Check out The Propeller chip!

Post by **benheck** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:33 am

Saw this on Parallax's website. It's like a BASIC stamp on steroids.

http://www.parallax.com

I'm reading up on the programming and design features of this already. And it's CHEAP! This would make an ideal controller for my fabled Bill Paxton Pinball machine.

-Ben

Post by **Sparkfist** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:40 am

An 8 core 32bit processor, that sounds like it would out perform a 2 core 64bit processor. If I could imagine any use for such a thing I would likely start researching, but I don't have any real imagination.

I would say if they could add a more common high-level lanaguage, something like say C++ or Jave. Then you could really open up the opertunites people would take on this. I just don't see why anyone would want to program in assmebly or assmebler.

Post by **marshallh** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:46 am

Apparently the Propeller uses its own high-level proprietary language.
You may want to check out the Microchip PIC microcontrollers (the Basic stamps are based on them) but they have some pretty powerful chips. One of the widely known ones is the PIC16F877 which runs at 40mhz and can be programmed in assembly or C.

bioniclebert · Post by **bioniclebert** » Thu May 18, 2006 12:48 pm

About a week ago I got the BASIC stamp 2. It's really cool!

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Thu May 18, 2006 2:15 pm

marshallh wrote:Apparently the Propeller uses its own high-level proprietary language.
You may want to check out the Microchip PIC microcontrollers (the Basic stamps are based on them) but they have some pretty powerful chips. One of the widely known ones is the PIC16F877 which runs at 40mhz and can be programmed in assembly or C.

40? then why have i been using 20mhz osc.'s this whole time?! :O

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Thu May 18, 2006 3:26 pm

Yeah, that Propeller chip is pretty cool. I was almost tempted to use it for my GP, but eh. I like PICs better.

Post by **marshallh** » Thu May 18, 2006 3:51 pm

Yea, my bad, I just checked the datahsheet and it says 20MHz. I must have been confusing it with some Atmel chip..

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Thu May 18, 2006 5:44 pm

lol damn.

toby dawg · Post by **toby dawg** » Thu May 18, 2006 9:19 pm

marshallh wrote:Apparently the Propeller uses its own high-level proprietary language.
You may want to check out the Microchip PIC microcontrollers (the Basic stamps are based on them) but they have some pretty powerful chips. One of the widely known ones is the PIC16F877 which runs at 40mhz and can be programmed in assembly or C.

holy crap

Extreme_Jesus · Post by **Extreme_Jesus** » Fri May 19, 2006 3:40 am

looks pretty cool

Also on that site i saw some RF transmitters which will come in useful for me as i was thinking of making a remote control for my PC so i dont have to get out of bed

I could buy one but i like making things

legoboy · Post by **legoboy** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:42 am

BASIC stamps are too expensive. I recently bought a programmer and 10 spare MicroPics from Microchip. $50 for the PicKit 2 programmer, and then $1.25 each for each extra chip (that's the regular price). Using one or two of these should be good enough for a pinball machine.