Do more with eight cores. Harnessing the power of the 8-core Propeller microcontroller is now easier than ever before! With built-in sockets and pre-written C libraries, Parallax provides the resources for you to bring your project from idea to reality.
The Propeller Activity Board gives you direct access to the most popular Propeller peripherals, including:
XBee socket — control or receive data from your invention wirelessly
microSD card holder — log sensor data or add WAV files
Mini audio/stereo jack — listen to those WAV files or synthesized speech
3-pin headers — quickly connect to servos, serial LCDs, etc.
Breadboard — build and rebuild circuits without soldering (or desoldering!)
A/D and D/A converters — read or set the voltage your project needs
Parallax Partners with the U.S. Army and Carnegie Mellon University to host the 2013 National microMedic Contest to Encourage Medical Innovation
Uncle Sam Wants You! Now’s your chance to change the way our country does medical simulation and battlefield care. The 2013 microMedic National Contest is calling the best and brightest, that’s you, to help invent new medical applications using microcontrollers. With over $25,000 in cash and prizes awarded to the winners, what are you waiting for? Contestants may use any microcontroller they desire in their application. Parallax is offering two flavors of the microMedic Application Idea Kit full of tons of sensors and cool parts; one kit has the multi-core Propeller chip, the other includes the Board of Education Shield (for Arduino).
In order to help you in your quest we’ve created a special discussion forum for the microMedic contest, provided a list of project ideas and created a bunch of mini-tutorials to help you get started with the kit sensors. We’re even giving away 100 free kits to the first qualified entries. This contest is open to participants of all ages with special prizes for educational and public division winners.
Hurry, contest ends July 31st, 2013! For all the info on the contest check out http://learn.parallax.com/micromedic. Be sure to visit the Official Rules page for all the details on contest entry, including how to apply for a free kit.
Good luck from Parallax, the U.S. Army and Carnegie Mellon University!
Welcome to the beta test of Parallax’s Propeller GCC compiler for the P8X32A Propeller chip. The Propeller GCC Compiler tool-chain is an open-source, multi-OS, and multi-lingual compiler that targets the Parallax Propeller’s unique multicore architecture. Parallax has hired industry experts to develop all aspects of the toolchain, including the creation of a new development environment that simplifies writing code, compilation, and downloading to a Propeller board. The C and C++ compiler tools provide a significant benefit to Parallax customers who use our Propeller multicore processor. Using the Large Memory Model (LMM) and Extended Memory Model (XMM) gives the developer the ability to write C or C++ programs that run faster than Spin or exceed Spin’s 32 KB program size limit, respectively. Additionally, Parallax will be publishing tutorials on learn.parallax.com to provide experience to new developers interested in learning how to develop embedded applications in C or C++. All of this effort will immediately roll into developing compilation tools for Parallax Semiconductor’s long awaited Propeller 2 when it is released.
Cool to see Parallax embracing open-source tools — give it a test drive and send them your feedback!
This Instructable will teach you how to build your own retro-style microcomputer to program, play games and music, and most importantly re-create some of the magic from the 1970′s on your own table. You will be able to assemble this project in an afternoon, and enjoy it for months to come. We’ll start with some a simple kit and build from there.
Even at 40, I still think of myself as a young guy, but my eyes… not so much anymore. From my electronic microscope to my Aladdin Rainbow reading machine, I’ve taken every step to make sure that vision isn’t an issue, but sometimes reading the bands on a simple resistor is still a big pain. Is that an orange stripe or a red one?
Talking Resistor Calculator speaks to tell you what the value of your resistors.
The Quick Proto kit adds video and audio to your Propeller Platform and includes a prototyping area. It can stack on top of the Propeller Platform, or underneath, and it uses the same pinouts as Parallax’s Demoboard.
Awesome author Gordon McComb is ready to add more sensors to his online Microcontroller KickStart series: basic, no-frills wiring diagrams and code examples for the BASIC Stamp 2, Propeller QuickStart, and Arduino Uno. Which one would you like Gordon to write next?
I was recently inspired by a Kickstart project which used Bananas as sensors to control a video game on a PC. I’ve done some video game controls using the Propeller in the past, but I thought this would make an interesting synthesizer project.
Parallax Propeller Quickstart USB Development Board. The QuickStart is an evaluation board for the 8-Core Parallax Propeller. As an open-source reference design the QuickStart board provides basic Propeller circuitry. Developers may use our PCB layout files as their own to speed their project towards completion. As a project board the QuickStart is fully expandable and provides unimpeded access to all I/O pins through an expansion header but includes some button inputs and LEDs to demonstrate programming. With USB power and a selection of QuickStart Project examples it’s also the fastest way to get up and running.
Video Beats uses a Propeller QuickStart board and a Quick Proto to sample line-level audio (like from your MP3 player) and generate video graphics. As the audio input changes, new graphics are generated to match the audio.
Seven visualizations are built-in, they will change automatically, or you can switch them manually by using the buttons on the QuickStart. You can also customize the visualizations to change colors or shapes.
More videos along with assembly and sourcecode @ Gadget Gangster.
The Quick Proto kit adds video and audio to your Propeller Platform and includes a prototyping area. It can stack on top of the Propeller Platform, or underneath, and it uses the same pinouts as Parallax’s Demoboard (P11: Audio, P12,P13,P14: Video DAC).
Features
CD-quality audio with coaxial audio output with low-pass filtering
Kevin Cook and Rick Galinson at Parallax Expo 2012 (Photo Courtesy: (R) Rich Harman)
To close out National Robotics Week with a bang, Parallax opened its doors to hobbyists, engineers, Boy Scouts and its community at the first annual Parallax Robotics and Microcontrollers Expo on April 13-14, 2012. Over 2,000 attendees showed up to celebrate all things robotic by learning to solder and breadboard, touring the manufacturing facility, battling Sumo Bots and taking in some fun and technical talks, as well as the highlight of the show the flying ELEV-8 Quadcopter contests. Parallax friend Rick Galinson stopped by and attempted to shoot down the ELEV-8 with his Gatling gun (which incorporates the Parallax Propeller chip) that shoots over 3000 paintballs per minute. The ELEV-8 survived the attack but ended up a little painted in the process.
Check out the videos of the Gatling Gun vs. ELEV-8 Quadcopter:
Come visit Parallax at the USA Science and Engineering Festival at the Walter E. Convention Center in Washington, D.C. April 28-29, 2012. This event is free to the public and will have exhibits and stage shows to entertain children of all ages. Stop by our booth (#2145) in the Robot Fest area to learn how or perfect your soldering skills on your very own Scribbler 2 LED badge or come battle it out with our wireless Sumo-bots or learn about different sensor types with our Boe-Bots. Visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org for more information on the event.
NEW PRODUCT – Parallax Propeller Quickstart USB Development Board. The QuickStart is an evaluation board for the 8-Core Parallax Propeller. As an open-source reference design the QuickStart board provides basic Propeller circuitry. Developers may use our PCB layout files as their own to speed their project towards completion. As a project board the QuickStart is fully expandable and provides unimpeded access to all I/O pins through an expansion header but includes some button inputs and LEDs to demonstrate programming. With USB power and a selection of QuickStart Project examples it’s also the fastest way to get up and running.
I found the code and schematic by Joe Grand to interface a Parallax Propeller with the Gameboy Printer. I had an extra WiiChuck adapter that I thought would work with the Gameboy Link Cable, but I had to sand down both edges of the adapter so that it would fit. I also had to cut a trace and solder it to another pin.
The Propeller 2 is a general-purpose 32-bit microcontroller with 8 symmetric processors called “cogs.” Each cog has 512 longs (2 KB) of memory from which it executes instructions. Each cog shares a 128-bit data bus to a central “hub” which has 126 KB of RAM and 2 KB of ROM. Most instructions execute in a single clock cycle, with certain math intensive operations taking up to 31 clock cycles to complete. The hub allows each cog round-robin access to the main hub RAM; depending on the hub’s access window relative to the cog, access to hub RAM can take up to 7 clocks (if the access window was just missed) or as little as 0 clocks (if the cog is next in line for the access window). Additionally, the developer has the ability to set a one-time settable encryption key in the chip to protect code downloaded to the chip. On system startup the chip will use this protected key decrypt the encrypted program that is stored externally in non-volatile EEPROM/FLASH. The encryption key is not accessible by any user code.
Parallax is inviting folks to post up in their forums too.
Here’s an Internet enabled Christmas tree ornament that grabs updated stock quotes using a Propeller Platform USB. Gadget Gangster writes…
The Tannenbaum Ticker is a Christmas tree ornament that changes color based on how your stocks are doing.
US and international stocks, commodities, and bonds can be tracked, including market-wide and industry indexes Trade data is polled every 30 seconds during the trading day. The ticker goes from dark red ( > 4% drop from open), to green (within 0.2% of open), to blue ( > 4% increase from open).
Printable catalog (PDF)
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