I'm turning blue debugging the EB500
John Bond
Posts: 369
Hey Guys
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I don't appreciate good technical literature until I work with the bad stuff. With Parallax products, I have come to expect a working device in less than 2 to 3 hours from opening the box. The trouble is that when you set a high standard, we expect everything you do to meet that high standard. It is truly amazing that you can teach an old guy with no electronics education so much high level technology.
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I have been battling with the EmbeddedBlue EB 500. I’m using a NX1000 board and a 2p and the turgid mass that is the EB500 manual. I have had many difficulties, Examples are:
Do you have any·better technical literature on this device?
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You’ve taught me to use LCDs, the I2C bus, 1Wire, RS232 and RS485 and many other very complex devices through clear, simple, well-written technical notes and examples. By comparison to bi-directional 4 bit parallel coms with the Serial LCD and using custom characters, the EmbeddedBlue should be simple.
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Maybe you should leave an EB500 on Jon Williams desk and hope that he gets inspired to write about it.
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Kind Regards on this beautiful sun filled day among the rolling sugar cane fields of Kwa Dukuza.
·
John Bond
·
I don't appreciate good technical literature until I work with the bad stuff. With Parallax products, I have come to expect a working device in less than 2 to 3 hours from opening the box. The trouble is that when you set a high standard, we expect everything you do to meet that high standard. It is truly amazing that you can teach an old guy with no electronics education so much high level technology.
·
I have been battling with the EmbeddedBlue EB 500. I’m using a NX1000 board and a 2p and the turgid mass that is the EB500 manual. I have had many difficulties, Examples are:
- What is the typical circuit diagram to connect to a Stamp?
- Connectors, unlike ICs are numbered differently depending on what industry you come from. For example in the Japanese automotive industry, we number connectors mirror image of typical IC numbering. I had to dig to find out the pin numbers for the EB500 (Its not in the manual).
- How does the communication protocol work?
- An explanation of PassKey, Authentication, “Visible” and device name up front would have helped.
Do you have any·better technical literature on this device?
·
You’ve taught me to use LCDs, the I2C bus, 1Wire, RS232 and RS485 and many other very complex devices through clear, simple, well-written technical notes and examples. By comparison to bi-directional 4 bit parallel coms with the Serial LCD and using custom characters, the EmbeddedBlue should be simple.
·
Maybe you should leave an EB500 on Jon Williams desk and hope that he gets inspired to write about it.
·
Kind Regards on this beautiful sun filled day among the rolling sugar cane fields of Kwa Dukuza.
·
John Bond
Comments
·· How are you going to connect the EB500 to the NX-1000?· The EB500 has an AppMod connector on it, and thus typically mates to boards such as the Board Of Education.· You cannot use the breadboard directly on the NX-1000 for this.· It's possible that A7 Engineering has a more up to date manual on their website.· I will check.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
csavage@parallax.com
I used a ribbon cable from a PC Serial port and soldered a pin header onto it... and that turned out to be my problem. I picked·the cable·out of our IT Depts box of new cables but it wasn't in the usual plastic bag. It turns out that someone had swapped out a faulty cable·and PUT IT BACK IN THE BOX of new cables. The IDC crimp was bad (and·I didn't think to check).
The EB500 manual is so poor that I didn't believe I'd wired the·device right. The faulty cable and my lack of faith in my own skills·cost me·7 frustrating hours.
As relief from the tedium, I picked up the Nuts and Volts article on networking Stamps and read again how·it clearly explains in half a dozen pages of clear simple text·how to do it. I nearly switched to 30 yards of wire rather than Bluetooth.
The breadboard version of my application is working now and the EB500 device is just what I was looking for. Very good device,·rather weak·manual.
Thanks again for your technical assistance.
John Bond