New to Propeller :)

Matt White

I've been using Stamps for a almost a year now, and still having great success!· I'm also considering trying out the Propeller.· The Parallax website has two basic "kits". ·The Propeller Starter kit seems like a logical place to start.· There's also an Educational Kit (and Labs)·that also look promising, but lacking the nifty interface board with Mouse & Keyboard ports, VGA, etc.· Honestly though most of my electronics projects are centered around robotics in one way or the other...·direct·user input is usually not in the mix.·

At nearly half the price the Educational Kit seems like a better place to "get my feet wet", and go from there.. I just didn't want to get ahead of myself if the Starter Kit really is more geared toward introducing the chip and its functionality.· There's also that USB PropSTICK I keep looking at...

Does anyone have any suggestions?·

Thanks!
Matt

Mike Green

There are lots of choices and they're all good one way or another. The Educational Kit will let you "get your feet wet", but you can also buy the parts and download the tutorials and do the same thing with the Demo Board or the Protoboard (if you buy a breadboard separately). The USB PropStick with the separate breadboard and the Education Kit's tutorials and parts kit is also a good way to go. If you're interested in robotics, you could get a Propeller Robot Controller kit from Wulfden and do the Education Kit's tutorials with that, then use the board as the basis for some robotics work.

I would recommend that you keep at least a TV output and PS/2 keyboard input. They only require a few passive parts and 6 I/O pins and provide very very useful tools for debugging.

Fred Hawkins

I like the Ed Kit -- aside from the four io pins for the prop plug and the eeprom, the entire chip is available. The beginner's texts are quite good. The other options often to tie you up with a ersatz pc interface -- keyboard, tv, mouse. My second choice is the ProtoProp which is just as clean. It does offer a simple path toward the keyboard, etc interface but it doesn't force you. The price is right, particularly the 5 pack.

Leon

I got a Protoboard and Prop plug when I started (they are good value), but I also made my own prototyping PCB. I tend to use that more than the Protoboard, as I don't want to mess up the latter - all I've added to it is an LED. My own board has TV, audio and ADC interfaces wired up on the prototyping area.

Leon

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bulkhead

Getting the PEK and going through all of the labs with it is a great way of learning SPIN, and you can get a couple protoboards later for using VGA, mouse, keyboard and other robot projects since you already have the prop plug from the PEK.

Clemens

I have the propstick USB and built a poor man's demoboard on·one breadboard and a more compact second breadboard for controlling my digital camera via IR.
Building a poor·man's demoboard is·quite easy if you take a look at the demoboard schematic pdf.
The propstick has a smaller eeprom than the other boards, but I like it's compact design with the usb-port and the eeprom on board and the removable crystal.
The education kit seems to be the best bargain because it's cheaper than buying all the parts seperately.