The Basics
I havn't bought the BASIC stamp yet but I want to know about some of
its physycal charictaristics. When you look at the BASIC Stamp rev.
it has a white area, what is this used for? Also what is the best
way to connect the stamp without soldering it? And The use of the
other pins on the stamp confuses me.
its physycal charictaristics. When you look at the BASIC Stamp rev.
it has a white area, what is this used for? Also what is the best
way to connect the stamp without soldering it? And The use of the
other pins on the stamp confuses me.
Comments
The original was the Stamp 1 -- it is currently called the Stamp 1 Rev. D.
This is a small board with a standard DIP processor and EEPROM and a small
area for building a circuit. It is powered by a 9 volt battery that clips
on, and it has a small header to plug in external circuits. The computing
power and speed of the Stamp 1 is limited, but its still very useful for
small projects. It has 8 pins (ports) that allow it to talk to the outside
world. I use the Stamp 1 Rev. D one one of the robots I have -- works well.
There is also a Stamp 1 module, which is internally the same as the Rev. D,
except everything is on a tiny board that plugs into another board. You
supply the power and external connections. The Stamp 1 module will plug into
some of the boards Parallax makes. I've also got one of these on another
robot, and one spare that will be used process sensor information for
another robot.
The Stamp 2 modules are a more powerful version of the Stamp 1 -- faster,
more ports, more memory, more commands. These also plug into some of the
boards Parallax makes. There are several incarnations of the Stamp 2 -- The
Stamp 2, Stamp 2sx, and Stamp 2p. They have similar features, the difference
being mainly speed and memory.
Parallax also makes some OEM Stamp products -- these are Stamp kits you
build.
The "white" area you are talking about is probably the solderless breadboard
on the Board of Education. The BoE is an expansion board of sorts in that it
powers the Stamp module and provides places to plug in servos and sensors,
which are things you typically use in robotics and earch measurement
experiments.
You need to figure out what you want to do before deciding which Stamp to
buy. If you want to get into robotics, buy the BoE Bot kit. This gets you
things you need without requiring advanced electronics skills.
Original Message
> I havn't bought the BASIC stamp yet but I want to know about some of
> its physycal charictaristics. When you look at the BASIC Stamp rev.
> it has a white area, what is this used for? Also what is the best
> way to connect the stamp without soldering it? And The use of the
> other pins on the stamp confuses me.