Basic Stamp Odds & Ends
microcontrolleruser
Posts: 1,194
Have about three questions. Here's the first one.
This is for a Stamp DIP or OEM on a breadboard not a dev board like Homework board.
If you add outputs, inputs, keypad and an LCD what do you have?
Seems like it's a foundation for doing more experiments. A little system or workstation.
Book I'm using is having you learn to build those things.
I know Parallax boards use Terminal in place of LCD more or less.
This is 90's and early 2000's approach. I know things are shuffled around a little with new packages now.
Edit. Development Platform?
This is for a Stamp DIP or OEM on a breadboard not a dev board like Homework board.
If you add outputs, inputs, keypad and an LCD what do you have?
Seems like it's a foundation for doing more experiments. A little system or workstation.
Book I'm using is having you learn to build those things.
I know Parallax boards use Terminal in place of LCD more or less.
This is 90's and early 2000's approach. I know things are shuffled around a little with new packages now.
Edit. Development Platform?
Comments
You could certainly do the same sort of thing with a Stamp module or OEM Stamp on a breadboard, but it would be more awkward and you would have to have a PC to compile PBasic source code and download it to the Stamp. This is not something that you're going to be able to use without a PC.
eBay has a variety of "microcomputer training kit" items for about $130 for various vintage microprocessors like the 8051, 6502, 8080, 6809, Z-80, all with the same sort of LED display, keypad, memory. You enter very small programs in hex with the keypad and probably debug them with a 'monitor' program that comes in ROM.
Let me throw this at you.
Later in the book he covers:Analog to Digital Conversion, Radio transmitters and receivers,EEPROM data memory and interrupts.
Now. What do you have?
How about a control system? Edit.A 'controller' from micro 'controller'?
A complex control system.
More powerful. More control.Edit. So the book goes from simple to complex controllers.
How about that?
If you want to use a particular textbook and go through it in detail, you probably need to use the same system that the author is using. That doesn’t mean that it’s better than some other system, just that it’s the same and what the text’s based on.
Process Control and Earth Measurements were wonderful tutorials, too.
Ken Gracey
Mike
I've found my focus and I ain't letting go of it! No! No! No!
"If you want to use a particular textbook and go through it in detail, you probably need to use the same system that the author is using. "
This book is right down the middle. That kind of setup was how everybody did it. Look at a 2004 or 2005 Parallax catalog.
Adding new stuff to it later is fine.Right now. Just want to learn the basics.
Ken
Good tip on the Earth Meausurements. Sounds a lot like CCS's Sensors's kit.They are the Parallax of PIC C. Or close.
You know old PIC hardware and software in your warehouse make good Christmas gifts? Cheap too.
Okay. Coming up next. The next question.
We don't have any old PIC hardware or software in our warehouse. If you're talking about the BASIC Stamp, it's still getting discovered by people. While the product concept could be considered old, the hardware in the warehouse is brand new!
But let's be serious for a moment. We can't treat the BASIC Stamp as our newest flagship. BlocklyProp with the Propeller takes it's place very well for all of our customers, especially with the FLiP. If I could have seen what we offer today (for the price we offer it at) way back then I'd truly be amazed at how things have progressed.
You might be interested in knowing that I'd love to release the BS2 as a new product with an updated theme. On my desk in Rocklin is a blue "Board of Education WX" with an A/D, socket for XBee/WX module and USB power supply. It's a fantastic-looking board, but we really didn't agree internally on whether to proceed with the product. The reality is that we've been short-staffed during the P2 development, and releasing an updated BS2 line with a Board of Education WX could have only been accomplished if we didn't do the BlocklyProp line.
I still like the concept of a BS2 new release. The module would've been done on a blue PCB, price dropped, maybe even open-sourced. Who knows? For now, though, that effort remains moth-balled.
There's your sneak look into Parallax for the weekend.
Ken Gracey
"We don't have any old PIC hardware or software in our warehouse"
Okay. The set of Basic Stamps makes a nice gift.
If you surprise me with one of those I will make sure you get what I've given you every year this year for Christmas too.
That promise is written in stone!
You can take that to the bank!
"There's your sneak look into Parallax for the weekend."
Thank you. You're just too good to me!
Well.Back to the Odds and Ends questions in a little bit.
DJ
Move on up the Microchip PIC ladder to base it on.
Latest 18F with enough memory to use C. Plus a blizzard of peripherals and new features. Bette memory addressing is a biggie.
Enough to keep a little Stamp user busy for decades.
Could throw out the B for Basic and make it a C Stamp.
'Introducing the new Parallax CS4 Extreme Dominator .' If that is not tough enough use a 32bit.
I sense another consulting fee that I'll never see a dime for.
I and a dedicated group of even stranger people, are trying to get the inheritors of the Netduino line to release an updated Mini.
For my part I'm trying to get them to find me more of the little guys.....
Sort of the entire purpose of a BASIC Stamp is to speak PBASIC. A C Stamp would just be a one-cogged propeller Flip. I for one would never cripple a prop to only be able to use one cog, if it were possible!
Hello!
Don't disparage the little guy, there is the Prop Mini. I'm not sure just how different it is but it certainly comes close to what you're thinking of.
Does anyone besides me remember the ideas behind Tiny BASIC? It was an integer BASIC found on a variety of microcontrollers. This includes an I8051 family member, and a family member for the Z8. It also includes one from the National family of oddball controllers created after the popularity of the I8080 got spun up. And ideas behind it led to the machine code for it becoming available on a whole big crowd of processors.
It definitely was not the basis behind PropBASIC for the Prop but I suspect people are getting the general idea from my statement.
---
And this message is sponsored by the individuals who are setting up a monument to Alliance Fighters on Naboo.
Parallax could use Microchips 'Top Gun' PIC32MZ Family chips.
See Page 2 'High Performance' Oooh!
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/30009904S.pdf
Apply the Parallax massaging of the device into Parallax programming.
Could have a Basic and C interpreter/compiler.
C has been smoothed out since the Stamps beginning days so that is as easy to use as Basic.
These PIC32 MZ's are probably 100pin PIM's so Parallax could make their Dev boards in their style to fit them
I will go fantasize about spending the money from ANOTHER consulting fee I won't get dollar one for.
Parallax produces own microcontrollers and will retire the basic stamp when they have used up their existing stock of chips.
With fastspin you have now a compiler for spin and freebasic compatible basic that even supports basic C and you can even mix spin, basic and C in one program by using objects.
The compiler produces code for P1 and P2 so you have 2 powerful successors to the Stamp.
There is also a program converting propgcc for P1 output into P2 assembler, so you can right now produce code for the P1 and the upcoming P2 with gcc. @DavidZemon has even his C++ build system with CMAKE running the first stuff on a P2 EVAL.
So please explain to me why Parallax should sell microchip processors when they produce Parallax processors by them self?
There is actual a Basic, a Spin, a Spin2, 2 C compiler, a Forth and Pasm1/Pasm2 available for P1 and P2. There are also 2(3?) IDEs available, all cross platform between Linux, mac and windows.
Why should Parallax massage software and documentation to sell microchip chips when they can massage software and documentation to sell parallax chips?
curious,
Mike
Actually Mike that's not the whole point. I strongly suspect that Parallax will indeed end the Stamp line when Microchip does end its matching micro line. (Leaving out EOL orders in where the interested companies can buyout the entire line of a part number to complete a series of them.) And as for this thread, I suspect that the author is busy massaging his ego.
For example, the Stamp One is still listed, while the OEM BS1[ kit has been officially discontinued I believe that the parts are still available and the documentation certainly is. And most of us are good at wiring such parts together therefore we can build our own.
And the decidedly strange part is that parts kit for the OEM BS2 is also available, but the OEM BS2 was discontinued before the other one. And ideally the documentation should be someplace.
And indeed there's a veritable cluster of items available for the Prop and indeed for the P2 there's a good number of items as well. So let's see where this thread goes shall we?
---
And this thread is sponsored by KDY builders of practically anything and attracting problems for over fifty years.
You have to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.
I have reached the fold 'em point.
Time to get back to work.