Puzzling stamp2p diagnostic

Tinker

I get the following diagnostic when attempting to tokenize a one-statement program using the DEBUG function: "Can not program version v1.4 of the BASIC stamp 2p . Contact Parallax etc..." I included the directive, $STAMP BS2p and the directive, $PBASIC 2.5. I try to use these difficulties as learning opportunities, so does anyone know what v1.4 refers to? Does it refer to the interpreter chip which is maybe an EEPROM? or does it refer to the files in the BS2P volume?
I notice that the files in said volume all have source code but don't include such basic code for functions such as DEBUG. Do some of the functions reside on the interpreter and some on the volume, BS2p? I would assume that the tokenizing is overseen by the editor which resides on the host computer. How does one determine the version of the stamp BS2p which I have on my stamp in the guise of the interpreter chip? and does there have to be a match with the software on the host computer. What is the nomenclature for the host-resident software. I know that I have version 2.00 of the editor. Does that mean that I have version 2.00 of the stamp BS2p interpreter? The editor correctly identifies the BS2p....Tinker

Tracy Allen

Go to the Parallax website/downloads/software and get version 2.1 of the IDE (integrated development environment). That will be able to recognize the version 1.4 firmware in your BS2p. I think Parallax only recently upgraded the BS2p firmware from 1.3 to 1.4. That is the firmware burned into the SX48 microcontroller that is the brain of the BASIC Stamp. It is flash memory, kind of like eeprom. Your PBASIC program resides in an eeprom that is on the BASIC Stamp module, but is not inside the SX48 chip. The firmware running on the SX48 chip reads your PBASIC program from the external eeprom and executes it. When you RUN a program you change the contents of that eeprom.

PBASIC is up to version 2.5, and it is a part of the IDE version 2.1. (The numbers are confusing!?) The IDE also includes the editor and the help facility and a bunch of other stuff. The IDE can understand programs written in either PBASIC 2.5, or other versions of PBASIC back to the Stamp I. It will be able to recognize your BS2p version 1.4 and also ealier versions (back to 1.2 at least). And all the other Stamp chips out there.

I hope that helps to clarify.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

Tinker

Thanks, Tracy - Now I know what the v 1.4 refered to. In my experience with embedded and dedicated systems in the past, a new firmware version was usually delivered via an EEPROM that plugged into a DIP socket and had a sticker on it that specified what firmware version it was. In the case of the stamp, the firmware is embedded in a surface mount chip that has been soldered onto a PC called a "module". I see that the low cost of the stamp has made this method necessary, but it would have been easy (in my mind) to label the board somewhere with the fiemware version. Fortunately for me there are people like you who keep up with what is happening at Parallax. Thanks for your help and I will download the new IDE ( a better descriptive word than an editor). .........................Tinker

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Two roads diverged in a wood and I..I tooked the one less traveled by.