Propeller ASC+

makarcz

Hi,

What do you guys think of the Propeller ASC+ board?
It is a bit intriguing to me.
Parallax still carries it, but the price seems steep.
I think the more cost effective solution is to buy QuickStart board and make your own adapter to interface Arduino shields.
Any particular reason why one would like to front $50 to have such a board on the bench?
Is there a good Propeller library equivalent that covers popular Arduino shields?

I am curious what is your opinion on this topic.

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Marek

msrobots

Sure you can build a own board, no magic behind that. The ASC+ board just fits the form factor and provides (I think) a ADC/(or DAC?) for analog voltages and some sort of protection for the Prop running at 3.6 volts, not 5 volts as most Arduinos and clones of.

The main point is the work Martin did to provide a C library with very useful C functions to use Arduino C examples on a propeller. Something like proparduino.lib or so.

And you can use that code with a ASC+ board or your own creation.

As for the $50 and the value of it, I think it depends on what you want to do with it. I personally like the Propeller because of the unusual concept behind it. It is different from 'normal' micro controllers, no interrupts but 8 cores running in parallel. I had hours of fun with it just using a breadboard and a PE kit.

Unfortunately I got hooked on it and have spend way more then just $50 over the last years. But for the fun I had and the chance to do some unconventional thinking and programming I do not regret any cent spend.

Enjoy!

Mike

geo_leeman

@makarcz, I used one of these when I wanted to quickly throw together a project using shield that had some ADCs on it that I had already designed for Arduino. I had the firmware for the ADCs in SPIN as well. The SD card was also handy for that project. Unless you want to use some existing hardware with the right form factor, QuickStart may be a more economical board, especially if want want a few kicking around. I'd agree with Mike though, we all end up spending way over $50 and it's just what the application is.

hatallica

msrobots wrote: »

As for the $50 and the value of it, I think it depends on what you want to do with it.

+1

ASC+ seems to make sense if: 1) you like the shield concept; 2) you like the Propeller concept; and 3) you want a known-good solution that is supported.

For the comparison that you presented:
ASC+ = $50 ready to go, right out of the box. Includes MCP3208 ADC.
Quickstart = $35 + adapter that you design and build. Includes basic HMI (touch pads and LEDs).

It looks like there are shields available that have screw terminal breakouts ... for about $15. So, nothing gained there in terms of value.