Not really. The first time we went to UPEW we had been watching Firefly. Atherton road is the one you take to get to Parallax when coming from the Staybridge.
Sorry it took me a little while to respond. I'm having some computer trouble.
Zoot, you are another winner. We also called the Propeller the PChip. Please PM me your shipping address and I'll also send you a BASIC Stamp Activity Kit and PIR Sensor.
There is one other name that was used internally...anyone?
The last question for the day will be at 4pm. Then tomorrow morning the first question will be at 9am PT.
Ok pchip is ez to figure out becuase the prop2 is the pchip2 but is pbrain documented anywhere? Im wondering how one would figure that out googling parallax pbrain returns nothing. Im curious of the story behind it.
Thank you all very much! I am pleased to accept this award on behalf of all the people who have supported me along the way. First of all I would like to thank my family who has supported me through the many years of web surfing. It was a long and tedious road to get to this point. Years of training and lots of excercise. I wake up eVery morning at 5:30 a.m. and start working out with my custom keyboard that has counterwieghts of 3 lbs on each key. That is followed by a jog around the block on my fingertips. This has greatly improved my keyboarding speed, thus I was able to win a major award..... Ok, Ok, I googled it.... It was in the may 2009 issue of The Parallaxian.
Now that I've got that out of my system,
Thank You Parallax for being the company that you are. I have never seen anything less then quality in the products that you offer. We all joke about how we can hardly hold our water for the release of the Prop2, but those of us that have used the Prop1 know that when P2 is released it will be nothing short of amazing, and stable.
Quality plus support makes a total package. This is also an area that Parallax has always shined for me. From the help the forum members are quick to offer, to the very talented people Parallax has on their team. (I can't count the times a certain Mr. Savage has helped me out of a jam.) Most products usally have a very nice product page with links to program examples and connections for getting started. All of this has made it very easy to learn (not copy and paste, but really learn) about microcontrollers.
... but is pbrain documented anywhere? Im wondering how one would figure that out googling parallax pbrain returns nothing. Im curious of the story behind it.
I don't believe "pbrain" is documented anywhere, but I didn't know if Chip had ever mentioned it on the forums or not.
PBrain was one of the first names we came up with. If I remember right, Chip and I were goofing around, throwing out name ideas here and there for a few days, all centered around the idea that the Propeller will be a small, simple architecture. Since we had previously used a leading letter P in certain products ("PBASIC" for example) which stood for Parallax, it was natural for us to name it a "P"-something, and since it was a small, simple controller, PBrain was a tongue-in-cheek name that occurred to us.
It may seem unbelievable now, but around that time, we really had no idea that the PBrain (later called many things, and finally the Propeller) would evolve into a multicore design... we were only considering a single-core design. The idea for it was originally conceived around late 1997, early 1998, from Chip's desire for a simple computer that you could get swift results from without the complexities that modern operating systems burden us with. To have an idea for an algorithm and to be able to prove it quickly with a simple and fast computer without having to remember how to create a window or how to get more processor time (or figure out why the computer keeps blue screening when we try to print)... it's a wonderful thing. Chip wanted to make a small "brain" chip and have the ability to connect multiple chips together to accomplish a complex task and perform all tasks quickly and definitively. Later, he came to know that the silicon industry was changing and making it more affordable to use more silicon real estate, which naturally led him to thinking that we should make it a multicore device; all the little brains already connected within a single chip.
There were other nicknames we threw around too, but PBrain, PNut, and PChip were the most common nicknames we used internally until we officially decided to call it Propeller shortly before release.
Like yesterday I'll be posting questions every hour. The last question will be at 12noon today. Winners who PM'd me yesterday, I'll be confirming that I received your information this afternoon when I ship out all the prizes. If you don't hear from me by 5pm PT today please PM me again.
Comments
Not really. The first time we went to UPEW we had been watching Firefly. Atherton road is the one you take to get to Parallax when coming from the Staybridge.
During development, what was one of the three code names Parallax used to refer to what would later be named the Propeller microcontroller?
Ding Ding! I think we have a winner!
You got it David congrats! PNut was one. PM me your address and I'll send you an Activity Kit and PIR Sensor.
Everyone else...if you can figure out the other two names you can win as well. One prize for each name.
Uhmm... Prop2
.
-Phil
-Phil
Sorry it took me a little while to respond. I'm having some computer trouble.
Zoot, you are another winner. We also called the Propeller the PChip. Please PM me your shipping address and I'll also send you a BASIC Stamp Activity Kit and PIR Sensor.
There is one other name that was used internally...anyone?
The last question for the day will be at 4pm. Then tomorrow morning the first question will be at 9am PT.
Final question for the day.
Which year did the printed product catalog have a supermarket theme?
Yes, it was 2001 congratulations Electromanj! You're the last winner for the day.
Please PM me and i'll send out an Activity Kit & OFN Module.
Now that I've got that out of my system,
Thank You Parallax for being the company that you are. I have never seen anything less then quality in the products that you offer. We all joke about how we can hardly hold our water for the release of the Prop2, but those of us that have used the Prop1 know that when P2 is released it will be nothing short of amazing, and stable.
Quality plus support makes a total package. This is also an area that Parallax has always shined for me. From the help the forum members are quick to offer, to the very talented people Parallax has on their team. (I can't count the times a certain Mr. Savage has helped me out of a jam.) Most products usally have a very nice product page with links to program examples and connections for getting started. All of this has made it very easy to learn (not copy and paste, but really learn) about microcontrollers.
Happy 25th Parallax!
traVis.
I don't believe "pbrain" is documented anywhere, but I didn't know if Chip had ever mentioned it on the forums or not.
PBrain was one of the first names we came up with. If I remember right, Chip and I were goofing around, throwing out name ideas here and there for a few days, all centered around the idea that the Propeller will be a small, simple architecture. Since we had previously used a leading letter P in certain products ("PBASIC" for example) which stood for Parallax, it was natural for us to name it a "P"-something, and since it was a small, simple controller, PBrain was a tongue-in-cheek name that occurred to us.
It may seem unbelievable now, but around that time, we really had no idea that the PBrain (later called many things, and finally the Propeller) would evolve into a multicore design... we were only considering a single-core design. The idea for it was originally conceived around late 1997, early 1998, from Chip's desire for a simple computer that you could get swift results from without the complexities that modern operating systems burden us with. To have an idea for an algorithm and to be able to prove it quickly with a simple and fast computer without having to remember how to create a window or how to get more processor time (or figure out why the computer keeps blue screening when we try to print)... it's a wonderful thing. Chip wanted to make a small "brain" chip and have the ability to connect multiple chips together to accomplish a complex task and perform all tasks quickly and definitively. Later, he came to know that the silicon industry was changing and making it more affordable to use more silicon real estate, which naturally led him to thinking that we should make it a multicore device; all the little brains already connected within a single chip.
There were other nicknames we threw around too, but PBrain, PNut, and PChip were the most common nicknames we used internally until we officially decided to call it Propeller shortly before release.
Like yesterday I'll be posting questions every hour. The last question will be at 12noon today. Winners who PM'd me yesterday, I'll be confirming that I received your information this afternoon when I ship out all the prizes. If you don't hear from me by 5pm PT today please PM me again.
How many full-time employees does Parallax have?