Parallax - New Amulet GUI Projects

Comments

• Archiver Posts: 46,084

  2003-07-05 06:11 edited 2003-07-05 06:11

  Is there been anyone out there that has used this Amulet GUI project? And how
  easy is it to program?
  
  Erik Wood <ewood@p...> wrote:Hello Stampers,
  
  Parallax and Amulet have teamed up to provide you with new Amulet GUI
  Projects for the BASIC Stamp!
  
  *************************************
  BS2 and Activity Board GUI
  *************************************
  Parallax carries and supports the Amulet Technologies 5.7" Easy GUI
  Starter
  Kit. The GUI is customizable but ships with the Activity Board.zip
  project
  which allows you to do the following (assuming that you have the
  additional
  hardware):
  
  - Read the status of 4 pushbuttons (on Activity Board)
  - Read the status of the potentiometer (on Activity Board)
  - Read the status of a DS1620 digital thermometer
  (sold separately #604-00002)
  - Play any of 4 theme songs on the piezo speaker (on Activity Board)
  - Dim a lamp module to one of 5 brightness levels over X-10
  (requires X-10 Modules and Lamp)
  
  *************************************
  New GUI Projects
  *************************************
  3 more GUI projects have been developed based on the hardware below.
  
  - Boe-Bot GUI
  - Parallax Standard Servo GUI
  - Unipolar Stepper Motor GUI
  
  To read the complete project details, requirements, and source code,
  visit
  this link -
  http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/audiovisual/amulet_gui.asp
  
  **************************************
  Create your own GUI
  **************************************
  The Amulet GUI is customizable, so even if these projects aren't exactly
  
  what you're planning to control, they provide you with a base to work
  from
  and spur on your imagination. Amulet has created a vast library of
  widgets
  to assist with the development of your GUI. Here's an abbreviated list
  of
  current options:
  
  - X-10 Home and Industrial Lighting
  - Pushbuttons
  - LED's
  - Music
  - Temperature Control
  - Robots
  
  Visit this web page for more information -
  http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/audiovisual/amulet_gui.asp
  
  The ordering page for the Amulet GUI is at this link -
  http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30053
  
  We hope you enjoy the new BASIC Stamp/GUI projects.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Erik Wood
  ewood@p...
  
  Parallax, Inc.
  599 Menlo Dr. Ste #100
  Rocklin, CA 95765
  www.parallax.com
  
  
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• Archiver Posts: 46,084

  2003-07-06 18:38 edited 2003-07-06 18:38

  Hi Gene:
  
  I do not have any first-hand experience of the Amulet, and I did not see a
  manual, but by deduction from the BS2 code:
  
  1) The GUI/BS2 operate Master/Slave (not Client/Server as it says somewhere)
  even though the BS2 does not have any background receive.
  
  2) Data is exchanged in ASCII Hex, where one char is used to represent each
  nibble of a byte - 2 chars per byte. In Amulet.bs2, the first pair of such
  chars are ignored (perhaps false & true pairs for security ?) so 4 chars are
  used per byte.
  
  As a result:
  
  The Amulet.bs2 shows how a header Char defines the function of the Byte to
  follow - which is represented by 4 Chars. The 'Serial In' statement ALWAYS
  collects all 5 chars total - THEN it looks to see if the header is valid. If
  it is not, it waits for 5 more. Once sync slips because of no background
  receive, it appears it will maintain that slip until 'Reset' - no good
  headers, so no new tasks, so no more slips to get back into sync. - you may
  wish to see what Parallax has to say about this - normally they would use
  the Qualifier option, but the Header is not a fixed value.
  
  With the Servo and Stepper example code you will not have that problem
  because only 1 Char is collected. The action then taken is based on the LS
  Nibble - namely 1 of 10 from 256 servo positions (16 would be max for a
  nibble) or simply On/Off for the Stepper.
  
  Note that the GUI pictures are not feedback of the result, but merely
  pictures of the wiring diagrams of each device.
  
  '

  ---

  
  BUT, if you would like some real GUI action, and today, full color,
  professional graphics, then download this free beta version of microGUI as
  featured in Europe's Elektor Magazine - 2.6M self-extracting with almost 20
  ready-to-run BS2 projects - no hardware required other than a BS2:
  www.rhombus-tek.com/microgui.html
  
  To see some of the projects intended for education, and especially suited to
  the Parallax low cost SM board, look here:
  www.rhombus-tek.com/gui-ed.htm
  and note how the Stepper motor and Shift Register GUI pictures are not
  wiring diagrams - a good chance to brush up on how they really work.
  
  
  David H Lawrence
  www.rhombus-tek.com
  

  ---

  Original Message

  ---

  From: Gene Shults <ebs1955@y...>
  To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
  Sent: Friday, July 04, 2003 10:11 PM
  Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Parallax - New Amulet GUI Projects
  
  
  > Is there been anyone out there that has used this Amulet GUI project? And
  how easy is it to program?
  >
  > Erik Wood <ewood@p...> wrote:Hello Stampers,
  >
  > Parallax and Amulet have teamed up to provide you with new Amulet GUI
  > Projects for the BASIC Stamp!
  >
  > *************************************
  > BS2 and Activity Board GUI
  > *************************************
  > Parallax carries and supports the Amulet Technologies 5.7" Easy GUI
  > Starter
  > Kit. The GUI is customizable but ships with the Activity Board.zip
  > project
  > which allows you to do the following (assuming that you have the
  > additional
  > hardware):
  >
  > - Read the status of 4 pushbuttons (on Activity Board)
  > - Read the status of the potentiometer (on Activity Board)
  > - Read the status of a DS1620 digital thermometer
  > (sold separately #604-00002)
  > - Play any of 4 theme songs on the piezo speaker (on Activity Board)
  > - Dim a lamp module to one of 5 brightness levels over X-10
  > (requires X-10 Modules and Lamp)
  >
  > *************************************
  > New GUI Projects
  > *************************************
  > 3 more GUI projects have been developed based on the hardware below.
  >
  > - Boe-Bot GUI
  > - Parallax Standard Servo GUI
  > - Unipolar Stepper Motor GUI
  >
  > To read the complete project details, requirements, and source code,
  > visit
  > this link -
  > http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/audiovisual/amulet_gui.asp
  >
• Archiver Posts: 46,084

  2003-07-07 17:51 edited 2003-07-07 17:51

  Hi Gene,
  
  Each of the Amulet GUI (graphical user interface) projects include
  the HTML pages and BASIC Stamp 2 source code you need to program an
  Amulet Easy GUI module and a BS2. Using the Amulet HTMLCompiler
  (comes with the Amulet Easy GUI 5.7" Starter Kit), you simply compile
  the HTML page(s) in the project. For HTML projects which involve more
  than one HTML page, simply compile the start page and the
  HTMLCompiler will walk through and compile any other referenced HTML
  pages.
  
  Once the GUI is compiled, click the "Program FLASH" button in order
  to download the user interface into the Amulet module. Now program
  the BS2 with the corresponding source code that came as part of the
  Amulet GUI project using the BASIC Stamp Editor/Development System.
  All that is left to do is to connect the BS2 to the Amulet module
  using a null modem cable and you are good to go. You can now send
  commands back and forth between an Amulet module and a BS2 depending
  on the Amulet GUI project.
  
  Use any of the Amulet GUI projects as templates to create your own
  GUI. If you are interested in knowing more about the communication
  protocol betweeen an Amulet module and a BS2, then let me know and
  I'd be more than happy to give you details.
  
  Ed
  
  --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, Gene Shults <ebs1955@y...> wrote:
  > Is there been anyone out there that has used this Amulet GUI
  project? And how easy is it to program?