Propeller Laptop

AdamantiumOgre

Hi everyone.

I'm new to Ihe Propeller and the hardware side in general. I'm a software veteran of about 27 years. Focus has been mostly C and Java, no assembler. Got interested in the hardware side and am self taught in thart arena but still a major noob. Always interested in a challenge.

I'm interested in retro computing so I pre-ordered Vince Briel's A1 ten Apple 1 board, noticed the propeller as part of the config and became enamored with that too. I picked up the Propeller Education kit, but probably should have piecemealed it, because I could have downloaded the manual and picked up the parts individually cheaper. Oh well live and learn.Prior to that I had found Cluso's old website and attempted to purchase a Tri Blade, only to find out he doesn't have it made anymore.

My first computer was Vic 20 so I want to emulate that first. Should be pretty easy because there are multiple basic interpreters out there. The Vic was extremely unusable because of the limited memory, but that is easily fixable.

But this got me thinking,I don't want to edit and upload my programsfrom a windows machine. What fun is that. I could hook up a modern monitor or tv, A PS2 keyboard, SD RAM ccard, etc, I have. a Dell Latitude C840 which is so old that I couldn't get a version of linux to run on it. OK,I was being unrealistic because I was trying to get ubuntu on it.

I figure that I will use this for generic propeller projects, so I want to get a config goinh for this and the use it for propeller software projects. With that in mind I feel like I need a minimum of 3 propellers. Im guessing that i will need at least 1 propeller to deal with peripherals. Here is what peripherals it has + what i need. I know that these things could end up on about any cog, so cog numbers are here for illustrative purposes.

Cog 0 - Need overall system controller/kernal.
Cog 1- Has display - This is probably the biggest wildcard. Is it possible to get this running without a display board? Remember I'm looking at text mode retro computing, so speed and graphics are not a major concern. Assuming most displays have a VGA mode, This one touts SVGA mode.
Cog 2 -Has mouse pad and stick. Don'thave to enable/use these. Perfectly willing to modify the cas to use a PS2 mouse,
But would like to get opinion regarding using the native hardware.
Cog 3 -Keyboard. Have to get the native one going. Native Display and keyboard are deal breakers. If Icant get them going this project is sunk.
Cog4 - Mass Storage SD card. Not even going to try the HDD. Read an article on that an it seems like a huge waste of time and I can buy SD cards cheaper and lighter. It has a CD and a floppy, but not interested unless super easy, but guessing not.
Cog 5 -Wired network. Nice to have
Cog 6 - either need wired or wireless. This would be the WIFI cog.
Cog 7 - USB ports. This also hasa serial and parrallel port. Not worried about these. Connection from Windows appears to be USB Interface.

Propeller 2
Cog 0 - glue codeto Kernal
Cog 1 - Webserver.

The remaining Cogs wouldd be used for programs.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

AO

Mike Green

This has already been done ... several years ago ... so you've got a lot of existing code to draw on. Look in the Propeller Exchange for the Spin objects to use and/or modify. The Parallax Semiconductor site has application notes with information on SD card drivers as well. Both NTSC/PAL video displays and VGA displays in various sizes have been used. There are several PS/2 mouse drivers and PS/2 keyboard drivers, one that combines both in one cog to save cogs. There are several versions of PC-compatible SD card drivers. Look in the Spinneret section of these forums for wired network drivers. There's also a webserver written mostly in Forth (Tachyon Forth) that's fairly new. There are USB drivers for mass storage devices and some Human Interface Devices, but USB is quite complex and pretty much needs its own Propeller. There was an operating system (Sphinx) written by Michael Parks that includes a native Spin compiler / assembler. There's a simple editor included that needs to be replaced and it's really a text-only system, but it's meant to use a single Propeller. With at least two, you could move the keyboard / mouse I/O and display into the 2nd Propeller mostly to free up the memory needed for the display buffer. There's another operating system called Spinix that's meant to feel more like Unix.

FemtoBasic is a simple, fairly slow Basic interpreter with a lot of variations for different hardware configurations. It can be used stand-alone with a PS/2 keyboard and either video or VGA display with a PC-compatible SD card for storing data and programs.

blittled

Also check out https://www.tindie.com/stores/Propellerpowered/category/computers/ which has a retro based computer running basic. The developer is a big C64 fan so it has the look of a C64 when started up .

AdamantiumOgre

Thanks guys. Very helpful. Another question. What d you do for a one off project? Just use rhe breadboard, burrn a one off PCB, usea a Parralax or one of cluso's boards?

Thanks in advance

AO

Mike Green

It depends on the project and its needs. You can use the Propeller USB Project Board. You can use the QuickStart Board with a Protoboard for Quickstart piggybacked on top. You can use a Propeller Backpack or Spinneret with the blank daughterboard on top. You can also use any of the boards with a little breadboard on top if you clip the leads of the components and wires so they lay flat on the breadboard and are routed with some thought so it's easy to assemble. You can use hot glue to tack the wires and components down, but you have to be careful not to get it in the holes themselves. Others have nice boards too. Use those if they're a better fit for your project's needs.

prof_braino

You could also put Propforth on a demo board, and and add an SD slot. You could add a one or more additional props using MCS.

A better way might be to use your android phone or table as user interface, as shown in the little robot project.

But honestly, I've found I really can't do much development in the field, I'm too used to having a real PC set up at a real desk. The stand alone seems to fit best as the user interface, but not for development.

AdamantiumOgre

Sorry to ask a stupid questiom, but what is MCS?

kuroneko

AdamantiumOgre wrote: »

Sorry to ask a stupid questiom, but what is MCS?

It's a multi channel serial link to connect propeller chips. AFAIK it's PropForth specific.