How High the Sky?
PJAllen
BannedPosts: 5,065
· Lots of discussion, for sure, but, I was wondering if maybe...·this thingy has a price tag.
· Is it really going to have a propellor-beanie stamped on it?
· Who's it really for?· Hobbyists?· Or is there a core-market in mind?
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· Is it really going to have a propellor-beanie stamped on it?
· Who's it really for?· Hobbyists?· Or is there a core-market in mind?
·
Comments
It is really wonderful to give something new and way outside the box to your better students.· It empowers them toward doing something innovative with their lives.
Hobbyist? My experience with teaching English to part-timers is that you always have many more beginners, than experts. Beginners are the biggest market share.· The BasicStamp is a wonderful platform for 12 year old boys and father/son learning.· Anyone can jump into using one just to whip up a programable gadget on a whim.
Virtual Peripherals and the SX are more appealing to people like me, a 58 year old guy with time. Or to college/university level assembly language education.
Alternatively, is there a commercial market for this?
Personally I couldn't say, I am not up to speed on such things. I do supect that it may compliment the SX in someway. They seem to be stretching the envelope at opposite ends. One could be a co-processor for the other. But which is which is still to be determined by the application.
This is obviously a first release.· Obviously this will morph and change as harvesting its particular power becomes more obvious.· The EEPROM portion which now provides math tables might go into custom applications designed particularly for a specific proprietary use.· Space stations?· Scram jets?· Encryption?·
We may never know its true destiny.
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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
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Post Edited (Kramer) : 2/25/2006 2:39:43 PM GMT
There are a couple thoughts on who this for, one being that it is pretty much a blank white-board, to do whatever one wish with, much more so than a standard controller where you are locked in by their peripherals. This could range from the home hobbiest to high end developers.
Also, Chip told us it was his desire to try to put fun back into programming, and I can relate. When I was in HS (77-81) I started programming my Commodore PET in 6402 ASM. It taught me lessons about the ins and outs of processors that have been a benefit throughout my life... and it was fun! I made my own star wars type game directly manipulating the graphics memory map. It didn't take a lot to do it. But with computers always changing and being the complex beasts they are, it's a lot more difficult to do very low level programming and get involved with graphics, sound, etc. Chip's vision was a controller that would be very poteent, yet be simlple enough to let even new people/kids explore the potential.
As we've heard, it can be a game system in itself (or whatever one can think of), or it can be a fun educational experience for a newbie, far beyond making LED's blink, it can directly drive a TV video.
My thoughts,
Martin
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Martin Hebel
Disclaimer: ANY Propeller statements made by me are subject to my inaccurate understanding of my limited time with it!
Southern Illinois University Carbondale -Electronic Systems Technologies
Personal Links with plenty of BASIC Stamp info
and SelmaWare Solutions - StampPlot - Graphical Data Acquisition and Control
Kudos and lots of admiration. This may be talked about like the first personal computers for many decades to come.
If this can actually popularize Assembly Language programing, it will be earth shaking. It may do that in the overseas markets, where there are a lot of youths looking for a way up and out of the developing countries -- India, China, and so on.
I am looking forward to buying at least 3 and giving two to the appropriate department heads of the two universities I teach at. They may not quickly understand it, but I suspect they will want to know more.
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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)
······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
I've really been re-thinking my teaching for next Fall when I teach my controller ASM/C course. By the end of the semester with a lot of prodding, the students can work with LCDs and other simple peripherals using 8051s or AVRs. I was considering doing that first, then spending the last few weeks with the Prop., but maybe I should re-think my stategy. Introduce the propeller 1st to generate excitement and get them working with highlevel I/O to start, then fall back at the end and show them the more 'standard' architectures. I've got summer to try to pull what I need together, lol.
The propeller may do for ASM what the BASIC Stamp did for electronics education & programming.
-Martin
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Martin Hebel
Disclaimer: ANY Propeller statements made by me are subject to my inaccurate understanding of my limited time with it!
Southern Illinois University Carbondale -Electronic Systems Technologies
Personal Links with plenty of BASIC Stamp info
and SelmaWare Solutions - StampPlot - Graphical Data Acquisition and Control
Post Edited (Martin Hebel) : 2/25/2006 3:10:10 PM GMT
Rumors and conjecture are nothing but that, and that's really all I offer here. There is no basis other than that, that I know of, for the following statement which came from a blog (speaking of rumors!):
"The final pricing hasn't been set yet, but raw chips (40 dip or 44 LQFP) should be around $20 each. Their whole dev. board kit should be around $200."
Take that with the grain of salt with which it's offered. Quite a coup, even if the price is only close to that!
Regards,
Bruce Bates
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If anyone could send a kit over to Burt Rutan ( http://www.scaled.com ) and explain to him the benefits of this chip...
It might even end up as the main computer of his next spacecraft...
Then the Sky wouldn't be the limit...
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Don't visit my new website...
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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Why?
They only end up blowing things up...
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Don't visit my new website...
What do you mean by eventual target price? $25 is the price, and its dirt cheap considering its capabilities. Considering its half the price of most Stamps and more powerful, I dont understand the complaint. If you want a discount, buy them in volume.
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1+1=10
It was made just to be what it is - something neat and different that would make programming FUN again, and make NEW things possible. I'm delighted that now that it's out there (in a few weeks it will be all the way out there), people have definitely picked up on what it's about. I was getting worried for a while that this critical point would get drowned in a market where something new was not going to be welcome, because things had become so dry that only me-too products would have any acceptance. I'm excited that it's gotten the reception that it has.
Some of the people we've had out to Parallax for training (who now have Propeller chips) are talking about how they are addicted to programming·the Propeller·and they're finding it hard to do their normal job. One guy even asked if Parallax will have a rest home for programmers who can't get over their addiction when they get old. My dad thinks that is a great idea!·We could have programming·workshops and what not,·with·daily mock weddings (for the wives). We'll have to organize this around medication times. We could review moon shot footage before bed time.
The Propeller chip, in single pieces, will·sell for·$25. The price drops to under $11 at 10k pieces. If our production costs drop, we will drop the price. This chip is·a 53mm2 piece of silicon. It fits into a 9x9mm QFN with only 200um to spare on the sides.·This chip·is ten times the size of many MCUs. It took 60% of a $1000 Altera FPGA to simulate it. I never thought it would sell for $25, but then I never thought we'd make it as nice as it turned out. We will have complete kits for under $200.
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Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
The beanie MUST be on the chips when it ships...
Or I'll be returning the two I have in Preorder as soon as they get here...
I just love the fact that anyone can print such an impudent symbol on their chips.
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Don't visit my new website...
No, I'm not joking. I WANT one.
Bean.
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"SX-Video·Module"·available from Parallax for only $28.95 http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30012
"SX-Video OSD module"·available·for only·$49.95·www.sxvm.com
Available now! Cheap 4-digit LED display with driver IC·www.hc4led.com
"I reject your reality, and substitute my own." Mythbusters
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It provided a little cooling and a lot of entertainment on hot summer days.
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I wonder if this wire is hot...
I also believe the propeller will find a wide market in the entertainment (props and the such), tools (inexpensive O-Scopes, freq readers...) and finally, the expiermentor's heaven. Yes, this is a good thing.
Has any one considered getting the propeller to the people at ISIS (protous), so they can create the model for it?
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Just tossing my two bits worth into the bit bucket
KK
·
Tim
1 - $25.00
10 - $23.10
25 - $21.25
100 - $19.50
These are certainly reasonable enough to use the Propeller for use in boutique applications and the 10K price suggest by Chip of $11 is very reasonable. Clearly, a further cheapening would further widen the market, but I'm sure the Propeller will find it's proponents even at current price levels.
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Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.