Draft for Review - PE Kit Lab - Fundamentals: Objects

Andy Lindsay (Parallax)

The Objects lab has been updated to v1.1.

New feature(s) include:·
·- Propeller chip <--> PC communication with Parallax Serial Terminal (free download) instead of HyperTerminal.·

PE Kit Labs that have already gone through the review process are available for download from the Propeller Education Kit page.· You can also find discussions for each lab along with the latest drafts on the Propeller Education Kit Labs thread.

Please send corrections to editor@parallax.com, and post suggestions and recommendations to this thread.

Previous Revision(s)

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· Objects-v0.93.


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Andy Lindsay

Education Department
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Andy Lindsay (Parallax)) : 12/15/2008 8:07:15 PM GMT

Rsadeika

I went through the Objects lab, and you have a lot of discussion about the use of Hyperterminal. Did I miss the part about how the actual hook up is supposed to be concerning HyperTerminal. Was this covered in another lab that I was supposed to look at. Just curious if I missed the boat on this one.

Thanks

Steph Lindsay

Hello Rsadeika,

The lab assumes·that you are using the PE Kit breadboard platform·with the basic·setup circuit·as shown in the first lab Setup and Testing; all subsequent labs use this core circuit.·This lab also assumes one is using Windows 2K or XP, and that the HyperTerminal software came with the OS.·No additional physical connections need to be made for HyperTerminal,·as we are using it with the same port·with which·we are programming the Propeller chip. (The additional LED and pushbutton circuits for this particular·lab are shown on page 2).

Instructions for opening and configuring HyperTerminal begin on page 16 of the PDF. I will add some text there to reiterate that·HyperTerminal is depending upon the basic setup circuit and sharing a port with the Propeller chip.··The author and I have been thinking of these labs in terms of chapters in a future book;·while it is still in this format·we will·take more care to add·a prerequisite lab list to the beginning of each one - we forgot it this time.··If you have the hardware to try out the lab, please let us know if you run into any·problems with the way we have made the instructions; you may email me directly at editor@parallax.com·if you like.

Thanks so much for your feedback!

-Stephanie Lindsay

Editor, Parallax Inc.

mirror

I just had a look at this lab. Just a little comment. As with any multi-tasking system, it's good to have some sychronisation code. In TickTock.spin it's quite possible to read a time that's out by·a minute (give or take a second), an hour (give or take a minute), or a day (give or take an hour).

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It's not all that hard to count the number of grains of sand on the beach. The hardest part is making a start - after that it just takes time.·· Mirror - 15 May 2007

Jim Coleman

Andy

I am doing the Boe-Bot over again using a second Bot and the new spin chip with the BOE and everything is going well so far. I am borrowing from your PE Kit Lab software wherever possible. Would you mind adding a signed decimal routine to your FullDuplexSerialPlus in the Objects Lab so I can complete the following equation :

value = value - another Value…………. which appears on page 74 of the Boe-Bot Text


Thanks

Jim

Andy Lindsay (Parallax)

Jim,

When you use Debug.dec(value), it should detect when you have a negative number and display it correctly.

Andy

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Andy Lindsay

Education Department
Parallax, Inc.

Jim Coleman

Andy

Ah-Soo, my problem was in defining the variables: value, anotherValue as words which produced the answer 64036. After changing them to longs, the answer is correct at -1500, just as you said.

Thanks

Jim

Jim Coleman

Andy

I am sorry to bother you again but, I am using the Stamp Debug window and not the hyper terminal for display and I cannot implement DEBUG CLS because the spin IDE will not let me output a zero to the Debug window. I was able to get around this when I used Martin’s routines for spin implementation of stamp commands, specifically it was a debug character output routine “BS2.Debug_Char(0)”. I realize this is not critical but I want to implement your Boe-Bot text as perfectly as possible. Have you considered putting a character output routine in your FullDuplexSerialPlus as Martin did. If you tell me to ignore it, Iwill.

Thanks

Jim

Andy Lindsay (Parallax)

Jim,

No problem at all.

In this case, the workaround would be

Debug.tx(0)

The FullDuplexSerial object's·tx method sends a byte of information, and in the example above, it's sending a zero.· You could also use this to send a 13 for CR, or any of the other control characters.·

Andy

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Andy Lindsay

Education Department
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Andy Lindsay (Parallax)) : 6/8/2007 8:40:55 PM GMT

Jim Coleman

Andy

Beautiful!

Jim

Jim Coleman

Andy

Hope you are doing well. My VISTA is working great with the prop, except that hyper terminal does not exist. I am trying to use Telnet with your Objects lab with no success. What do you recommend with VISTA in place of hyper terminal.

Jim

Jim Coleman

Reset thread.

parts-man73

check out this thread - the same thing was discussed and a few alternatives suggested

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=693398

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Brian

uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller

PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!

SD card Adapter - mass storage for the masses Audio/Video adapter add composite video and sound to your Proto Board

Jim Coleman

Thanks for the input. I have tried PropTerminal twice with my VISTA setup and each time it produces a 3 inch screen which I can not increase in size, plus PropTerminal does not respond properly to commands. I will review other alternatives suggested. I also believe that Parallax needs to make a recommendation for a rock solid terminal program that works with VISTA. My propeller and stamp tools and programs work perfectly with my current VISTA configuration. I have used the stamp debug window for output but I uncovered an operational error when using FullDuplexSerialPlus which apparently does not exist when PropTerminal is used.

parts-man73

I believe there is plans to include a terminal program as part of the Propeller Tool software.

Or how about use a second Propeller with a TV or VGA screen and a keyboard ??

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Brian

uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller

PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!

SD card Adapter - mass storage for the masses Audio/Video adapter add composite video and sound to your Proto Board

Andy Lindsay (Parallax)

Jim,

Apparently there is still a free version of HyperTerminal, but it results in security warnings when you install it on Vista. The version that does not result in security warnings has to be purchased.

I'll look into some alternatives and let you know. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Andy

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Andy Lindsay

Education Department
Parallax, Inc.

Jim Coleman

Andy

Good to hear from you, for a while I was worried. I am looking forward to your Propeller II educational projects. I have no problem with purchasing what ever is required to feed my Propeller habit as long as it is recommend by you. In spite of all the bad reports on VISTA, I have been lucky with my configuration. I must admit that the Propeller Tool with all it’s colors looks beautiful on my new big screen laptop.

Jim

joeld

Andy

Being new I got alot out of this latest lab. Especially the section on passing addresses and addressing memory. I did run into one problem using hyperterminal and Full_Duplex_Serial that other have also experienced. My code kept causing resets without the usb connected until I documented out the calls to open the serial port and send characters back to Hyperterminal. Might be worth a note in the section on Hyperterminal.

Thanks, I think I've come quite a ways in a weeks studying on the Prop.

Joel

StefanL38

Hello,

in this post i just want to attach another good terminalsoftware. It is called Brays Terminal V1.9b (original name Br@ys Terminal).
It has a special feature: you can write scripts in a language using the basics of pascal

program ScriptTest;

const STRING1 = 'first test';

var i: longint;
begin
  writeln(STRING1);
  comsendstr(STRING1);
  while not(i=27) do // wait for ESC char
  begin
    i:=0;
    while i=0 do i:=ComReadChr();
      if (i=ord('1')) then writeln('Test 1...');
      if (i=ord('2')) then writeln('Test 2...');
      if (i=ord('3')) then writeln('Test 3...');
  end;
  writeln('while loop exit');
  
  // send alphabet
  for i:=65 to 90 do
  begin
    comsendchr(i);
  end;
end.

and you can define macros to send strings by one click

the homepage is

braypp.googlepages.com/terminal


another feature is the auto connect/disconnect function
if the window of the software gains/looses focus it can auto-connect / auto-disconnect the COM-Port

This way it is comfortable to use the same serial connection as the Propeller-IDE does
Just switch between the windows and the active window gets connected to the propeller

best regards

Stefan



some ultraspecific-keywords for easy finding this thread again

terminalattached attachedterminal braysterminal br@ysterminal terminal.zip debugterminal terminaldebug terminalsoftware RS232terminal terminalRS232 V24terminal terminalV24 serialterminal RS232V24 V24RS232
serialRS232V24 serialV24RS232 RS232V24serial V24RS232serial scriptingterminal terminalscript terminalwithscript pascalscript scriptlanguage macroterminal terminalwithmacros v24 rs232 serial v24 rs232 serial

Post Edited (StefanL38) : 9/20/2008 6:19:38 PM GMT

Cluso99

I found an article on how to copy Hyperterminal from an XP machine which worked. However, I use PST (Propeller/Parallax Serial Terminal).
I understand (not verified) that Hypeterminal sets DTR which resets the Prop.