Hi Bruce,
Wow, I had no idea these existed. The price certainly makes them very attractive, and it looks like some of the larger varieties have better I/O capabilities too (SPI, I2C), though I suspect some of the newer Stamps probably do too. I haven't poked around their site in a while.
My Az/El rotor controller uses the 24-pin Basic Stamp-II, which at ~$50 (still!) was easily the most expensive component in the whole project. But, it works well, and I had a lot of fun working with it. That was my second Stamp project (the first was a simple phone patch controller). See http://home.wavecable.com/~ko6th, near the top of the page. Links to a brief description of the rotor controller design and an old copy of the source code are there in the upper left box.
I'm a software engineer and project manager by profession, but it's all with embedded code - internals of operating systems, I/O drivers, protocol stacks, and stuff like that. I missed the GUI revolution (or more precisely, pre-dated it!), so my struggle right now is that I really want to write a nice mouse-driven front-end for my Yaesu 736R satellite rig to usably handle Doppler shift on the SSB/CW satellites, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I have the FM birds fully automated, but the CLI-based program I wrote for tracking frequency is horrible when you don't know before hand what frequency you'll be on.
I have a book on "C++ GUI programming with QT3" for Linux, but haven't been able to make much progress yet.... Next project, after finishing my GPS module add-on for my Kenwood TH-D7...
Greg KO6TH
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Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 15:49:16 -0300 From: ve9qrp@gmail.com To: ko6th_greg@hotmail.com Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Programming language recommendation? CC: gordonjcp@gjcp.net; amsat-bb@amsat.org
On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 11:43 PM, Greg D. wrote:
Hi Bruce,
How does the Picaxe compare to the BASIC Stamp line from Parallax? I've built several Stamp projects, and they were very easy to deal with.
Greg KO6TH
I believe they are quite similar in concept, but when I looked into these devices, the picaxe chips were much cheaper than the basic stamp ones. For instance, SparkFun has the 14-pin version for $4. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php?c=124 It could be that since then Parallax have improved their low-end offerings.
As one path for becoming familiar with this field, these chips have the advantage (over atmel and PIC) that much of the communication code being supported by built-in commands. SPI, I2C, serial, etc. can be explored with relative certainty that you're not going to mess things up. Of course, now that I know how things ought to work, I'm more confident to work with the atmel line. I suppose the disadvantage is that you learn a one-off programming language.
I have found that the picaxe line are excellent for working with children, as well. They were, after all, designed for the educational market in the first place.
A full comparison of these devices should probably also include the Arduino boards, which provide a standard platform, and might be best for those who do not want to get into soldering and breadboarding.
Lest anyone think this has nothing to do with satellite work, let me add two points: first, I have prototyped some code for the picaxe 28X1 that changes the values of digital pots in response to GS232 codes, in the manner of AA2TX's iRotor project.
Second, I would love to see a really simple programmable device put into orbit aboard a cubesat so that Middle School kids could write programs here on earth, then submit them to the command station to be uploaded to the bird. It would be a simple matter of specifying the input signals for the device, say a couple of temperature sensors and a light sensor, duplicating those materials in kits on earth, then letting the kids write code that would produce telemetry or what have you. Since the picaxe project is simply PIC code, using it would be a matter of finding a space-hardened PIC of the proper kind and loading it with the company's interpreter. One could dedicate one part of the telemetry stream to the output of these students' programs.
73, Bruce VE9QRP
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 23:07:38 -0300 From: ve9qrp@gmail.com To: gordonjcp@gjcp.net CC: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Programming language recommendation?
I appreciate Gordon's expert opinion below. If you'd like something that is very, very simple to work with in order to explore the world of PIC programming, you should also consider the picaxe line of products. These comprise PIC chips with a basic interpreter on board. The wiring for the programmer is very simple, and the toolchain is easy because it removes the compiling stage.
While I'm trying to move on to the atmel line, using this inexpensive programmer: http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/index.html
I still find the picaxe chips dead handy for all sorts of little jobs because so much is built into them.
As for computer programming, I would encourage someone returning to this practice to consider adding one of the cross-platform scripting languages to his or her arsenal. Ruby and Python are both good choices.
73, Bruce VE9QRP
On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 7:18 AM, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ wrote:
JW wrote:
Along the same line: anyone on here doing PIC programming or know of a list for beginners? From CW keyers to Antenna control units and everything in between it looks like it would be fun to program some gadgets for around the shack...
Without lighting up a PIC/AVR flamewar, I've pretty much entirely moved from PIC to AVR. The hardware is generally two to four times faster for the same clock rate (gets more done per cycle) and is easier to program
- you can make up an AVR programmer for the parallel port that's
basically three resistors!
Furthermore, the toolchain is much better for AVR - Microchip are only interested in pushing their frankly dreadful Windows-only MPLAB software, while Atmel actively contribute to avr-gcc, a cross-platform toolchain based on the industry standard gcc. The whole AVR community seems a lot better than the PIC one, and I say that as a long-standing user of PIC microcontrollers.
In short, PIC is great, but the community isn't as strong and the tools are rubbish. On the other hand, Microchip are always more than happy to sample parts and their customer support is *excellent*.
AVR is technically superior in pretty much every way, with an excellent community. Unfortunately Atmel's tech support are a dour bunch who are often hard to get good information out of, and not great at sending samples.
I haven't tried the ARM-based AVRs or the MIPS-based PICs yet, though. Those might be something to tempt me back to Microchip, if MIPS is as good as I remember it ;-)
Gordon _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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