Propeller Stache from a PropStick

Paul

I made a Propeller "Stache" from on old Bueno Systems "Propstick" I had in the drawer. Operation is as simple as possible. Plug it in and turn it on and it starts downloading the program.

Changes to Chip's PropellerLoader.spin:

error := loader.Connect(0, 30, 31, 1, loader#LoadRun, @loadme)

A30 and A31 are used to both program the Stache and to send out the data to the target Propeller.

Pin A0, the new RST!OUT, is now connected to the MAX3232 pin11,T1IN. This was previously grounded and I had to cut away the top thermals on the ground plain of the board to free it up. T1OUT is connected to my pin 1 of the JST connector as the RS232 level RST!OUT.

Two different cables are used to connect it up. One to program and one to send data out. I did have a switch on the RST! line but it was too kludgy. Two cables are pretty much foolproof.

I also added COG1 blinking an LED (on pin A1) as COG0 is loading the program into the new Propeller to give the operator feedback. Once it completes loading it checks the error number and sets the LED on if no error and off if there was an error.

I put in a 24L512 eeprom just so I would have room for bigger programs, but it appears to just load the binary image.

Of course my thanks to Chip, Phil and Tracy.

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Fuzzy pictures to follow:

Tracy Allen

Nice job Paul! Like the Stache, this will be great for transferring programs from the office to field sites or for production programming. In this one, you'd have to create the .binary for you target file and include it in the PropellerLoader. Is that right?

[FONT=courier new][SIZE=1]OBJ loader : "PropellerLoader" 
  DAT loadme file "loadme.binary"
  PUB LoadPropeller
  loader.Connect(0, 31, 30, 1, loader#LoadRun, @loadme)[/SIZE][/FONT]

Circuitsoft

What, exactly, is a Stache? I've not found this word anywhere online, except as a shortening of Moustache, and I suspect that's not what this is.

Publison

Circuitsoft wrote: »

What, exactly, is a Stache? I've not found this word anywhere online, except as a shortening of Moustache, and I suspect that's not what this is.

Here's a link:

http://www.emesystems.com/stache.htm

Very cool device that Tracy made up a while ago, (2001?).
.

Tracy Allen

The Stache is a device for programming the BASIC Stamp series out in the field or factory floor or classroom or any time you don't want to carry along a PC to do the job. Described here. When you plug it into a PC, it pretends it is a BASIC Stamp and accepts up to 14 slots of BASIC Stamp programs and data. Then out at the field site, it pretends it is a PC--You plug it into the target system and it delivers the program(s) to the resident BASIC Stamp.

Paul

@Tracy, Yep, Chip's program grabs the .binary and sends it out to propeller to be programmed. It looks like you have the setup correct.

This one only does one program at a time. I suppose you could load multiple binaries and make them switch selectable. I haven't set down to figure the capacity.

Stache was Tracy's word and always stuck in my mind for some reason. I've built a couple of BS2 "Staches" over the years. Just a nice tool to have around when you need it.

Tracy Allen

I don't recall exactly how it came about, but the word is a mash-up between stash and cache. Neither of those had exactly the desired connotation, so we split the difference. Something new. I had reverse engineered the programming protocol to make one BASIC Stamp program another, and then made a rudimentary version using an SX18 chip programmed in asm. Then Steve Parkis ran with it and made the program really slick.