Propeller vs. oopic & Starting out.

eXileBotz

Hello,

I am new to this site and have become interested in the Propeller since reading about it in Nuts & Volts.
My main interest in microcontrollers is for robotics. I have been learning as much as I can about the subject.
Reading and reading. Originally I thought that I might use an oopic. However, once I saw the Propeller,
I started to think otherwise.

I was wondering if someone might be able to tell me how the Propeller compares to the oopic?
After a little bit of reading, it seems that they share object oriented programming. However,
since the Propeller uses multiple processors it would seem to be more capable. Any comparisons of
the two would be appreciated!

Also I noticed that on the Propeller 'home page' it is suggested that people who are interested in learning
to use the propeller have prior microcontroller experience. That led me to think that I should get a BS2 kit
first and learn on it and then move to the Propeller. I was wondering though, is it feasible to learn about
microcontrollers with a Propeller? Just to save some time and money. I would have to learn pbasic and then
turn around and learn the new language for the Propeller. Just need some advice. It could be that the learning
curve on the BS2 with pbasic would take me long enough that later learning a new language and buying a new
kit wouldn't really be that big of a deal.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have for me! It's greatly appreciated!!

- Marc

Jon Williams

You could, Marc, just keep in mind that we'll have limited information (just the manual) to start with. Those that come to the BASIC Stamp now have the benefit of 13 years of materials being generated by us and a lot of really smart customers. The up-side is that we have this forum and a very active membership. If you want to save a few dollars, you might download our "What's A Microcontroller?" and read it; that will give you lots of good fundamental information that will be useful as you start downloading, then writing Propeller programs.

And we tend to shy away from "us versus them" comparisons; we'd rather tell you everything we can do and let any other vendor do the same.· We can't possibly know their products inside-and-out, nor can they ever know ours.· Those comparisons are typically used only as selling tools, and are rarely -- if ever -- unbiased.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

eXileBotz

Thanks Jon for your response.

I was definitely going to read "What's a microcontroller?" in fact I have already started! I just wasn't sure if all
of the information provided in that book would be applicable to the Propeller.

As far as product comparison, no worries! I realized that I was on a Parallax forum and that any information I might get could 'lean' in the
direction of a Parallax product! That is to be expected! I was just wondering, as a novice, how the propeller and oopic compared in function. I can do that research on my own! But who knows, mabe someone else in the forums might have an opinion or two for me.

Thanks again!

- Marc

Jon Williams

In all candor, the OOPic is a nice controller and has a bit of a following. The only thing that I can state as fact is that it has one processor (8-bit PIC, I think -- at least the one I have in my "competitors" box) and the Propeller has eight 32-bit processors. Both are object oriented in their approach. Most other comparisons are going to be apples and oranges IMHO.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax