3 Propellers, Micromite, and an Epruino board = Self contained multi-system.
Oldbitcollector (Jeff)
Posts: 8,091
So what started out as a little humor on the Propellerpowered forums about running a terminal on top of a terminal on top of a system has become a multi-system reality...
A quick video from our DIY meeting tonight.
[video=youtube_share;x4CWS-emLyU]
A quick video from our DIY meeting tonight.
[video=youtube_share;x4CWS-emLyU]
Comments
I hope you can work a MicroPython system into that set up soon.
Edit: You really should have titled this thread: "3 Propellers, Micromite, and an Epruino board = Self contained multi-system"
Gordon Williams deserves credit for creating the wonderful Espruino system.
Lower left corner is one of Jeff's (OldBitCollector - OBC) PropellerPowered PEB boards with a MuP board for the Micromite from Australia installed mezzanine style (it is obscuring the DIP40 Propeller chip on Jeff's board)
These two boards combine to give you the Propeller Terminal and MicroMite combination for a completely programmable stand-alone MMBASIC environment. This is a fun setup to play with in its own right....
...but wait, there were extra I/O pins on that Propeller Terminal..... (specifically, there are enough extra I/O pins to connect up to FOUR additional target systems via simple serial connections - up to 115,200 baud)
Above the PEB is a Parallax QuickStart running PropForth.
To the right of the PEB is another QuickStart running Tachyon
To the right of that is an Olimex board with an STM32 ARM chip running Espruino (and yes, Gordon deserves credit for creating that wonderful system and releasing it to the world). This was going to be an STM32F4 Discovery but it doesn't have mounting holes.....I don't have an official Espruino board yet.
In the middle is another MuP with a PIC loaded with uMite BASIC - just in case you want to play Umite to uMite (they do quick and easy I2C slave functions)
The target systems are certainly a mix and match arrangement - one of the QuickStarts could be loaded with FemtoBasic or PropBasic. Really anything that talks serial can be connected and have a VT100 session. Need to program a XBee or a serial to IP device? Should be able to hook it up and talk to it.
Then, of course, there's a good amount of breadboard space since the whole purpose of this is to provide an experimenter/developer platform for the embedded systems. I see it migrating to my workbench once the basic development is completed.
Once you get everything hooked together, the enhanced Propeller Terminal software on the PEB becomes your enhanced serial terminal (VT100) to all of these target systems. The uMite mounted mezzanine style on the PEB can be programmed in MMBASIC for experimenting/development work OR it can be used to edit ANY source files which can be saved to the Propeller connected SD card. The Propeller Terminal is then able to send those files as simple text transfers (think "Pasting" into a TeraTerm or puTTY window). Many of the little development boards running interactive languages are more than happy to accept a stream of characters across their serial port for programming purposes.
And yes, MicroPython will be there as soon as it's available.
It's kinda rough around the edges and a bit of a funky setup but it works and it's fun to play with!
(I'm also planning on hooking one of the target connections up to the console port of a Raspberry Pi - which sort of brings this full circle in hooking it up to a "general purpose" computer.)
I've always though a Propeller as a VT100 terminal for a Pi was a great idea.
Move the two jumpers under the EEPROM on the PEB, and then plug the RasPi in. Hardest part you should have is mounting.
Heater,
Corrected name in title.. I couldn't find the proper spelling of that product late last night..
I know, I just need to see which pair of pins I'll need to talk across....and find the default settings for the Pi console. Just a little research I may be able to complete while "working".
You realize then the next step is to provide USB connections from the PI back to any of the target systems that can support them. Which should make for lots of fun confusion and interfacing opportunities!!
Absolutely no point in this type of connection that jumps out at you. But then if I don't try it, I'll never know for sure if there is a point or some interesting opportunity being missed. It's just an interesting circular connection opportunity.
If you think of the RasPi as the central system instead of the PEB, then yes, you are right, the RaspPi elimates the need for the Propeller acting as a terminal.
I tend to look at the RasPi the other way, as a cheap, multifunction mass-storage, USB, Internet accessory for my Propeller.
(and besides.. the Propeller boots faster..)
In the end this is all sillyness, and done as interesting fun.
<EVIL LAUGHTER>We need to figure out how to use Python to convert USB devices on the RasPi to I2C avaible devices on the Propeller/Micromite.</EVIL LAUGHTER>
Does FORTH speak I2C?
Do ducks quack?
So we can have the Prop as an I2C slave presenting itself to the target systems...and also the RasPi presenting itself and services to the target systems.
This is getting silly!!
So modes 1 and 3 could just as easily be used to talk to the Propeller running FORTH.
Add a couple more communication lines to the I2C channel and you've got graphics in FORTH. I love this..
Silly, nah.. ok, maybe.. Perhaps the thread title should be: 3 Propellers, a Micromite and an Epruino walk into a bar...
That other micromite on the center of your board could become a serial in/out(console) to 2 serial in/out with a simple I2C control to switch ports.. $3.66 serial switcher.
Valid points re: the Pi. At the time I thought a VGA Propeller terminal for a Pi was a good idea, two years ago, there were no HDMI monitors in our office, only VGA.
Today we have made progress, now there is one HDMI monitor! So the idea appeals very slightly less.
There is another major point, a terminal connected to the Pi serial console port can be very convenient sometimes.
To quote one of my heroes, "Did we say it was over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"