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Propeller II update - BLOG - Page 70 — Parallax Forums

Propeller II update - BLOG

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  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2013-08-08 17:13
    potatohead wrote: »
    I think a lot of us just went into a holding pattern on the tough news we heard earlier...

    You nailed it. That's literally what I did. :)
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-08-08 17:42
    User Name wrote: »
    You nailed it. That's literally what I did. :)
    I was disappointed by the "tough news" but not really discouraged. It sounds like it was a fairly minor problem although it had disasterous effects. I have full confidence that it will be fixed in this next spin of the chip and that things will work much better this time around! I'm looking forward to having a development board that is more the size of a QuickStart than the humongous DE2-115 board! :-)
  • dr hydradr hydra Posts: 212
    edited 2013-08-08 19:37
    What "tough new"? Did I miss a post? Does the p2 have further delays?
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-08-08 19:42
    dr hydra wrote: »
    What "tough new"? Did I miss a post? Does the p2 have further delays?
    I believe this was a reference to the first batch of Propeller 2 chips that were DOA because of a minor oversight that turned into a major problem. It wasn't a design problem though so there is no reason to believe that the next batch of chips won't work better. We'll find out soon I guess!
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    edited 2013-08-08 20:06
    The Spin2 that I'm working on now is for the internal 17-bit address space. I figure that at first, using this Spin2 with the SDRAM driver, one could do BIG DATA programs, with 128k of program space. That's big enough for anything I've ever wanted to do, anyway. I really like the idea of SDRAM for making a self-hosting development platform, aside from video buffering.
  • JRetSapDoogJRetSapDoog Posts: 954
    edited 2013-08-08 20:08
    Don't break the glass covering the panic button just yet. Of course, further setbacks are a possibility, but, fortunately, they're referring to the issue with the initial batch of sample chips a few months back. The exact wording "tough news" comes from post 2055, wherein potatohead identified a sort of "holding pattern" development-wise that he (and others) seemed to have entered after an initial flurry of activity. I think many of us that follow this sub-forum have noticed that change, as the number of new threads and the number of overall posts have gone down over the last month or so (which I can't complain about since I'm not doing Prop 2 development like many of the folks here). This present decrease in posting is, I believe, the "calm before the storm." I think people are just being patient and one can feel the excitement and/or tension building as a new batch of test chips are predicted to hit soon, hopefully before the end of this month. Along with that, the Parallax staff really seems to have its hands busy right now (even more so than normal). For example, Chip mentioned that he's working on SPIN 2, which will obviously be useful for testing the samples when they come in. I still love it, though, when Parallax staff members take a few minutes out of their busy schedules to "throw us a bone" now and then. *UPDATE* Whoops! Another "bone" was tossed out as I wrote that.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2013-08-08 20:30
    Don't break the glass covering the panic button just yet.

    No panic here. I'm entirely confident Chip & Co. will work it all out in Bristol fashion.

    I just meant that when the unfortunate news came out about the first P2's, I went south and flew paragliders up and down the Baja coast. Makes the time fly by.
  • JRetSapDoogJRetSapDoog Posts: 954
    edited 2013-08-08 20:44
    Speaking of Spin2, I was just wondering if any additional string functions would be added. I realize that such functionality is perhaps more naturally or fully addable via a library object, but having a bit more in the "native language" might increase the language's applicability in the education area. And while mentioning that, I'm wondering if there might be any changes or additions to the @ and @@ referencing (or related matters). Those operators are a frequent cause of head scratching, even among non-rookies. Well, perhaps there's only so much that can be done when dealing with memory and symbol references, but I was just wondering. No, I don't really have specific examples or suggestions at this point, though I do recall having some difficulty wrapping my head around how to swap strings a while back. And I can understand that there's only so much that the core language can support and that it can't anticipate every usage scenario. Again, just curious.
  • JRetSapDoogJRetSapDoog Posts: 954
    edited 2013-08-08 20:57
    Although another's post prompted mine, I learned a new term from your post: Bristol fashion. It seems to overlap a bit with "shipshape" or may be used in conjunction with it. For another post on the forum the other day, I spent several minutes reading about differing origin theories for "Poms" (Aussie/NZ/So. African slang for British people). There were too many theories and not enough conclusive evidence to fully decide, but I'm leaning to one of the pomegranate theories (the prison abbreviation one seems too simplistic and rather unlikely to have caught on).
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-08-16 08:10
    cgracey wrote: »
    Yes. Wafers should be back from the fab in two weeks. Then, several days will be needed for transit and packaging. We'll be able to try it out once we get back packaged parts.
    If my counting is correct the chips should be back from the fab today. Only a few more days to go! :-)
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,545
    edited 2013-08-16 08:26
    David,

    Your keen observation is correct. Extracted from an email received Thursday afternoon:

    "... the Fab is showing Propeller 2 wafers are at Metal 6, which means they’re almost out. We should be at etest on Friday, if not tonight."

    So, hopefully we will know something very soon, and be able to test the Propeller 2 chip for ourselves with real code.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2013-08-16 12:37
    David,

    Your keen observation is correct. Extracted from an email received Thursday afternoon:

    "... the Fab is showing Propeller 2 wafers are at Metal 6, which means they’re almost out. We should be at etest on Friday, if not tonight."

    So, hopefully we will know something very soon, and be able to test the Propeller 2 chip for ourselves with real code.
    That's great news! Thanks for the update Beau!
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2013-08-16 13:58
    Awesome news Beau!
    Everything crossed that it goes well, ( well everything except wires :D )
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    edited 2013-08-16 15:56
    "Glued to my seat with excitement" :)
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2013-08-16 18:01
    Crossing fingers...
  • Jack BuffingtonJack Buffington Posts: 115
    edited 2013-08-16 19:11
    Can't wait! Hopefully things really work out this time. There are so many things that I would like to do that could really use the processing power that the Propeller 2 has on offer. I really like the idea of fast computation without an OS getting in the way.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    edited 2013-08-16 21:12
    David,

    Your keen observation is correct. Extracted from an email received Thursday afternoon:

    "... the Fab is showing Propeller 2 wafers are at Metal 6, which means they’re almost out. We should be at etest on Friday, if not tonight."

    So, hopefully we will know something very soon, and be able to test the Propeller 2 chip for ourselves with real code.

    Is that a wafer-probe test at the fab, using test suites you provided ?
    - enough to weed out the ones 'do not bother to encapsulate ?'
    Such simple tests should give a Icc/Vcc to compare against sim ?
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2013-08-17 02:50
    Do we sleep on the pavement outside Parallax HQ to get first dibs, maybe buy up big and scalp em?
  • pedwardpedward Posts: 1,642
    edited 2013-08-17 19:10
    From what Chip has told me, I presume if this batch turns out good, and they have a decent yield, the immediate demand for chips will easily be satisfied.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-08-18 03:25
    Plaintive voice from the back of the car: "Is it ready yet?".
    "Soon son, soon"
    One minute later from the back of the car "Is it ready yet?"

    What do you mean it's the weekend? Out here we have to wait 24 hours per day 7 days per week:)
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2013-08-18 12:11
    I can't decide whether no news is good news. My Pollyanna optimism says it is. The little red guy on my shoulder is suggesting otherwise. an idiot.
  • parskoparsko Posts: 501
    edited 2013-08-19 04:59
    This is great news guys!!! Though I'm not on the forefront of P2 development, I'm super excited to see the new chips arrive myself!
  • photomankcphotomankc Posts: 942
    edited 2013-08-19 11:42
    Heater. wrote: »
    Plaintive voice from the back of the car: "Is it ready yet?".
    "Soon son, soon"
    One minute later from the back of the car "Is it ready yet?"

    What do you mean it's the weekend? Out here we have to wait 24 hours per day 7 days per week:)



    :) Are we there yet?
  • NumPyNumPy Posts: 27
    edited 2013-08-19 12:26
    The natives are getting restless :-)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-08-19 12:40
    Is it ready yet?
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2013-08-19 13:00
    Chip said some really neat things about the Propeller 2 and the status of Spin2 on the Skype call that Jeff had at the Propeller Powered Expo! It was all very exciting and encouraging! :thumb:
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2013-08-19 14:36
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Chip said some really neat things about the Propeller 2 and the status of Spin2 on the Skype call that Jeff had at the Propeller Powered Expo! It was all very exciting and encouraging! :thumb:

    Chip also mentioned the chips from the recent run need to be packaged before they get them, not sure how long that takes.

    C.W.
  • DelusDelus Posts: 79
    edited 2013-08-19 16:56
    For us academics it's usually a week or two :( ... Can't wait to hear how the P2 turns out!
  • Ym2413aYm2413a Posts: 630
    edited 2013-08-19 22:07
    I'm excited! : ]
    It's been a long wait.... Hope this batch of chips turn out okay!

    Keep up the good work guys!
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2013-08-20 01:53
    By the time they hit the streets I will be away in Europe for a month, oh, the agony... oh, the pain....
    Maybe I will just get my pcbs manufactured and order the P2s when I'm away so that I can get straight into it when I get back.
    This is so exciting.
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