Propeller Education Kit and Windows Vista?
failuretothrive
Posts: 7
I am trying to move from the Basic Stamp to the Propeller chip and was planning on purchasing the Propeller Education Kit, however I have found no documentation listing Windows Vista (either 32 or 64 bit versions, mine is 32 bit) as a supported OS in the Propeller Education Kit .pdf (PE-Lab-Setup-v.1.1.pdf) or on the product description page. I have tried searching the forums for any discussions of Windows Vista and was only able to find Paul Baker (Application Engineer)'s comment from before Windows was released January 17,2007 "The only form of Vista Windows availible and supported by Microsoft is the corporate version. The consumer version is not availible until the 30th. We have just set up our first machine running Vista but have not tested any of our software. Therefore we provide no support or fitness of purpose for any of our software running on Vista until we have the chance to test each one." but no subsequent discussions for the Propeller Chip or specifically for the Propeller Education Kit. Keep in mind that I have already been burned before with Vista and the Basic Stamp Homework Board (yes I did call tech support). Before laying out $80 any info would be extremely helpful (especially by Parallax representatives).
Comments
I can't address the status of the USB drivers for the PropPlug or demoboard because I use ordinary RS232 for programming and communication.
Hope that helps [noparse]:)[/noparse]
[noparse][[/noparse]Edit] I just checked and another peice of equipment I have uses the FT232 USB drivers (a PIC programmer) so I'm guessing they won't pose a problem on Vista either.
Hey Alex, thanks for responding. Actually, I'm guessing that you're probably right about everything being fine with Vista. I have the Boe-Bot kit and it works fine, I've only had problems with the Basic Stamp Homework Board. I guess I'm still just a little nervous when Parallax starts to get a little vague about its OS compatibilities.
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Thanks for responding Paul, I'm glad to know there are no known issues with Vista. I'm looking forward to getting started with the Propeller Chip and the Propeller Education Kit once Vista becomes "an officially supported OS." The sooner the better.
I recommend you don't wait for an official blessing for Vista. It may be quite some time. Parallax is a small company with very limited resources and I'm sure "certifying" the Propeller Tool for Vista is not high on their list of things to get done since it does appear to work. The fact that they have been using Vista with the Propeller Tool is important and that they have not yet discovered any problems other than the need to use the latest FTDI drivers (which Parallax gets from FTDI). Thoroughly testing the Propeller Tool with Vista is not a small project and, when they do get to it, they will do a good job.
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Hey Mike, I guess I kind of know that my waiting for official certification for Vista is not really going to happen. I'm just trying to keep Parallax's feet to the fire. It may seem an unkind thing to do, but after the Homework Board I was left rather unhappy with Parallax. Then again there's no denying the capabilities of the Stamp and Propeller lines, I kind of have no other real choice of uP.
Dual boot that machine. Go find win2k if you need to. There is XP and there are virtual machines.
Hey Potatohead, thanks for replying. No thanks, there's nothing wrong with Vista, and I have absolutely no reason to get a 2nd external Hard Drive just to run a 2nd OS (my first ext. hard drive is full if you're wondering about the math there). It's sort of like (and I emphasize Sort of) towing a horse carriage behind a car just because you don't know if the car can use the wooden wheels.
I think most of us get frustrated or annoyed with some of the things Parallax decides to do or not do from time to time. We all have our own opinions based either on what we want or what we know about the world. The folks at Parallax have a company to run, employees and bills to pay, etc. They have a reputation to keep, customers with many different needs and wants to satisfy and they have to plan for the future as well. I won't even begin to pretend that I could do a lot of that. Everyone I've dealt with at Parallax has been polite, shown that they have really listened when I've expressed an opinion or asked for something, and done what they felt they needed to do whether or not that's been what I wanted. That's pretty good.