Cheapest? Download the demo board schematic, or the PropStick schematic (probably PropStick is best), and
breadboard the thing. Cheapest all-parts-but-I'm-willing-to-build would be either a PropStick or a
PropStickUSB. Frankly, though, for most anyone starting out, I think the Demo board is the way to go; the
money you spend will more than be repaid by the time you save wiring things up, figuring out why interfaces
don't work (you used the wrong pin number for something), etc. etc.
Another alternative is to download GEAR and then you almost have a virtual propeller. But even though GEAR
is very impressive, I really like seeing the actual electrons move around so I like real hardware.
You basically have two avenues to choose from, you can go the (mostly) pre-assembled route and get the Prop ProtoBoard and Prop Plug ($24.95 + $29.95), though you might want the Accessory kit (which contains the VGA, keyboard and mouse connector) which is another $14.95. Or you could go the experimentor route and get the PE kit ($79.95) which contains everything thats needed to get you started (and there is a companion education series which has a few chapters out already and more will be following).
The cheapest route of all would be to buy a DIP version of the Propeller use it on a breadboard you already own, and wire up your own 3 transistor DB-9 serial interface. If you already have the parts for the interface on hand, you'll only be out $13.95 (the cost of the Propeller).
That depends on what you already have and what you want to do with it. Frankly, it's hard to get started much cheaper than the proto-board at $25 which includes a regulator, crystal, and the Propeller chip. You need some kind of TTL to serial adapter, but a MAX232 or equivalent will work just fine. If you already have a USB2SER, you can use that. There's also the 3 - transistor converter shown on the Propeller Diagrams web-page ... really cheap if you have a couple of switching transistors on hand and some resistors and capacitors.
If you will want to use the VGA capability and a PS/2 keyboard, you can get the accessories kit.
If you're going to want to do a lot of breadboarding, consider a Propeller Education Kit. It includes a nice breadboard and a PropPlug and is designed for learning.
I just received my prop dev board and accessories kit . Upon setup everything seems tobe working fine ,
mouse,keyboard,2.5 Lcd.
My problem is with the software my prop tools is unreadable to me unless there something i messed.
Here is a pic of my screen
Has anyone had this promlem if so ,can you please help with a solution.
I've put off buying the prop all last year hoping to get in when the rev came out so i could getoff to a good start but my luck is not that good.
I need alittle help getting started.
THANKS for all the work put in so far .
Last has anyone hacked a PDA style micro keyboard ( i would like to dev a standalone porp dev system.)
The Propeller Tool uses a special font. It may be (for some reason) that the font wasn't installed properly. The Propeller Tool installer was supposed to do that. Try downloading a fresh copy and reinstalling it.
al-spider said...
Last has anyone hacked a PDA style micro keyboard ( i would like to dev a standalone porp dev system.)
If it is a serial keyboard there should be no problem if you can figure out the protocol it uses. There are a few examples around of people interfacing to Targus/Think Outside serial PDA keyboards. (which I can't find right now)
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ I stand on the shoulders of giants
well that did not work either the ver that came on the CD was ver0.98.1 and the downloaded ver is 1.05.2 and they boyh give me the same screen .
I'm running win xp on a toshiba satellite . HELP ME PLEASE / OR ALL OF THIS PROP SH.. IS POOP .. LOLOL :
I happen to think the PropStickUSB·is a great bargain.· It is the same 40-pin footprint·as the Prop, but with the crystal, reset button, EEPROM, USB interface & connector,·3.3 volt regulator, etc.·all onboard already.· You can plug it into any prototyping board and run it immediately without needing to do any wiring first.
Listen guys my wife is going to kill me or never let play anymore with these toys if i can't prove to her that i can uses them and and something done that works .
i.ve got lots of hope for this thing, so please will someone help me get into the game before its only 15sec. late in the 4th/qter and no time outs.....
It appears that something in your registry got messed up, it looks like its using a hebrew font. The guy that can help you figure this out is on sabbatical at the moment, he will be returning in a couple weeks time.
well ive tryed everything i could think of i even open my vertualPC on my Mac the prop tools work but it cant find the prop it only gives me com3 and will not tranfer to the prop DevBoard
it seem fom that all the parallax prod seem to have some problem built it i've gotten only a few items that wiorked with out alot of fuss most thing are full of trouble for novice and newbees
anyway that it for tonight i'm pooped with this prop mess for now LATER FOR THIS (YOU SAY I NEED TO WAITE FOR THREE WEEK TO GET ANSWERS .IT ONLY TOOK THREE DAY SHIPING TO GET INTO ALL OF THIS... WHAT JOKE THAT IS .........
Hmm, don't get frustrated; most people don't have the problems you are having. My Propeller stuff worked great from the get-go.
I'm currently running the standard IDE tool on Windows 2000 and Win XP Pro with no trouble at all.
To try to fix the font problem I would:
1. Try rebooting your PC. (I'm sure you've done that already.)
2. Go to ControlPanel->Add/Remove programs and completely remove everything there by Parallax, and then
reinstall the Prop tool from scratch (the latest version on the Parallax web site.)
One of the best things about the Propeller is the wonderful community here that all helps each other. If you are patient,
ask nicely, and try the things suggested carefully, you'll get excellent help.
But remember, if you are a novice, there will be teething problems; that's true for any technology. The Propeller has
perhaps the easiest learning curve I've seen for this sort of technology, but even with it, you'll make (and I'll make, and
continue to make) the same silly errors and we'll just have to spend time working through them.
al-spider said...
well ive tryed everything i could think of i even open my vertualPC on my Mac the prop tools work but it cant find the prop it only gives me com3 and will not tranfer to the prop DevBoard
it seem fom that all the parallax prod seem to have some problem built it i've gotten only a few items that wiorked with out alot of fuss most thing are full of trouble for novice and newbees
anyway that it for tonight i'm pooped with this prop mess for now LATER FOR THIS (YOU SAY I NEED TO WAITE FOR THREE WEEK TO GET ANSWERS .IT ONLY TOOK THREE DAY SHIPING TO GET INTO ALL OF THIS... WHAT JOKE THAT IS .........
Paul and I have been discussing the problems that you're having and the only thing that we can figure is that one of two things might be going on:
1) Your Windows user account may not have adequate administrative privileges enabled, so it is disallowing the installation of the font.
2) You might be running an international version of Windows which is second-guessing the Propeller application's intent to display the font.
Other than those two possibilities, we don't know why you·might be having these kinds of problems. We want to help, but we don't know where to go from here. Can you please tell us a little more about your Windows setup? Like, what country settings are you using, and do you know if you have administrative privileges? These things might shed some light on the problem.
I had the same problem on one of my PCs. I simply went into the c:\windows\fonts folder and double-clicked on the Parallax font. It opened up fine. I closed it and then re-opened the Propeller Tool. The font worked great from then on. Hope this helps.
hello: all
well once more on luck cyberbound i tryed your suggestion and when i open the win/font/parallax is also open fine but it showed the same krazzzzzz font.
well all i can say is why mmmeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
by the way i'm running winxp(home),only one user ,even put in a nusense-password,usa florida.
SO ....(Help me OB-one your my only hope...lololo.
Al,
I'd be interested in any interfacing info you have on that PDA keyboard.
I have a similar model - Micro Innovations PDA keyboard model TKB160P that was designed for a Palm m125/m130/m500/m515 and I'd like to add it to a Propeller based computer. Despite the huge Palm connector on the outside, I opened it up and there's only 3 wires connected to the keyboard - Vcc, Gnd and PE3 (serial data?). I can interface to the Propeller either over a serial TTL connection or PS/2.
Unzip the file to get the parallax.ttf file.· You can try double clicking on this to see an example of the font and to make sure it is working properly.· Close this font example window.· Right click on the parallax.ttf file and choose Cut.
To install it into your Windows XP system, you first have to delete the old on there.· Go to the Control Panel and start the Fonts utility.· Find the Parallax (TrueType) font in the list and delete it.· Click on an empy space in this window and select Paste.· The new font should then be loaded into your Windows system.· Close the fonts window.
Try the Prop Tool and see if it is working now.· Let us know how it goes.
al-spider, As an A / B comparison send me a copy of your current 'parallax.ttf' file so we can at least make a determination if it is in fact the ttf file that somehow got corrupted.
Attached is a valid 'Parallax.ttf' file
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
agfa
Posts: 295
Comments
If you do mind soldering, you could try the DIP Plus Kit or Education Kit.
You should note that the Plus Kit and Proto Board don't come with a Prop Plug.
breadboard the thing. Cheapest all-parts-but-I'm-willing-to-build would be either a PropStick or a
PropStickUSB. Frankly, though, for most anyone starting out, I think the Demo board is the way to go; the
money you spend will more than be repaid by the time you save wiring things up, figuring out why interfaces
don't work (you used the wrong pin number for something), etc. etc.
Another alternative is to download GEAR and then you almost have a virtual propeller. But even though GEAR
is very impressive, I really like seeing the actual electrons move around so I like real hardware.
You basically have two avenues to choose from, you can go the (mostly) pre-assembled route and get the Prop ProtoBoard and Prop Plug ($24.95 + $29.95), though you might want the Accessory kit (which contains the VGA, keyboard and mouse connector) which is another $14.95. Or you could go the experimentor route and get the PE kit ($79.95) which contains everything thats needed to get you started (and there is a companion education series which has a few chapters out already and more will be following).
The cheapest route of all would be to buy a DIP version of the Propeller use it on a breadboard you already own, and wire up your own 3 transistor DB-9 serial interface. If you already have the parts for the interface on hand, you'll only be out $13.95 (the cost of the Propeller).
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
If you will want to use the VGA capability and a PS/2 keyboard, you can get the accessories kit.
If you're going to want to do a lot of breadboarding, consider a Propeller Education Kit. It includes a nice breadboard and a PropPlug and is designed for learning.
You have given me good place to start.
Agfa
agfa
I just received my prop dev board and accessories kit . Upon setup everything seems tobe working fine ,
mouse,keyboard,2.5 Lcd.
My problem is with the software my prop tools is unreadable to me unless there something i messed.
Here is a pic of my screen
Has anyone had this promlem if so ,can you please help with a solution.
I've put off buying the prop all last year hoping to get in when the rev came out so i could getoff to a good start but my luck is not that good.
I need alittle help getting started.
THANKS for all the work put in so far .
Last has anyone hacked a PDA style micro keyboard ( i would like to dev a standalone porp dev system.)
If it is a serial keyboard there should be no problem if you can figure out the protocol it uses. There are a few examples around of people interfacing to Targus/Think Outside serial PDA keyboards. (which I can't find right now)
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
I stand on the shoulders of giants
thanks for looking in my Direction.
Ive tryed that serveral times and iit come up the way .
haven't downloaded a copy of the tools yet maybe i'll try that next.
anything else is welcomed need help getting started
I'm running win xp on a toshiba satellite . HELP ME PLEASE / OR ALL OF THIS PROP SH.. IS POOP .. LOLOL
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Stan Dobrowski
Listen guys my wife is going to kill me or never let play anymore with these toys if i can't prove to her that i can uses them and and something done that works .
i.ve got lots of hope for this thing, so please will someone help me get into the game before its only 15sec. late in the 4th/qter and no time outs.....
this is my investment so far
please help!!11
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
it seem fom that all the parallax prod seem to have some problem built it i've gotten only a few items that wiorked with out alot of fuss most thing are full of trouble for novice and newbees
anyway that it for tonight i'm pooped with this prop mess for now LATER FOR THIS (YOU SAY I NEED TO WAITE FOR THREE WEEK TO GET ANSWERS .IT ONLY TOOK THREE DAY SHIPING TO GET INTO ALL OF THIS... WHAT JOKE THAT IS .........
I'm currently running the standard IDE tool on Windows 2000 and Win XP Pro with no trouble at all.
To try to fix the font problem I would:
1. Try rebooting your PC. (I'm sure you've done that already.)
2. Go to ControlPanel->Add/Remove programs and completely remove everything there by Parallax, and then
reinstall the Prop tool from scratch (the latest version on the Parallax web site.)
One of the best things about the Propeller is the wonderful community here that all helps each other. If you are patient,
ask nicely, and try the things suggested carefully, you'll get excellent help.
But remember, if you are a novice, there will be teething problems; that's true for any technology. The Propeller has
perhaps the easiest learning curve I've seen for this sort of technology, but even with it, you'll make (and I'll make, and
continue to make) the same silly errors and we'll just have to spend time working through them.
1) Your Windows user account may not have adequate administrative privileges enabled, so it is disallowing the installation of the font.
2) You might be running an international version of Windows which is second-guessing the Propeller application's intent to display the font.
Other than those two possibilities, we don't know why you·might be having these kinds of problems. We want to help, but we don't know where to go from here. Can you please tell us a little more about your Windows setup? Like, what country settings are you using, and do you know if you have administrative privileges? These things might shed some light on the problem.
Thanks,
Chip
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Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
well once more on luck cyberbound i tryed your suggestion and when i open the win/font/parallax is also open fine but it showed the same krazzzzzz font.
well all i can say is why mmmeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
by the way i'm running winxp(home),only one user ,even put in a nusense-password,usa florida.
SO ....(Help me OB-one your my only hope...lololo.
I'd be interested in any interfacing info you have on that PDA keyboard.
I have a similar model - Micro Innovations PDA keyboard model TKB160P that was designed for a Palm m125/m130/m500/m515 and I'd like to add it to a Propeller based computer. Despite the huge Palm connector on the outside, I opened it up and there's only 3 wires connected to the keyboard - Vcc, Gnd and PE3 (serial data?). I can interface to the Propeller either over a serial TTL connection or PS/2.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=581530
Unzip the file to get the parallax.ttf file.· You can try double clicking on this to see an example of the font and to make sure it is working properly.· Close this font example window.· Right click on the parallax.ttf file and choose Cut.
To install it into your Windows XP system, you first have to delete the old on there.· Go to the Control Panel and start the Fonts utility.· Find the Parallax (TrueType) font in the list and delete it.· Click on an empy space in this window and select Paste.· The new font should then be loaded into your Windows system.· Close the fonts window.
Try the Prop Tool and see if it is working now.· Let us know how it goes.
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Stan Dobrowski
As an A / B comparison send me a copy of your current 'parallax.ttf' file so we can at least make a determination if it is in fact the ttf file that somehow got corrupted.
Attached is a valid 'Parallax.ttf' file
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Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
well i tryed once more the same font pops-up i put some pic's up
1st pic prop front onen on my mac not installed just open to see if it's ok and everything looks fine.
2nd prop fonts open on MY PC WinXP and again it comes up wrong or look likes something is wrong with the conversion
Quattro
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'Necessity is the mother of invention'