Professional Development Board alternative

Ductapemaster

Do you have any suggestions for an alternative to the Parallax pro. development board? I don't think I can shell out the $150 for it (I can personally, but my parents won't approve)...

I currently have the SX Tech board, but the breadboard space simply isn't big enough and it's limited on features. I think it's great for starting projects (when they're small in the beginning) and programming the SX, but I need something bigger. I have a huge breadboard, but having all the 'amenities' that the dev. board comes with is much preferred.

I might be able to convince my parents to let me buy it this summer when I have a job, but thats a maybe. I just spent $150 on the SX stuff I have now, so another $150 on top of that isn't very justifiable.

Any suggestions? I'm just looking for something reusable with a large prototyping area (extra stuff like displays are always welcome)

Thanks,

Dan

Professorwiz

I just run a ribbon cable over to a larger breadboard.· That way I can use the larger breadboard then just plug it into the sx board.· I also have ran single wires from the outputs of the board to what I need, but the ribbon cable is much cleaner looking.

Russ

Sawmiller

heres a suggestion.
take a protoboard $10·... solder in some sip pins in the holes for the pinouts and the vss and vdd on the protoboard. get a large cheap breadboard , use doublesided tape to stick the proto board to the breadboad... and use jumpers to make your circuts.
the advantage to this is you can get another protoboard and copy your compleated, tested circut to the new protoboard, program with the sx-tech dongle thingy , and your off !
works good for me, and if you get a easy to solder, power regulators already on, board.
dan

John R.

see www.wulfden.org/SPBU/index.shtml

This is the type of setup Sawmiller is talking about. You should be able to replace the "standard" sized bread board with a larger one, just let it hang off the edges of the proto board.

Then again, you could still try selling mom and dad on the pro development board. Point out all the neat stuff: Real Time Clock, Serial Driver, LEDs, switches, etc. There isn't a lot you can't at least start development and testing work with one of these boards. Think of all the trips they'd save to the local radio shack for misc small stuff like switches and LEDs.

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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log

Bean

Dan,
I have a Parallax NX1000 (I think it's the NX1000/24), they don't sell them anymore, but it's yours if you want it.

It doesn't have a socket for the SX28, but you can just plug the SX28 into the breadboard and connect a 4 pin header to program it (don't forget the 10K resistor from /MCLR to +5V).

Send me a private message if you want it.

I can't find the datasheet for it on the Parallax website, but here is a picture of it (not a very good picture of the NX1000 though) http://forums.parallax.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40096

[noparse][[/noparse]edit] I guess this is the datasheet for it http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/boards/28137.pdf

Bean.

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“The United States is a nation of laws -· poorly written and randomly enforced.” - Frank Zappa

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www.hittconsulting.com


Post Edited (Bean (Hitt Consulting)) : 6/7/2007 4:38:35 PM GMT

Bean

Dan,
Did you receive the NX1000 yet ?

Bean.

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“The United States is a nation of laws -· poorly written and randomly enforced.” - Frank Zappa

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www.hittconsulting.com
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Ductapemaster

Yeah, sorry I didn't post about it Monday...I'm all caught up in school stuff (finals next week, and lots of projects this week!) at the moment.

But yes, I did get it Monday it it works great. Thank you so much. I appreciate your generosity!

-Dan

Bean

You're welcome. I just wanted to make sure it made it through the post.

Bean.

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“The United States is a nation of laws -· poorly written and randomly enforced.” - Frank Zappa

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
www.hittconsulting.com
·

Botman1776

to all, anyone with another NX-1000 protoboard they want to get rid of??? feel free to send it to me!! it works well for the bot prototyping i have been doing and i can use another. if anyone has other older parallax hardware they want to get rid of feel free to email.

tr

David B

I don't know what an NX-1000 board is, but if you're looking for SX28 project boards to hack, I think have an SX28 I2C communications demo board (or maybe two of them?) that I really don't ever expect to use.

Parallax gave them away during a housecleaning a few years ago, but I never would up doing anything with them, so you can have them if you want (if I can still find them in the garage).

If you're interested, let me know and I'll look for them.

Invent-O-Doc

Ductapemaster and others who might be interested. I've noticed that the professional development board, which is awesome, does go on sale as a daily deal with some frequency (I think to $109). All the on board components really makes prototyping easy, though the SX's location is placed very far away from the 7-seg LEDs and LM386 amplifier and requires long wires for those things. Congrats on scoring a NX-1000!

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Tom Talbot
New Market, MD, USA

hover1

And it has happened again! Daily Deal. $95.99, $64.00 off! This is a great tool, I have two of them.
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/BASICStampDevelopmentBoards/tabid/137/ProductID/123/List/0/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName
Jim

Invent-O-Doc said...
·I've noticed that the professional development board, which is awesome, does go on sale as a daily deal with some frequency (I think to $109).