Propeller Starter Kit - Buy or Skip?

Genetix

The Propeller Demo Board (32100) was referenced in the XBEE 802.15.4 Starter Kit (32450).

What else can I use it for?

mindrobots

Genetix wrote: »

The Propeller Demo Board (32100) was referenced in the XBEE 802.15.4 Starter Kit (32450).

What else can I use it for?

If you want to play with xbees, the Activity Board an Propeller Board of Education both have onboard sockets for an xbee. They also have more/different features than the demo board. The Board of Education has the built in vga like demo board. Both are wonderful learning and prototyping tools.

Sorry, misunderstood your question. The demoboard can be used for much experimenting an play. Exploring video, all pins are exposed, so you can add most features other boards havecwith a little work.

Publison

The Demo Board was one of the first evaluation boards that came out when the Propeller was introduced. Given that, most of the early drivers in the OBEX where written for this board. There are various VGA, Composite TV, Sound, PS2 Mouse, PS2 Keyboard and Microphone demos available for instant gratification.

Genetix

Looking over the documentation here Is what I found about the Demo Board:
Only 8 I/O pins (16 for both Activity and BOE)
No Servo Ports
No XBEE
No MicroSD
No A/D or D/A
Only 32K EEPROM (Others have 64K)

BOE also has Microphone and VGA port plus a 9V battery connector.

The others don't have video or PS/2 ports.

Genetix

I decided to buy the Propeller Starter Kit since it comes with manuals. Eventually I will get an Activity Board and a Prop BOE.
It's my understanding that activities for the Activity Board or Prop BOE can also be done on the Demo Board.
What if any code changes will I need to make especially with the C programs?

RossH

Genetix wrote: »

I decided to buy the Propeller Starter Kit since it comes with manuals. Eventually I will get an Activity Board and a Prop BOE.
It's my understanding that activities for the Activity Board or Prop BOE can also be done on the Demo Board.
What if any code changes will I need to make especially with the C programs?

I'm not familiar with the "Propeller Starter Kit", but if it uses the Demo board, you will not need to make any changes to run C programs - Catalina supports the Demo board "out of the box", and comes with compatible versions of many of the Parallax OBEX objects (video, keyboard, mouse etc).

Ross.

rjo__

Before you plug an XBEE into anything without an XBEE socket built into the board, read the XBEE documentation and implement a circuit that matches the Specs.
It is not a good idea to just match up the pins and voltages.

Genetix

I purchased a Wireless Kit from Radio Shack when they were too good to pass up. After reading the PE text I don't understand why use C when the Propeller can do is so powerful using Spin.
I've never learned Spin before but many of the commands are just like PBASIC. I can't wait to get my hands on a Prop and do things that the BS2 could never do.

rjo__

Spin is very natural… the best feature is the use of indentation to indicate code blocks. This can be a little hard to get used to, but it is beyond a doubt very helpful.
There are features in the Spin Tool to help in ordering your indentations. C is there so that people, who really don't want to use SPIN, have a nice place to go.
It is helpful at the University level and to convince developers to give the Propeller a spin(so to speak).

Steph Lindsay

Genetix wrote: »

I purchased a Wireless Kit from Radio Shack when they were too good to pass up. After reading the PE text I don't understand why use C when the Propeller can do is so powerful using Spin.
I've never learned Spin before but many of the commands are just like PBASIC. I can't wait to get my hands on a Prop and do things that the BS2 could never do.

Hi Genetix,

Getting to know the Propeller architecture through Spin programming will definitely serve you well in optimizing the performance of your Propeller applications.

If you purchase an Activity Board in the future, you might might want to take a look at the Propeller C Tutorials series written specifically for that board by the same author as the PE Kit Labs text. He also wrote a library called simpletools (among many others) that has functions closely matched to familiar PBASIC commands, including high, low, pause, freqout, rc_time, shift_in, shift_out, etc. That board is also included in the ActivityBot Robot Kit.

Our Propeller C Tutorials were written in response to customer requests, since many schools prefer C over an unknown single-product language, and C or one of its "offspring" is generally required for those continuing with computer or engineering studies in college.

I have enjoyed programming the Propeller with both Spin and our Propeller C Tutorials and libraries. I'm sure you will have fun either way!

Duane Degn

If you already know how to use C then you might want to consider using C on the Propeller. Otherwise, Spin is probably the easier route to take.

IMO, there's a lot more help available when you're using Spin.

Edit: You'll get help either way.

Genetix

I learned C a long time ago and I haven't used It In years. I still have my textbook and class notes though so I can review it. From what I remember though C is heavily dependent on libraries especially when interacting with hardware.
One of the things I especially like with the PE text is that Andy shows how to work with the Propeller at the hardware level which is perfect for someone who wants to venture into PASM.

I definitely plan on getting a PE Kit and eventually an Activity Bot.