YAPDT (Yet Another Propeller Debugging Tool)

Jon Williams

Inspired by Phil Pilgrim's simplex serial object, I created a Parallax Serial LCD object that also uses pure Spin to transmit the byte.· Demo programs (my old Pac-Man chomping animation) for the 2x16 and 4x20 are included in the ZIP.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Post Edited (Jon Williams (Parallax)) : 3/27/2006 1:39:58 AM GMT

LoopyByteloose

I have been catching up with all the sample code and find that it actually is really easy to read SPIN. The other postings were in plain text.

Your example brings to my attention yet another nice feature.

I didn't realize that the colored background would be so helpful in identifying the normal divisions within a program.
It immediately calls attention to where things are.

Extremely easy to follow.

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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

Jon Williams

Yes, Spin is clean and easy, and the work Jeff put into the IDE really makes a nice difference as well.

I added a debug wrapper to the Serial_Lcd object (also updated a bit)·which includes the ability to print a signed decimal number in a fixed-width (space padded)·field.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Oliver H. Bailey

Hi Jon,
Is there any performance hit using spin instead of assembler?

Jon Williams

Yes, it's pretty big: Chip estimates that assembler runs about 250x the same program in Spin. The up-side of Spin is that it's a lot easier to code and can use the entire global RAM (which accounts for some of the speed penalty due to hub access). And Spin is not slow by Parallax standards -- about 2x the BS2px (using a 5 MHz crystal and the 16x PLL tap [noparse][[/noparse]80 MHz internal clock]).

The good news is that those of us who don't want to write in assembly can take advantage of those who do (like Chip) -- all Propeller assembly programs have a Spin interface which makes them easy to connect to a project.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Oliver H. Bailey

I've gotten back into model railroading and I'm just finishing an article on building a crossing flasher and bell control. I've been working on building a single chip DCC for N and HO guage. I want to use the propeller for a full fledged intelligent controller for a model railraod and use that for a project book. I will implement DCC is assembler. If your not a model RR buff, DCC is Digital Command Control and sends commands direct tothe locomotives and accessories using the rails.

Thanks Jon,

Oliver

Jon Williams

Have a look at the FullDuplex object to see how Chip implemented serial I/O in assembly; that one is fast -- I've tested it up to 460_800 baud! I do intend to learn from it to create DMX-512 transmitter and receiver objects. It would be fun to use the Propeller to create small-scale lighting controllers using DMX.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Kaos Kidd

Oliver:
I've investigated DCC inside and out, and the primary issue I came to was imposing the controll signal onto the power.
Next comes the actual controllers. Most every make has a different set of commands, or a way of programming them.
It would be a great project, one that I'd be willing to assist where ever I can.

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Just tossing my two bits worth into the bit bucket


KK
·

Jon Williams

Let's move any other DCC discussions to its own thread, please -- this one is focused on a Propeller debugging helper.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax