PropStick Works; What Now?

Comments

• FORD Posts: 221

  2006-05-09 23:18 edited 2006-05-09 23:18

  I suggest that you go through the projects in the thread here...
  
  http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=574524
  
  It gives you some step by step basics which gradually get you deeper into it, rather than starting with a fairly involved program like the TV demo.
  
  Other than that, I think we are all looking forward to the tutorial being released.
  
  Cheers,
  Chris
• EdKirk Posts: 27

  2006-05-10 01:30 edited 2006-05-10 01:30

  Chris,
  
  I did a very poor job of posing my quesiton. I has been through those programs as you suggest. Igave up on those that used and LCD because I do not have one of those.
  
  I have been able to understand those I did study well enough to modify them to change pin numbers to those I had connected to 10 leds, change flashing frequencies, and I generated my own pause procedure (function) in one of them to reduce the typing required to alter the time periods.
  
  I did modify the simultaneous flashing using two cogs so that they finished at the same time. There it was clear that the two programs in the two cogs were downloaded to my PropStick at the same time from the same edited file. From this 'everybody knows' how to load two procedures -- except me.
  
  I think I am ready to find out what is going on inside my chip. I speculated that it may be possible to get the debug data back to my PC and thence to its monitor, but I did not discover how. I recall that this how the Stamps worked when the Debug command was in the list.
  
  That is why I am trying to apply my video monitor.
  
  One of my questions is valid. Must the Popeller chip always be reload from scratch, or can various parts be loaded one by one?
  
  Is the best way to combine two procedures in to the chip to first combine them in the editor?
  
  EdKirk
• Jon Williams Posts: 6,491

  2006-05-10 02:12 edited 2006-05-10 02:12

  One Spin object (the topmost is called the "Top Object") can use the PUBlic methods of any object that it declares as part of its OBJ block.· If, for example, I want to connect a Parallax Serial LCD to my Propeller and I need numeric formatting too, I would use the Debug_LCD object, like this:
  
  OBJ
  
  · lcd : "debug_lcd"
  
  Cha-ching, once I start that object (it has a .start method), I can send data (even formatted numbers) to the LCD without hassle.· So, that's how you link a couple Spin programs.· If you dig into Debug_LCD you'll see that it uses the Simple_Numbers object to handle formatting chores.
  
  I know that many coming from BASIC Stamp controllers will need to get used to breaking up their projects into useful parts; in the end, though, this will save a lot of typing (or Copy-and-Paste) and improve productivity.
  
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  Jon Williams
  Applications Engineer, Parallax
• EdKirk Posts: 27

  2006-05-10 14:43 edited 2006-05-10 14:43

  Jon,
  
  Thanks for your susinct reply! You have made short work of coming to the crux of my puzzlement.
  
  Does that one OBJ line in my edit file cause my computer to search for the appropriate file and include it in the compilation without my having to cut and paste it?
  
  If so in what directory must that source file be placed? Does it have to be listed in the navigation list at the upper left of the IDE?
  
  EdKirk
• Jon Williams Posts: 6,491

  2006-05-10 14:51 edited 2006-05-10 14:51

  Yes, you can think of OBJ as a special form of INCLUDE -- the IDE will search the current directory or the Propeller Library folder for the file. Note that you can also include information in the DAT block.
  
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  Jon Williams
  Applications Engineer, Parallax