Parallax Propeller
in [Embedded]
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From: David Ashley on 19 Sep 2006 12:45 Peter Jakacki wrote: > I have just uploaded some of my recent screen shots of the Propeller > running VGA and TV displays. > > http://www.pbjtech.com/cpu/propeller/ > > *Peter* Pictures look interesting. The graphics consist of lines in some cases. Lines require memory. But this thing doesn't have enough memory for the display. So how are the lines displayed? I can imagine a system where you just have a display list, say a list of lines to draw and a color for each. Then you have 2 small strip buffers, and you clip all the lines to one of the buffers and draw what would appear in that strip. Meanwhile you're displaying the other. What a headache. Every step of the game you're going to be butting up against the hard 32K byte memory limit. -Dave -- David Ashley http://www.xdr.com/dash Embedded linux, device drivers, system architecture
From: Steve at fivetrees on 20 Sep 2006 20:28 "Peter Jakacki" <peterjak(a)tpg.com.au> wrote in message news:450e4d11$1(a)dnews.tpgi.com.au... >I haven't heard anyone talking about the Propeller since earlier in the >year when it had just been released so I'd like to share my impression of >it with anyone who is interested. BTW, I have been heavily into LPC21xx ARM >chips the last year or so and this is something completely different. > > I received a Parallax Propeller eval board last week and I have been > hooked on it since. At the moment I have my board outputting 128 chars x > 64 lines VGA text in color, outputting an independent TV text display in > color, reading from an electret microphone directly (only Rs & Cs) and > digitizing using internal sigma-delta into a buffer with delay and echo > and spitting that out at the same time through another RC network straight > into the monitors speakers. Meanwhile a PS/2 keyboard and a serial coms > port as well as I2C is operating. > > There are no glitches or hiccups, it just runs as smooth as, all this > without external h/w support, I am impressed. You have me intrigued. I have a project coming up that requires generating several HF signals count-locked to a 1kHz IRIG timing code, and this looks like a very interesting contender. Even if I decide to do it some other way, it's still a cute device. I shall read more. Thanks. Steve http://www.fivetrees.com
From: Isaac Bosompem on 20 Sep 2006 23:20 Peter Jakacki wrote: > I haven't heard anyone talking about the Propeller since earlier in the > year when it had just been released so I'd like to share my impression > of it with anyone who is interested. BTW, I have been heavily into > LPC21xx ARM chips the last year or so and this is something completely > different. > > I received a Parallax Propeller eval board last week and I have been > hooked on it since. At the moment I have my board outputting 128 chars x > 64 lines VGA text in color, outputting an independent TV text display in > color, reading from an electret microphone directly (only Rs & Cs) and > digitizing using internal sigma-delta into a buffer with delay and echo > and spitting that out at the same time through another RC network > straight into the monitors speakers. Meanwhile a PS/2 keyboard and a > serial coms port as well as I2C is operating. > > There are no glitches or hiccups, it just runs as smooth as, all this > without external h/w support, I am impressed. > > Sure, it doesn't have a 512K byte Flash, it loads it's software through > the serial port or an external I2C EEPROM into it's 32K of main RAM > which sounds a bit limited, but look what it can do with it! The > Propeller is comprised of eight 32-bit processors each with it's own 2K > byte RAM connected to a central hub with the 32K of main RAM and 32K > ROM. You can find out more at http://www.parallax.com/propeller/index.asp > > The price has just been halved by Parallax to promote volume use. > > Parallax have an active forum running but has anyone else had experience > with this chip? > > *Peter* The chip looks nice to play with but @ $129 USD for a devkit it would put a hole in my wallet. That SPIN language looks cool too! I am just delving thru the datasheet to see how everything goes together. -Isaac
From: Peter Jakacki on 21 Sep 2006 02:15
Isaac Bosompem wrote: > The chip looks nice to play with but @ $129 USD for a devkit it would > put a hole in my wallet. That SPIN language looks cool too! I am just > delving thru the datasheet to see how everything goes together. My local distributor has the DIP40 + EEPROM + CRYSTAL for $24.20AUD. If you look at the demo board schematics you will see that is all you need other than a 3.3V supply and a bit of board to mount it all on. Use two pencell batteries and skip the regulator if you like. There is nothing that the demo board has that you can't do yourself with bits from the junk-box. The serial port can be a simple 2 transistor affair. In fact I think the absolute bare minimum would be just the chip and a 3V supply as you can boot this off the serial port and run it off it's internal oscillator. *Peter* |