thought for parallax

kelvin james

maybe i am getting old or just too lazy, but searching out and buying basic electronic components is starting to be a pain. I was just thinking, woudn't be cool to have a board that was pluggable to the stamp or BOE, that had all of the components there? I see for interfacing other IC's to the stamp, you might need this resistor, or that capicitor, or a npn, etc. I would like to see an add-on board with these components, preferably the variable type, that is accessable at any time i need it. And it would be with some type of solid connection, maybe a plugin type board for the breadboard of the BOE. Running a bunch of wires to create a circuit on the breadboard is sometimes tedious and the connections are not always stable if i am playing around with it. FRom most of my reading, there seems to be a select group of components that are used for most applications, so if anyone is taking on a new project that required any of these, they are already there for use. I know most of these are simple, inexpensive parts, if you are an electonics scholar than this wouldn't be of concern to you, but for the basic experimentor, or student, or someone that just likes to write programs, this would be a big help. Some other things i would like to see are some dip connections for extra eeprom or ram or other ic's, some leds, voltage regulator, and whatever else could be crammed on there. Just an idea, and i would like to hear other peoples' thoughts on this this.
I believe it would fairly inexpensive for parallax to do this, and possibly could be a tool people would consider buying. I know i just think too much sometimes, sometimes it's good, other times, not so good. Just thought i would give it a shot.
If there was one built today, i would buy it.

Merry Christmas Everyone !
kelvin

Nav

That sounds like a good idea ! I agree with that.

Also, a related idea I've been thinking about;
How about a BASIC Stamp, housed in a very small box (about cigarette packet size) with the pins available as small screw connections. This small box could have a female DB9 socket - as the BoE and other boards - to allow connection to the PC for programming. The device could be powered by a wall-wart type power supply via a socket connection like the BoE. The advantage of this is that one would have a robust device that could be quickly and securely connected to other IC's, circuits, sensors, actuators etcetera that us hobbyists use. As embellishments, I also though that perhaps there could be a version with a small (20 x 2) LCD screen, an on-off switch, a reset switch and possibly tiny LEDs for each pin so that pin status could be viewed (as confirmation that everything is working properly).
The box could also have a connection like the X1 connector (I forget what they are called) on the BoE. This would allow the customer to set up circuits on breadboards or PCBs and plug them into the box via ribbon cables with IDC sockets that plug into the X1 connector. This way one could have various different circuits and plug into the STAMP box whichever circuit one was working on at the moment. By the way, as a side issue (and a grumble), I notice that in Rev C of the BoE the power LED is too close to the X1 connector to allow an IDC plug (or any other plug!) to connect onto it. This problem doesn't exist on previous revisions of the BoE so I wonder why this facility was 'broken'.

Bean

Kelvin, Are you asking for something like the radio shack ???-in-one kits that have all the componets on spring terminals ?
In the sense that all the componets are already there and you just hook them up the way you want ?

Just off the top of my head, I would have to say that cost would probably be prohibitive.

Bean.

Jon Williams

Kelvin,

We had a board like that a long time ago and it didn't sell very well. What has sold well, is the NX-1000 which has the interfacing things at the edges and lots of breadboarding space for other items.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

HODX

you mean like this.....I am working on a board like that.It will have relays,leds,transistors,motor drivers,a clock,a temperature chip, some high current drivers,mosfets,speaker,transducers,and resistor and capcitor banks and a small amplifier.

LoopyByteloose

I used to keep a notebook next to my bed to collect all the great ideas I had in dreams.

I would wake up at night and write down the ideas before I forgot them.

Then I would go back and read them in the morning.

The problem was that I could never quite make sense of what I had dreamed or written down. The concepts were all grand, but there wasn't any real detail.

I think an 'all-in-one' solution is quite similar. It is a grand idea and feels great to dream about it, but real development happens through patiently working through a lot of stages. Often each stage offers new discoveries and requires a redesign. Such a board would restrict you to its structure. You would only learn what it would allow you to learn. At some point, you would have to 'go outside the box'. That is what hackers do and love to do best.

BUT, if you are talking about building modular devices that is each a sucessful project in and of itself, that can work well for you. I think that is what HODK has got into. He can then grab a module and add a new concept on to the existing elements.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
G. Herzog in Taiwan

KenM

HODX,

I noticed in your picture what looked like a typical automotive blade type fuse (blue - 15A).

I hope you are not relying on that fuse to protect your stamp, and it is used as protection for just the "High Current" portions of your modules.

The reason I say this is for a couple of reasons. Those automotive fuses are relatively slow, and if there is some circumstance that would pump more than 15 amps into your stamp, the stamp will likely be damaged before the fuse blows.

Or, if there is some circumstance that would pump 10 amps into your stamp, the fuse would not blow (of course), but the stamp would not be very happy after that.

Just a thought.

Ken

John Kauffman

Also for the STAMP-Box idea:

Many of my sensors are some meters away and swapped out for different studies. So I wire several STAMP pins to a femal CAT5 jack (RJ45) and bolt that socket to the board. Then I taek a length of CAT5 cabel and solder my sensors to one end and crimp a male RJ45 on the other end. I·just plug the sensor/cable into my modified STAMP board. It is easy to swap out various sensors and cables without messing up (or wear & tear) on the STAMP board.

So for the STAMP-box I would suggest including a RJ 45 socket with eight internal DIP switches that can connect seven STAMP pins to the RJ45 and the eighth to the ground. (Or perhaps SPDT DIP switch that connect a ilne ot either a pin or ground, is you want to have four sensors with their own grounds). A cheaper way would be go with 2- or 4- conductor phone wires (RJ11 or RJ16).

Now you have teh box form and easy- connect of the screw terminals but with an easier connection.

kelvin james

Oh Boy. Parallax already made one and it didn't sell? No wonder i am destined to be poor I think hodx is on the right track with what i was thinking about. Guess i better get off my butt and make one myself, just have to learn to solder first, a scary thought!
kelvin

Jon Williams

The NX-1000 HAS sold, and we will continue to develop products like that. It provides a great variety of useful IO, plus plenty of prototyping space.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

HODX

KenM:
that fuse is part of a simple transistor switch used to turn a 7.2volt 1200ma battery on and off.
the battery connects to a motor speed controller..not a Basic Stamp...herman

kelvin james

Looks like the nx1000 will be the route i will go, thought it was a little pricey at first, but when i think about the time and aggravation to make one, it is probably a good deal. Jon,you had mentioned in another post that there will be a new devboard coming out sometime in the near furure that supports the sx also. Will it be along the same lines as the nx? Just wondering if it is worth the wait? Thankyou. kelvin