Propeller Mini
Kotobuki
Posts: 82
Hi again,
Well, I have decided that it is high time for me to learn how to use the prop. Got several questions though.
First, a lot of forum members have recommended that I start with the FLiP. That is a rather large DIP, and I like the smaller form factor of the Stamps. Would the prop Mini be compatible? Could I load Tachyon (I hope that I spelled that right...) on the Mini? My goal with this is to program a micro controller in FORTH, but I also want to learn SPIN and PASM as well.
Second, and I know that I could probably find this elsewhere, but what is the main differences in the Propeller 1 and 2? Are they backward compatible? If there should be a Propeller 3, would it be safe to assume that it would be compatible?
Lastly, is there an educationally oriented board to plug the Mini into that would be similar to the Stamp BOE? Also, can individual Props be ganged together to gain additional cores that would work together? I loved the concept of the Parallella board, but the Parallella community though dogged, is very small, and the designer/founder/main force behind the Parallella has left the community for a safe job at DARPA. Any new chips that are developed from the original used with the parallella (more cores, at least 64) will most likely be kept in the dark and unavailable to the community.
Your thoughts please!
Best,
J
Well, I have decided that it is high time for me to learn how to use the prop. Got several questions though.
First, a lot of forum members have recommended that I start with the FLiP. That is a rather large DIP, and I like the smaller form factor of the Stamps. Would the prop Mini be compatible? Could I load Tachyon (I hope that I spelled that right...) on the Mini? My goal with this is to program a micro controller in FORTH, but I also want to learn SPIN and PASM as well.
Second, and I know that I could probably find this elsewhere, but what is the main differences in the Propeller 1 and 2? Are they backward compatible? If there should be a Propeller 3, would it be safe to assume that it would be compatible?
Lastly, is there an educationally oriented board to plug the Mini into that would be similar to the Stamp BOE? Also, can individual Props be ganged together to gain additional cores that would work together? I loved the concept of the Parallella board, but the Parallella community though dogged, is very small, and the designer/founder/main force behind the Parallella has left the community for a safe job at DARPA. Any new chips that are developed from the original used with the parallella (more cores, at least 64) will most likely be kept in the dark and unavailable to the community.
Your thoughts please!
Best,
J
Comments
The mini:$24.99 + prop plug & power supply
Only has 19 IO pins (out of the propeller's 32)
It has NO USB. A prop plug is required to program the mini.
It requires a separate 6.5 to 12 VDC power supply
The Flip: $27.99
Has 32 IO pins (2 are used for the EEProm & 2 for communication/programming, 2 for user programmable LEDs)
No separate Power Supply is required when connected to the USB.
5-9 VDC required when not connected to USB.
There are no educational boards for these to plug into. The flip plugs into a breadboard, and there are a number of tutorials for it on the Learn site.
A full educational board with built in propeller is the activity board ($79) which has a number of devices and connections set up for education and practical application (such as 4 channel ADC, 2 channel DAC, SD card socket, earphone connection, XBee socket, servo headers, etc,)
The main difference is that the Propeller 1 is an existing product while the P2 is still in design.
Tom
The MINI is 700 mil wide, as opposed to the BS2 and FLIP which are 600 mil wide. That makes it's use to bread boards at this time unless you make a custom PC board to accept the footprint. I am not aware of anyone producing a PCB yet to accept a MINI for prototyping.
Both the MINI and FlIP will run Peter's Forth.
Because the P2 is not actually in silicon yet, and the development tools are still being developed, it's hard to say about compatibility. There are so many new instructions, and the P2 has analog capabilities, we will have to see.
I will probably start with the educational board for $79 USD.
Would I be able to load Tachyon on to it? And would code that I come up with for the educational board work with a FLiP that I would also get for robotics? I will be ordering this in May.
Thank you again for having patients with my questions.
Best,
J
Tachyon will load & work on it.
In general the code for the activity board would work on the Flip. However, code written for devices on the Activity Board (such as the ADC or SD) would not unless you added those devices to a Flip bread board.
Since the Activity Board has headers for servos and can supply both 5V and Vin to them, it is also very useful for robotics (and is in fact the board included in the ActivityBot kit.)
If you just buy the Activity Board, you will need a power supply if it is not connected via the USB port (for example for a roaming robot), I use the 5 AA cell holder with barrel jack - see the link below.
https://parallax.com/product/753-00007
Tom
P1's cannot be ganged as such, but a number of us have used multiple P1's in projects.
I am unsure of the footprints of the Flip, etc, for putting in proto boards. My P8XBlade will plug into a pair of 170 pin Solderless Breadboards (pic on my thread). I would expect you could do the same with the Flip, etc. This way also gives you extra area for prototyping too.
PropBasic is a very useful for learning PASM because it directly translates BASIC syntax to PASM code.
Agreed. The P8XBlade2 from Cluso is about as small, powerful, cheap, and flexible as a mini Propeller board could get. I use them and I love them.
But as a first board, there may be too many tiny jumper options to figure out and configure. Also, the faster clock will mean that certain video, serial, and IR applications may require a few magic numbers to be changed. All easy to do if you are already up-to-speed. But for your first foray into the P1, a standard board like the BoE may be a better choice.
Then order a bunch of P8XBlade2 boards!!
Thank you! I am going to do just that. I have had nothing but good experiences with Parallax products and support, and I will be using their Prop BOE to learn on. Then as you say, I will investigate other products.
Best,
J