Parallax needs samples of your Propeller commercial products
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,386
Hey there,
We are currently building a display in our office to showcase products our customers have made with the Propeller Multicore. In fact, our office is currently being transformed from a 90's era cubicle farm to a brand new open workspace [no worries here - your Parallax engineers will still have office isolation as needed]. I am planning a glass case display that will feature PCBs (or finished products) produced by our customers. Each product will sit on an acrylic stand and have a brief explanation of the application and company.
We don't know about all of the Propeller design-ins out there, as we don't track them closely. So, I'm putting out a call here to see if you would be willing to share your product with Parallax for use in our display.
This is a small part in properly presenting our commercial results more completely. Anybody help me out here?
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
We are currently building a display in our office to showcase products our customers have made with the Propeller Multicore. In fact, our office is currently being transformed from a 90's era cubicle farm to a brand new open workspace [no worries here - your Parallax engineers will still have office isolation as needed]. I am planning a glass case display that will feature PCBs (or finished products) produced by our customers. Each product will sit on an acrylic stand and have a brief explanation of the application and company.
We don't know about all of the Propeller design-ins out there, as we don't track them closely. So, I'm putting out a call here to see if you would be willing to share your product with Parallax for use in our display.
This is a small part in properly presenting our commercial results more completely. Anybody help me out here?
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Comments
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/123378-My-latest-creation...-thanks-to-everybody-on-here!
Jim
If I had to characterize the kinds of products that use Propeller I'd generally define them as robotics, renewable energy, medical (non-FDA), human interface terminals, CNC/3D printing controls, entertainment, and educational.
Ken Gracey
Absolutely. I'm looking for products which had some commercial success and here's a bit of clarification:
- 100s or thousands of units sold. Propellers are often used in very expensive products, produced in low volume, so I wouldn't omit a low-volume product.
- Not a board-level, development tool. While these are important for us, most end-use applications are not programmed by the customer like development boards - firmware might be loaded [and sometimes updated by user/manufacturer] but programming isn't part of using the product (unless there was some user interface for configuration, like a Hoverfly board, a POS terminal with RFID, etc.). Some commercial products teeter on requiring technical ability, I admit.
- Specific products that come to mind include 3D printer/CNC controllers, solar system and renewable energy (energy generation, rainwater capture) controllers, truck fuel management systems, medical devices, lighting and motor control applications (Jonny Mac's Disneyland efforts), etc.
Ken GraceyParallax Inc.
http://www.parallax.com/product/31316
May have to get JonnyMac to qualify units sold.
Jim
Sorry to leave you dangling. I deleted my question looking for "clarification" after seeing a post above.
Thanks for further clarification.
Sure they do. Thanks again, Jim! I'll get one from inventory.
Ken Gracey
Are you aware of Ben Heck's pinball machine controller board that uses a Prop for controlling the DMD and playing sounds/music? It's going to be in a production pinball machine soon, here's a link to the page about the machine: http://www.spookypinball.com/games-swag/
And here's a link to his video list that often shows the prototype in action: http://www.youtube.com/user/benheckdotcom/videos?shelf_id=3&tag_id=UCgeStlUnitobx8QcSxTw2aQ.3.pinball&view=46&sort=dd
And here's a pic of the board: http://longhornengineer.com/2014/01/21/pinheck-pinball-system-rev4-in-testing/
Parker (Longhorn Engineer) also does a bunch of prop based boards, you can check his other blog posts.
Possibly, because they aren't for sale yet...
Roy, that's the most interesting thing I've seen all week. As suspected, I was totally unaware of Ben's project. Last time I met with him was in a hotel lobby in Santa Clara. He opened up a suitcase and exposed a mini 3D printer - coolest thing I'd seen at the time. Heck, you know I'm going to have to order one of those pinball machines. Thanks a bunch for sharing this one - might be low volume, but it's certainly a high profile, productive application around the Propeller!
I have two e-mails from you about the DE2-115 and other stuff. I promise to get to them shortly. I've been sorta wound up around a lot of product issues.
Ken Gracey
http://www.openstomp.com/frontpage/
lhttp://www.openstomp.com/technical_specs.html
The OpenStompTM Coyote-1 is an open source audio effects processor built for guitar players. With the Coyote-1 you can develop custom audio effects in software (like distortion, echo, chorus etc.), mix multiple effects to build “patches”, and exchange those effects and patches with the OpenStomp community.
re: Doesn't seem to be available anymore though.
Eric seems to have disappeared. Too bad. Great product. He probably sill has a bunch of them. I'm not sure if Ken is displaying what you can currently purchase as a commercial Propeller chip product or if he's displaying the type's of commercial products that have been made.
Ken Gracey
Yet we still need more - I'd like to have about 100 products in this display.
Who's holding out?
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
Yes, Kwabbers that'd be fantastic. It shall be prominently displayed.
Ken Gracey
Well, anyway, I can send another black CMUcam4 model.
Haven't had the time lately.
Thanks,
Ken Gracey
I'm sure this would also qualify:
http://benezan-electronics.de/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1_4&products_id=5&language=en
http://benezan-electronics.de/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1_4&products_id=61&language=en
both have been sold >1000 times.
I also have some nice products unter development. But I think they don't count as commercial until you can actually buy them.
Hallo MannArbeiten!
Die von Ihnen genannte Produkt ist perfekt und es die Anforderungen von dem, was ich suche erf
No, not at all. I frequently have german customers who make more mistakes and are more difficult to understand.
And yes, of course, I could send you some. You'll hear from me soon.
This is the kick I needed. I still owe you a skydogcon badge. I figured if I didn't ship it before defcon I could give it to Jessica in person!
I am curious for the link to the virtual version of this exhibition
Not everybody can afford a trip to Parallax headquarters.
Markus
We're just about to assemble it. To be honest, I was focusing on a display in our office but as you point out that's silly. We'll put all the applications on-line, too.
Give me 30 days, please. We've got another big project underway that finishes the second week of August. After that I'll be able to return to this project.
Ken Gracey
No, I haven't. I already have two complete gaming systems and don't want to overload the presentation with retro computing. We have LameStation and Hydra in the presentation, already. Unless, of course, we can have one million retro gamers buying those systems. There's no need to read into my comments the wrong way - without the hobbyist we wouldn't have Propeller in the first place.
Ken Gracey
If you get loaded up with enough other stuff and can find balance, reconsider his Replica 1.
Vince was given permission from Steve Wozniak himself to replicate this famous machine.
Jeff
http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=25
I think it would good for Vince to be represented as he's used the Propeller in quite a few of his projects.
Here is a partial list:
1. Electron Microscope X-Y table controller that includes interface to touch screen. It also interfaces to a camera, takes a picture of the target and displays it on the touchscreen. The touchscreen or trackball can be used to locate a target under high magnification (20,000+).
2. A sensor/display board for a weight lifting application. Fourteen IR sensors track a barbell being lifted and display rep, velocity and power of the lift on a display board, using 1" display digits. This is now being sold to colleges and the military for their work-out rooms.
3. Commercial elevator door qualification tester. Used by technicians to measure distance and velocity of elevator door operation. Interfaces to a PC using USB to provide charts and data.
4. Helicopter tail-rotor transmission qualification tester. This board is used to control a 40HP electric motor and an 80HP Dynomometer to qualify a commercial helicopter tail-rotor after it is rebuilt. The Dynomometer is normally used to test engine performance. In this case it is used to provide a specified torque to the tail rotor while it is being run by the electric motor. The board interfaces to a PC using USB and provides on-screen performance charting and output of an Excel file to show proof of performance. The board senses rpm of the motor and the dyno, controls the speed of the motor and the torque of the dyno and senses temperature of the transmission and other parameters.
5. 3D printer heated table controller. This board controls the current going to a number of power resistors to heat a glass table for use by a 3D printer. It senses the temperature and controls it very accurately. I'm using it with an mBot 3D printer that comes without a heated table. Makes a big improvement in the printing.
I have several other products, but this is a start. Please let me know if you're interested in having any of these.
Jim