PDB for Propeller?

jcpole

Please excuse me if this has already been addressed recently, but my search didn't come up with any new information.

A few months ago, Chip (I think it was Chip) was discussing a version of the PDB for the Propeller.· In that posting, he alluded to a possible September/October timeframe for such a beast.· I have a few questions:

1) Is the PDB for Propeller still in development?

2) Is the September/October timeframe still viable? (I fully understand that you don't commit to future product delivery dates - I'm just looking for a very rough "maybe", or a "no freaking way")

3) Will the new PDB work only with the Propeller, or will it also work with BS2s and SXs? (Understanding that each one would require a separate socket)

4) Assuming the product is still viable, are there any very rough specs that are appropriate for public consumption?· Is the plan just to rewire a PDB to work with the Propeller, or is it a completely new product?

Thanks for any information you might have...

Jamie



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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

jcpole

Nobody from Parallax wants to address this question?· C'mon - I posted it 5 days ago...· Even a private email with an answer would be fine - I just need to know how far to go in building my own.·

Propeller's multiple cogs solve some problems that I was having with BS2s in my commercial application, but the lack of a solid development platform is giving me grief.·

Plugging a PropStick (awesome design, Phil) into an off-the-shelf breadboard can only go so far.· A PDB with Propeller-specific features (audio, video, etc) would be a great thing to have.

I'm just asking for some basic information - I'm not looking for a firm ship date and cast-in-stone schematics.

:-(

Jamie

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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

Mike Green

I think the Parallax staff have their hands full at the moment getting the Starter Kit ready for sale and the Hydra ready for when Andre gets his wonderful tome done. There have been hints dropped about a Propellor PDB not being too many months off. How about some suggestions, needs, and wants for them to look at? Keep in mind that a PDB has to be affordable, but a little more expansive and expensive than a demo board.

One of the biggest problems with the demo board is that most of the Propellor pins are occupied by hard-wired specific uses. To some extent, this is necessary in that, particularly for the A/D conversion, lead lengths are crucial to proper operation. I'm sure the TV and VGA outputs have fairly tight constraints on lead length. Fortunately, for most uses, Propellor I/O pins are pretty much interchangable.

I don't know if the additional lead length of a jumper/disconnect would be an insurmountable problem for A/D inputs. Chip would have to answer that. Given the current lead length for the VGA and TV outputs, I don't see a major problems with adding a jumper/disconnect so those pins could be used for some other purpose.

An interesting option, given the ability of the Propellor to use a keyboard/mouse/monitor would be to have two Propellors on a PDB with one configured much like the current demo board. The second Propellor would be mostly uncommitted. There would be a set of jumpers to connect the USB/serial input to either processor. The first Propellor could act as a display/logic scope/button simulator using the keyboard/display. If we gave up the microphone input and earphone output on the "controller", that would free up 4 pins so the "controller" could reset the other Propellor and either read/write to its eeprom or act as a loader (PC). In that case, the "controller" should have additional memory, either a larger EEPROM, or maybe an MMC card holder.

Ken Gracey

Hello JPCole and Mike:

(1) The initial design is complete and we are currently building prototypes in the Parallax office. Once the prototypes work as expected we will send it away to production, which could require four months.

(2) Unfortunately not. July + four months = November/December.

(3) Only Propeller. With the 3.3V logic, different programming interfaces for the SX/BASIC Stamp·and a whole new set of peripherals that accompany the Propeller, we decided a one-size-fits-all wouldn't be best in this case so the new "PPDB" is only for the Propeller.

(4) Completely new product. I'll post some details here on Tuesday so we can discuss the final specifications before it goes to production.

Hope this helps for now.

Sincerely,

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

Mike Green

Thanks, Ken. I look forward to reading your plans (and adding my 2 cents). You guys are sure busy!

Mike

jcpole

Thanks for that information - I'm looking forward to seeing your posting with specifics.

Jamie


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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

Kaos Kidd

Just my 2 bits worth...
I agree with Mike about making the pins "disconnectable" from some of the hardware.
Maybe dip switches that can be toggled to disconnect, and a jumper whole (what ever it's called) before the dip switch.
Another thing that could be very handy is socketed eeprom, and a BLANK socket on the same I2C lines (for adding other I2C devices on the line).
This would force the issue of the pull ups on the i2c lines, and make things more uniform in the regions of software objects.
A larger development pad would be a big help with a lot of projects.
And as a wish list item, maybe the hardware for a voltage level shifter built right into the board, with jumper holes for connection when / if it's needed.
It would be fed the 3.3, and it's outputs, CLEARLY Marked as 5.0 V

I can't wait for this product. Mrs. KK has already agreed to it's purchase (with out knowing the price!)...
Between the Hydra and this, I'm not gonna have ANY coffee money for a very LONG time... [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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Just tossing my two bits worth into the bit bucket


KK
·

jcpole

Good points, KK...

I would definitely like to see a larger solderless breadboard - I'm constantly filling up the one on my PDB.

As far as peripherals, it's important (to me) that the PPDB does not come with peripherals hardwired to certain pins.· For my applications, I'm far more interested in using the Propeller as a multiprocessing microcontroller, as opposed to using it for audio/video stuff.· The multimedia aspects are fun, but they are not the primary reason why I'm working with Propellers.

Also, a dual power bus would be ideal - 3.3v and 5v on the same board would allow for some pretty awesome single-board prototypes.· I can certainly see why doing this might present some problems, though.

I can't really think of any PDB features that I haven't used recently, so I would hope that the PPDB retains the current features, as well as adding some new Propeller-specific ones.· I can make that request, since I'm not the one that has to figure out how to fit it all onto one board.· ;-)

Jamie

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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

jcpole

Actually, I take some of that back - I have never used the Audio Amplifier, the 4-Channel Driver, or the Servo Connectors.

Also, moving from 5 LED digits to 6 would be great - I'd love to be able to display Military time without having to plug an extra digit into the breadboard...

Jamie

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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

jcpole

Ken, did you mean next Tuesday for the PPDB info?

Just checking...

Jamie

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Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/

jcpole

Okay - it's been a couple of weeks now.· Did I miss the posting about PDB for Propeller specifications?

Jamie


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--
Jamie C. Pole
Principal Consultant
J.C. Pole & Associates, Inc.
http://www.jcpa.com/