SX Book recommendation?

xtricity

Does anyone one when version 2 of Programming the SX Microcontroller is going to be available? What's the major differences between version 1 and version 2? There's a lot of SX books out there. Do people have opinions about what document to really dig into? I'm using the SX to learn assembly. I would like a coverage of the chip architecture, memory, assembler directives, and instruction set with heavy tutorials. Ideally, the tutorials would do fun things in assembly like: servo pulse control, LED output, push button input, other I/O. I have no interest in SX/B.

I'm debating whether or not I should buy the Daubach book now or go through the other documentation first and then maybe the version 2 will be out? I already have printed versions of the SX-Key Manual, the datasheet, the "Exploring the SX Microcontroller with Assembly and Basic Programming" book, and the FAQ. I've also got "Black Art of Video Console Design," by Andre LaMothe. Since the XGameStation uses the SX chip, it covers a fair bit of SX assembly.

Should I buy the Daubach one too? I seem to be able to get through my existing books fairly easily. I like the fresh LaMothe writing style. It makes it fun to read. However, there's not too much coverage of the SX assembly language. I'm looking for something closer to a LaMothe book that focuses only on SX assembly and the associated tools and directives.

Capt. Quirk

Ver. 2 is the only one the sell. Al Williams book seems a bit easier to start with and it's free. But Gunther's book is well worth the money and I suggest if your serious, it's a must have.

Bean

I would consider Gunther's book a "must have" for serious programming of the SX. I highly recommend it.

Bean.

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John Couture

Bean, a couple of months ago there was a comment that Jon Williams and someone else were separately working on SX/B books. Any update on availability?

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John J. Couture

San Diego Miramar College

JonnyMac

Still working -- getting close but writing books, I'm finding, falls under the category: "It's harder than it looks...."

xtricity

Thanks for the advice. I've been going through the Al Williams book. I'm looking for even more examples and projects. If I download and go through the Nuts and Volts articles will I find a bunch of SX28 projects? Or, are they mainly focused on the Basic Stamp? I'm story to run into some stumbling blocks understanding the memory paging. I'm a novice. I like the process of building projects because it gives me a chance to use my hands and the goal is very clearly defined, get it running. I figure that I need to go through more examples before it starts to sink it. More timing examples for output signals would be nice.

JonnyMac

I have written several articles on the SX using SX/B, including the last two columns that were just posted at Parallax. Here's a quick reference (newest to oldest):

-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol8/col/nv142.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol8/col/nv141.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol7/col/NV139.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol7/col/NV137.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol7/col/NV129.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol6/col/nv125.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol6/col/nv122.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol6/col/nv117.pdf
-- www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol5/col/nv116.pdf

Note that the older articles (e.g., #116, 117) use older SX/B syntax and those programs will need updating. Still, I'd like to think that the columns provide good information and will be worth your time.

Shawn Lowe

Am I understanding that Al Williams book is free? And if so, where can I download it?

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Shawn Lowe


My last words shall be - "NOT YET!!!"

JonnyMac

Parallax --> SX Chips and Tools --> Books --> Bingo!

www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=70014

Ken Gracey

Al's book is very dated and not a reliable source for SX/B. It won't do any justice to SX/B at this point and we should probably remove it from the web for this purpose. I'll ask our editor to look it over and make a decision.

- Ken Gracey

John Couture

Ken,

I would recommend leaving it up there until a replacement is available. Although it is dated it would be worth just putting a note in the description that this book refers to version x.xx of the compiler and version x.xx is the latest. Sometimes when I am stuck, it is better to have SOMETHING to refer to instead of NOTHING. (grin) Besides, the longer it is up there the more it will taunt you to get the authors to finish the new ones

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John J. Couture

San Diego Miramar College

xtricity

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I was intrigued by the star for JohnnyMac's picture and went to see his screen credits page. He does look like JFK.

Right now, I don't know anything about SX/B. :-( I've been focused on ASM. Though, these projects look so cool I may learn SX/B at some point.

In the meantime, I've printed out the source code for many of the ASM examples on the download page. Is this package called SrcCodeExamples.zip a good one to focus on? I've been going through the source and writing notes on the paper about what the different constructs do.

It's still a little unclear to me when to use SX/B and when to use ASM. Is the advantage of SX/B mainly that the program is more easily read by humans? This is just a hobby for me. The reason I started with ASM was to get greater control of the limited resources on the chip. Or, at least this is what I thought.

Capt. Quirk

I am attracted to Assembly for the same reasons.·Currently I think SASM is better supported by Parallax than SX/B because of Gunther's Book.·There is very intelligent contributors within these forums that specialize in SASM besides Bean and JonnyMac. There is also sxlist.com·and inside the compiler under "Examples\SX Assembly" there are other common examples that you can work with.

I was originally drawn to SX/B and the SX chips for many reasons. First off was chip costs were 3 to 4 times lower for a production project. A free basic compiler that was similar to Pbasic (that I was already familiar with)was over a $100.00 ++ savings right away over a PIC or AVR.·Parallax support was another key reason.

Have you tried SX-SIM yet?, for me, being able to predict the time and cycles that a compiled SX/B or SASM routine will consume has been a big help over Pbasic. Using CTRL + L in the compiler, shows how SX/B is transformed into SASM, but it's not an .src file, it's more like a bridge·that lets you see both languages at the same time and how they interact. SX-Sim has many tools and been very useful, I plan on using this feature as I learn SASM. After I learn SASM, I want to start programming the Propeller in Assm.

Soon there will be an SX/B book and overall support will have evened out. But the most important thing I have learned was from JonnyMac. He said "I needed to learn the SX Chip".·And the more I have learned about it, has helped my programming skills.

So my point is, Which ever·language·you feel the most comfortable with, is the one you should stick with, while you learn the SX chip.

If you have no microprocessor experience at all? I would recommend spending the money on a BS2, preferably the "P" series. The BS2P's are so well supported, they will save you hours and hours of your time and sanity.

Looking at the specs and seeing an SX with 50 MIPS vrs a BS2 series with 4,000 to 19,000 lines per second, the SX is the clear horsepower winner, but in my opinion the BS2 is the clear winner because of it's Pbasic is far more powerful than the specs show.



Post Edited (Capt. Quirk) : 4/19/2007 6:51:04 AM GMT

xtricity

Capt Quirk, thanks for the info. I have a BS2 and the BOE and the BOE Bot and the explorer kit. It's okay, but I don't find it as interesting as ASM on the SX. At this stage, I want to understand the signal generation more than just using PULSOUT. I haven't really dug into PBASIC that much. I can go through all the examples and write my own programs, but I have put deeper explorations on hold for a while until I figure out ASM on the SX. Is it possible to embed ASM into PBASIC?

The main thing I want to do right now is to fully understand the memory of the SX so that I can bend it to my will.

I would love to get SX-SIM working, but it keeps telling me that I'm missing some component. I'm running Windows XP Professional. I don't have Visual Basic or any other development tools installed.

Thanks for the tip about the "Examples\SX Assembly." I'll try that out.