Re: possibly interesting

this thread was in reference to the Parallax propeller microprocessor:

http://www.parallax.com/propeller/index.asp

The chip contains 8 processors (32bit 8Mhz) that work in parallel, 32
IO pins and a high level object orientated programming language which
allows for the creation and sharing of objects and already includes
objects for PS/2 mouse, keyboard and for video(ntsc and pal) and VGA.

I have received the demoboard:

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=32100

And am now just waiting for the 2.5" LCD monitor. In the mean time I
am using a TV card to see the graphics.

I can't say I have fully learnt to use this chip having had it for
only a few days but what I can say is that I have already accessed a
keyboard, mouse and outputed video graphics including points, lines,
vector and bitmap sprites. The programming language is really nice to
use, the object orientated nature is really good as well when you get
used to it and you can still revert to assembly when you really need to.

This chip isn't the be all and end all but I can't imagine a
standalone GUI being much easier or cheaper to create and the reality
so far is matching my hopes for the device.

To start with I'm going to try and make a sinker EDM machine as a
precursor to the wire edm. I should be able to use one of the
processors (cogs as they are known) as a pulse generator and instigate
some form of servo control of a stepper to control the gap. Unlike
other solutions I may also be able to plot gap conditions to the
screen and have a nice DRO etc.

Cheers,

Graham