Propeller on a breadboard

David Betz

I just tried building the circuit on page 17 of the Propeller manual and the PC is not able to detect the Propeller chip. In addition to what is pictured on page 17, I also connected a bypass capacitor between pins 9 and 12 of the Propeller chip. Do I also need a bypass capacitor between pins 29 and 32? Is there anything else I need to add beyond what is shown on page 17? I'm guessing that I may also need a bypass capacitor between pins 4 and 8 of the EEPROM. Would that capacitor being missing cause the problem with detecting the Propeller?

Heater.

I hope you have connected pins 32 and 29 (VDD and VSS). We often read here that chips get damaged if not. When I first ever connected up a DIP Prop I did not have a crystal or EEPROM. The Prop Tool can detect and program it without either.We will assume that you have done the usual checks for shorts and power being in the right places.

David Betz

Heater. wrote: »

I hope you have connected pins 32 and 29 (VDD and VSS). We often read here that chips get damaged if not. When I first ever connected up a DIP Prop I did not have a crystal or EEPROM. The Prop Tool can detect and program it without either.We will assume that you have done the usual checks for shorts and power being in the right places.

Thanks for your help. I had initially neglected to connect pins 29 and 32 but my chip was saved by the fact that the power wasn't connected at all because of a break in the power rails. I didn't realize that the breadboard power rails weren't connected in the middle of the breadboard. When I bridged the power rails between the two sides my Propeller was detected and my LED flashing program started working. Now I just need to connect my Spark Core Wi-Fi module to the Propeller and see if I can talk to it over the net!

Duane C. Johnson

Hi David;

David Betz wrote: »

When I bridged the power rails between the two sides my Propeller was detected and my LED flashing program started working.

I'm missing something?
So, if the Prop runs the flashing program the "PropPlug" must have been detected.

Are you using a terminal program such as "TeraTerm" like I do?
Instead of the PropTool internal terminal?

The problem may be that the external terminals don't automatically disconnect when you switch back to the PropTool. This causes PropTool to be unable to detect the Prop. Stands to reason because the terminal is still connected.

The solution is to "Disconnect" the terminal when going to PropTool, PropGCC, BST, or other Prop programmer.
When done just have the terminal reconnect.

BTW, the internal PropTerminal does automatically connect and disconnect. Although PropTerminal is not nearly as sophisticated as the VT-100 terminal emulators. Don't get me wrong, PropTerminal is a nice simple stripped down terminal program.

Duane J

David Betz

Duane C. Johnson wrote: »

Hi David;
I'm missing something?
So, if the Prop runs the flashing program the "PropPlug" must have been detected.

Are you using a terminal program such as "TeraTerm" like I do?
Instead of the PropTool internal terminal?

The problem may be that the external terminals don't automatically disconnect when you switch back to the PropTool. This causes PropTool to be unable to detect the Prop. Stands to reason because the terminal is still connected.

The solution is to "Disconnect" the terminal when going to PropTool, PropGCC, BST, or other Prop programmer.
When done just have the terminal reconnect.

BTW, the internal PropTerminal does automatically connect and disconnect. Although PropTerminal is not nearly as sophisticated as the VT-100 terminal emulators. Don't get me wrong, PropTerminal is a nice simple stripped down terminal program.

Duane J

Sorry, I'm not using the PropTool or the PropTerminal. I'm using PropGCC and propeller-load. Also, once I bridged the power rails on my breadboard everything started working including PropPlug detection as well as program loading and EEPROM programming. I guess my problem was not knowing that the power rails weren't actually connected down the entire length of the breadboard. There was a break in the middle that I didn't know about. Once I bridged that, everything started working. So I guess this message was a false alarm. My problem was due to my lack of understanding of how the breadboard was constructed.

Thanks,
David

Publison

Maybe you should have watched Jessica's Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Q5s9AhCR0

Start watching a 3:00..

Jim

David Betz

Publison wrote: »

Maybe you should have watched Jessica's Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Q5s9AhCR0

Start watching a 3:00..

Jim

Nice presentation. Jessica always does a nice job. You're right, if I had watched that I would have known about the breaks in the power rails. Actually, that was indicated by the red stripe on the breadboard she was using. Mine didn't have any color markings.