is going on with it? How is it working? How can I just make this myself? I've already came up with alternative navigation systems to design and use.. I also bought the ping of curiosity.
Is there another thing I should pick up to help improve this?
I hope you guys understand my main goal here and can point me in right direction. Basicly understad every aspect of the engineering to be able to fit my own personal desire.Not buy but to build my own. All the way to the core... I know that chips I cant make... Well have no desire to. they are just I/O switches basically of silicone type material..
I've already got the kit and will be here in a fue days.... been waiting and searching for the right starter kit and just finally said This one.. I can do alot with and comes with a decent amount of stuff.
Thanks Guys, I hope to blog vlog my progressions.
Anyways I bought the Boe-Bot + FREE BASIC Stamp Activity Kit
Sounded like I would get the most of my money for it.. ehh who needs usb anyways..
I also picked up some censors and such to be able to expand.
I've many goals set out for this but my primary is introducing myself to the design and development part of electronics.
I would say I have a more advatge going into this.I've a background with computers significantly.Programing and hardware mainly dealing into the field. have been interested for some time but never had the time to progress on it.
Anyways the questions.
My first biggest drive is to learn assembly language. Not just ohh okey i know... I think being in the field having a firm grasp on the understanding of systems as tech progresses and people straf way from the core foundations they will play a big advantage. I mean I understand it now but have no idea... I get the concepts but never did practus. It is one of my own desires itself to know and understand how to.
..... Therefor do you guys thing this kit was a good idea for me to get?
I know there are simulators out there ... but im hands on kind.
Second.
One of my main issues in searching for my first kit... why took so long. Is that I need to have a solid understanding of everything going on... Witch I'm not happy about on this product but I'll get over it.. I mean knowing what every thing on the board is and what it does and how to change ... knowing all the variables I am working with. I am not fond of the idea of a chip preprogramed doing work for me... I want to design the program with the I/O and be able to understand every aspect.
I see the PING))) Ultrasonic Distance Sensor and see these chips on it and cant help wonder what is going on with it? How is it working? How can I just make this myself? I've already came up with alternative navigation systems to design and use.. I also bought the ping of curiosity.
Is there another thing I should pick up to help improve this?
I hope you guys understand my main goal here and can point me in right direction. Basicly understad every aspect of the engineering to be able to fit my own personal desire.Not buy but to build my own. All the way to the core... I know that chips I cant make... Well have no desire to. they are just I/O switches basically of silicone type material..
I've already got the kit and will be here in a fue days.... been waiting and searching for the right starter kit and just finally said This one.. I can do alot with and comes with a decent amount of stuff.
Thanks Guys, I hope to blog vlog my progressions.
Comments
But you can learn quite a bit with it.
If you want to learn assembly language, you would be better off with the Propeller.
You want to fabricate your own Ultrasonic Distance Sensor as well and program from scratch. It is doable with a PIC microcontroller, but at this point you may consider slowing down and learning to walk before you run. PICs are not supported here, so you would have to find others to mentor you.
Please reconsider the idea of building everything from scratch as you might find yourself never finishing anything. There are many good reasons to select well-developed modules - such as the PING - and then add your own utility to them. Hopefully, you don't want to build your own LCD from scratch as well.
The Boe-Bot uses the Basic Stamp which runs PBasic only, no assembly. It's a great kit but it won't help you learn assembly programming.
The Propeller chip can be programmed in assembly and does just what you want. Check out the QuickStart board.
Or if you want to turn your Boe-Bot into a Propeller powered bot look at getting the Prop-Boe.
I was thinking of geting it with a Breadboard and a fue sensors and such to mess around with.
Then it came up around over $100 So i decided not to buy any of it and wait for my stuff tomorrow while looking into online products.
I was thinking Propeller Education Kit - 40 pin DIP Version because there is no pre-maid board with chips on it. From what I can tell the Propeller Education Kit is as simple as it gets and it will be the most basic starting point. Since it's a propeller chip I'm assuming I can do ASM with it correct?
The reason I don't lean to Arduino .. It's kind of like apple.. Real user friendly.. I am not looking for that what so ever. I dont need some pre programmed I/O kernal type system managing everything for me. I want to design my own system entirely. I've countless documents of ideas that I want to progress on but dont have the core understandings yet.I have no idea why you would use a capacitor... what the use of resistors are for and such. I mean I know what they are... I just dont udnerstand them.
The QuickStart is significantly cheaper when purchased directly from Parallax.
The Boe-Bot and Stamp activity kit can be really useful for learning about resistors capacitors etc., you might want to run through all the exercises to gain a better understanding of components, then apply that to the Propeller.
Well not the bs2. I think best way of refering to it is a mini boad. or cpu lol
because the chip that is doing the logic is the pic16f57. then there are other fechers with it that create the bs2 for ease of use for new people.
It uses the pic16f57 chip witch i find little information about. Just the schematics witch are at parallax also.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the chip is working.
I'm calling it a night though and I'll be back at it all day tomorrow.
i'm just assuming all of this for the most part after my research.. so correct me if im wrong.
Traditionally, BASIC language has been the starting point for novice programmers as other languages and lower level assembler need some sort of organization to teach. Once one learns how to LOOP and how to use IF, WHEN, and FOR; they can be coded in a few lines of assembler or have similar commands in other languages.
But it is all about learning good organization and noticing all the details.
You can program the PIC16f57 in assembler, IF YOU GET A BLANK ONE. The Parallax chip is a PIC16C57, which has already had a PBASIC interpreter burned into it and this cannot be changed, NOR can it be viewed -- your BS2 program sits in the attached EEPROM which can be erased and rewritten to thousands of times.
You cannot change or see the code in the Basic Stamp's storage.
If you want to program PICs, try www.piclist.com for a support group. If that is too much for you, you can always return to PBASIC and your BASIC Stamp. Try the BOE and activities provided in the kit you have. We can help you with those.