Parallax Propeller

[theinfamousbob]

Looks like this might just be amazing:

**broken link removed**

seems to have a ton of potential (I saw it in Nuts and Volts mag. running a full-color LCD...)

-Infamous

 

[Oznog]

I'm trying to understand what this odd thing is supposed to do. I mean its processor cores look extremely limited. But it does have a really high clock speed.

The bizzare part is I can't find anything resembling a proper spec sheet on any of its aspects. This is weird. Do they even intend to release a spec sheet??? Microchip and others release preliminary specs months or years before the first release of the actual device.

 

[evandude]

seems to be 8 limited microcontrollers that all have access to the same I/O, and get controlled by the central hub... each of the processor cores seems to have nothing but a small amount of RAM, suggesting that the central hub offloads some small task onto each one. I'm thinking parallel processing, being able to run a bunch of subroutines at the same time, etc.

Seems pretty cool... very weird, and I'd really like to see some example projects from them to get a better feel for the device and its capabilities...

 

[DirtyLude]

That does look cool. It's difficult to imagine what it's good for, though. Seems like more high level computing tasks.

 

[motion]

It looks like a cross between a microcontroller and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). I have a couple of real applications in mind if it is as versatile as a micro and almost as fast as a FPGA.

 

[Pommie]

The bizzare part is I can't find anything resembling a proper spec sheet on any of its aspects. This is weird. Do they even intend to release a spec sheet??? Microchip and others release preliminary specs months or years before the first release of the actual device.

Maybe the manual at $25 is the spec sheet. :shock:

Mike.

 

[TekNoir]

Nice (and short) article...

**broken link removed**

 

[Taymo]

Would this chip be a good processor for robot image processing to give a robot REAL eyes. You could store each frame in the global RAM and use the 8 freaking processors to process the image. The fast speed could help to. Could this be a possibility:?:

 

[DirtyLude]

I think image processing is beyond the ability of this chip. Translating stereoscopic camera inputs into 3d environment models is very advanced processing and I'm sure, far beyond the scope of this chip.

The projects I've seen where this is attempted use full computer systems to process the data and are still not all that good at it.

You might be able to do something very simple like a 3d CMUcam and pick out simple object shapes or specific coloured objects and triangulate distance.

 

[Taymo]

Yea your prabably right. I have been thinking about image processing in a standalone device but it seems a bit out of the reach of any devices right now.

 

[DirtyLude]

Well, I edited my post afterwards to include the simple processing.

Something like a stereoscopic CMUcam might be possible with simple edge, colour, or shape detection. Then again it would be possible with any faster chip, like a dsPIC or an ARM controller.

 

[Taymo]

How fast can the fastest dsPIC's run. A DSP would be better for image processing right?

 

[Oznog]

dsPICs run at 30MIPs. That involves some complex 16 bit math and some powerful matrix operations, and FAR more RAM.

There's no reason whatsoever that a dsPIC or any uC can't perform many tasks at once. OK it can't execute two instructions on the same cycle but dividing up processing power among tasks is very common. Hardware resources can do many useful on the same cycle as code executes.

The Prop can run much faster, but the ops and memory are limited, and the way it shares the bus is also potentially limiting. It's hard to understand what this will be advantageous for.

I kinda think the Propeller might be a router or something where it needs to run at really high speed but do little work. Still I'm not sure. Maybe some low-level image processing??

The thing is, Parallax ain't exactly some ultra-high-tech company. They repackaged the PIC into a very weak product that has no serious industry uses, just high school stuff, and then spent a TON of money on marketing.

So I'm kinda skeptical that they made something new and remarkably useful. One theory, it's a device that has virtually no use whatsoever but has features they can confuse people with as being something "cutting edge" and sell to schools.

 

[PropHead]

Oznog, lighten up!

Here is a post by an actual Parallax Propeller user:

https://www.epanorama.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=35959&sid=a440f188f8fa882016c1d826c817e8a2

 

[theinfamousbob]

Found this somehow thru Google:

**broken link removed**

It can do 3d...for $12.95 (the 40 pin DIP).