BS2 or SX or Propeller?

Ashok Kumar

Hi Guys!!

I have some experience with microcontrollers but have never touched a BS.

Propeller seems to be the first multi processor chip among BS2/SX/Propeller.

I assumed that while programming on BS2 and SX chips, the program follows
a single thread. I mean its doing only a single task at a given time. (Of course
there is only one processor!)

An autonomous robot may have several inputs coming in from various sensors.
Does the Propeller chip has an advantage of being able to process the inputs
parallely (because of its 32 processors ) ?

I am almost sure that SX should be able to deliver the quickness to an autonomous
robot, even if the programming is single threaded. Does Propeller give any benefit
over and above that? ( Easier to program, better response, simpler circuit )

Thanks for reading,
Ashok

CJ

the propeller has 8 processors, you can use one of them as a servo controller and still have 7 left for the rest of the robot's functions, it also has 32k of shared ram/program space

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Who says you have to have knowledge to use it?

I've killed a fly with my bare mind.

Mike Green

Other advantages of the Propellor: 1) It's faster and you can even write routines in assembly language when you need it. 2) There's more memory (32K of shared memory and 2K of private memory for each COG when you're using assembly). The Propellor (because of its speed and some special registers) can produce tv or vga output directly (great for debugging) and can interface easily with PS/2 keyboards and mouses. It can do PWM and pulse width measuring to very tight timing even when not using assembly (by using the special timing registers). 3) The multiple COGs allow you to write multiple threads simply because they really are multiprocessed rather than simulating multiple threads using a single processor.

Kevin Wood

If you are fairly new to electronics & programming, you might want to look more closely at the BS2. It is the easiest to get started with, and there are literally thousands of pages of documents, articles, and information available in print and online.

Ashok Kumar

Thanks for all your time and inputs.

I will stick to the plan of starting with BS . Which was my earlier plan till i
got confused by Propeller's capacities which exactly matches the power
needed for an·autonomous robot.

I didnt want to start on a project where i run out of program space and
the scratch memory and then end up realizing that the response time
is not sufficient for smooth operation of an autonomous robot.


But still starting with BS seems to be more appropriate as you suggested.
I also hope propeller starter kit becomes less expensive when am finally
at a stage to start on propeller.

Thanks Again,
Ashok.

Kenny Levinsen

You could buy more than one BS2, a big breadboard, and just make them work on different task, while having 2-wire serial connection between them.

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The school nerd