Advice (help) needed for VGA project
Flitch
Posts: 4
Hello everyone,
My name is Filip and i am an electrical engineering student from Croatia. I have recently started working with Propeller chip, which impressed me with its eight cores and video generating posibilities. I am currently working on a Prop project and i would like to get some comunity advices about how to aproach the project and how to realize it.
My project is a simple relay controll with VGA human interfacing.
I am using:
LQFP propeller
15' VGA screen (sucssesufuly driven by VGA_Hi_Res_driver.spin at 800x600 resolution)
2 Axis Analogue 5 Pin Thumb Joystick Module with button (for input)
I2C IO EXPANDER (40 I/O ports to controll 40 relays) PCA9698DGG
8 Channel 5V Relay board (5 pieces)
I also have some memory chips for more complex drivers
4 MB spi FLASH (winbond W25Q32BV )
1 MB spi SRAM (microchip 23LC1024)
The idea is to make a plexiglass console with VGA LCD inside and controll joystick mounted on it's case.
Joystick would be used to move "cursor" around icons of conected devices, and once joystick button is pressed, coursor would move to other frame (one on right) where buttons for controling desired device (relay) will be located (it will mostly be 2 buttons: "On" and "Off", but in some cases more, ie. 5 difrent preprogramed pwm pulses for led diming or vent controll)
I would like to hear your thoughts on how to aproac this project, especialy for VGA driver.
I was thinking about sprites driver, with sprites as buttons or socket icons and whatever i need, just then i dont know how to design a coursor.
Is there such driver, will all the sprites fit in prop, do i need to use external flash, or even sram, how should coursor work (highlighting single sprite, or smth else), and anything you guys may add as experienced prop users.
Any help or critic is wellcome,
Filip
pictures of: Relay board, coursor controll joystick and idea of screen setup
My name is Filip and i am an electrical engineering student from Croatia. I have recently started working with Propeller chip, which impressed me with its eight cores and video generating posibilities. I am currently working on a Prop project and i would like to get some comunity advices about how to aproach the project and how to realize it.
My project is a simple relay controll with VGA human interfacing.
I am using:
LQFP propeller
15' VGA screen (sucssesufuly driven by VGA_Hi_Res_driver.spin at 800x600 resolution)
2 Axis Analogue 5 Pin Thumb Joystick Module with button (for input)
I2C IO EXPANDER (40 I/O ports to controll 40 relays) PCA9698DGG
8 Channel 5V Relay board (5 pieces)
I also have some memory chips for more complex drivers
4 MB spi FLASH (winbond W25Q32BV )
1 MB spi SRAM (microchip 23LC1024)
The idea is to make a plexiglass console with VGA LCD inside and controll joystick mounted on it's case.
Joystick would be used to move "cursor" around icons of conected devices, and once joystick button is pressed, coursor would move to other frame (one on right) where buttons for controling desired device (relay) will be located (it will mostly be 2 buttons: "On" and "Off", but in some cases more, ie. 5 difrent preprogramed pwm pulses for led diming or vent controll)
I would like to hear your thoughts on how to aproac this project, especialy for VGA driver.
I was thinking about sprites driver, with sprites as buttons or socket icons and whatever i need, just then i dont know how to design a coursor.
Is there such driver, will all the sprites fit in prop, do i need to use external flash, or even sram, how should coursor work (highlighting single sprite, or smth else), and anything you guys may add as experienced prop users.
Any help or critic is wellcome,
Filip
pictures of: Relay board, coursor controll joystick and idea of screen setup
Comments
That sounds like an interesting project.
Everything you want to do should be doable with the propeller.
I don't know if you have enough code space to use the SD card object, but that would make creating the icons easier to create on a PC and then load into the propeller.
Good luck with your project.
Bean
Hi Filip,
Please see this link http://www.savagecircuits.com/showthread.php?646-Test-of-a-Sain-Smart-8-Relay-Module-Board-with-an-Arduino-Uno-Board&highlight=relay
For Sain Smart 8 Relay Module Board part number 20-018-102 ignore all the technical information at www.sainsmart.com/arduino-compatibles-1/relay/8-channel-dc-5v-relay-module-for-arduino-pic-arm-dsp-avr-msp430-ttl-logic-1.html it is wrong.
To learn how to use this board, and how it works go to this link; http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/ArduinoPower
*** Warning: Make sure you understand the correct operation of the Pins labeled "GND VCC JD-VCC" or you will damage your micro-controller board ***
You should not have any jumpers on the pins labeled "GND VCC JD-VCC":
To supply power to the mechanical relays on the board, connect the plus side of a +5V dc supply to the JD-VCC pin, and the ground of the power supply to the GND pin.
Connect +3.3V from your Propeller Board to the VCC input for the opto-isolators on the relay board, it is the "Vcc" pin located next to the "IN1" through "IN8" pins.
Thx alot for warning about relay boards and saving my valuable prop chip
You might try looking for VisualSpin, which gives you a text based VGA GUI that you can design on a PC and then program to Prop...
Remember though that the Propeller only has 32K of RAM so graphics is limited and programs also use this space. Colored text is much simpler and doesn't use as much memory.
thx for VisualSpin refrence, i didnt know for that i will try it as soon as posible
(btw i am guy from croatia who bought your samsung 4.3 lcd, didnt get the chance to play with it yet, but it works)
@Genetix
i dont want to use keyboard or mouse, i want all my human interfacing to be done by that joyistick i attacked in image, and realy its all i need, (up,down, left,right, and button)
i do have flash memory chip (4 MB) and sd card available, altho i dont think i realy need it since my project will have same screen all the time, only thing that will change is location of coursor
i would make it text based, just i dont have idea how to present coursor then, was thinking about inverting text colors
I believe this is it:
http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/Programming/VisualSpin/VisualSpin.htm
But, if you're interested in it, let me know and I'll post it.