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h1. Propeller Microcontroller
The Propeller is a multi-core microcontroller by Parallax.
h2. Specs
- 8 cores (cogs)
- 32-bit architecture
- Max clock speed 80MHz (note that Spin code executes much slower than this)
- Each core has 2K SRAM for programs and data
- 32KB EEPROM used to store programs
- Programmable by serial interface
- VGA output
h2. Windows development tools
- "Parallax home page":http://parallax.com
- "Wikispaces Propeller Wiki, lots of useful info":http://propeller.wikispaces.com
- "Wikipedia entry, good detail":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller
h2. Languages
The Propeller can be programmed in assembler or Spin. There are also third party C compilers available.
h3. Assembler
The Propeller has a small instruction set and is well documented in the Propeller manual.
h3. Spin
A bytecode interpreted language by Parallax. Most of the high level libraries are written in Spin. Each cog can fit a copy of the interpreter in its SRAM, but bytecode is read from hub memory which slows down execution. See the wikipedia page for details.
- "BST":http://www.fnarfbargle.com/bst.html (Brad's Spin Tool) is a cross-platform tool suite for developing Spin programs.
h3. C
There are two C implementations
- "Imagecraft":http://www.imagecraft.com make a commercial compiler, $99 for non-commercial use
- "Catalina":http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=339139 is an open source compiler currently in beta. It is based on the lcc compiler and comes with a complete ieee floating point implementation
h3. Other open/free development tools
- "Program loader script (python, requires pyserial)":http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=161911
- "Homespun Spin compiler":http://propeller.wikispaces.com/Homespun+Spin+Compiler
- Propasm - Propeller assembler, written in Java
h2. Docs
- "Documentation including Propeller manual, board schematics, lab exercises. (10MB)":http://www.expandingbrain.com/PropellerDocs.zip
- "Propeller protobard designs for the beginner":http://ucontroller.com/Propeller%20Protoboard%20Designs%20for%20the%20Beginner.pdf
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