[aprssig] Basic Stamps and APRS geeks!

[Brian B. Riley]

There real guy to answer this question would be Wes "fix it with a Stamp"
Johnston .... <grin - hi Wes!>

You ask " Is there much APRS experimentation going on with the Basic
Stamps?" the simple answer is NO.

What you need to do is ask the right question! The Basic Stamp is the handy
dandy one size fits all microP solution to problems on the fly. It allows a
quick solution to a problem without having to spend hours/days coding it up
in ASM or even C. The newer families like the BS2P have built in LCD
display, I2C and One-Wire commands and interfacing so a wealth of solutions
just waiting in one package with a programming solution that can be knocked
out in an hour and smoothed out in 2-3 more.

Andrew Rich replied "too expensive, I went back to PICs." Not an invalid
comment as far as it goes. Here in rural NW Vermont if I go to the
"convenience store" in the village I can get a gallon of milk for $3.00 and
a 6-10 minute round trip total. Or I can run to the bigger town up the road
a piece and buy it at the "chain store" for $2.15, a 30 minute round trip
and a lot more gas. The operative word in this whole parable is
"convenience." If your time is worth anything, the Basic Stamp is nowhere
near as 'expensive' as it may seem.

If I were designing a solution to a problem that I knew upfront would
involve multiple copies and repeated for awhile would I chose a Basic Stamp?
Probably not. But if I had no idea of the scale of the project or the degree
'permanence' I would chose a Stamp in a second. If I needed a solution to a
problem "yesterday" .. Parallax (Atom, PICAXE, et al), here I come.

 
Many a PIC based project has derived itself from a Basic Stamp prototyped
solution.

I keep four or five Stamps around here all the time now. I am always finding
uses for them.

 While I am not that familiar with them I think the Atmel  "Butterfly" (I
think) boards have the promise to come into similar almost cult status as
the venerable Basic Stamp.

-- 
Cheers ... 73 de brian, n1bq, underhill center, vermont




On 1/9/05 6:20 PM, "scott at opentrac.org" <scott at opentrac.org> wrote:

> Is there much APRS experimentation going on with the Basic Stamps?  I've
> never used them myself.  I've got a version of the OpenTracker almost ready
> to go that fits in the same footprint, and should be pin-compatible with the
> BS2 as far as the power pins and such are concerned.  No particular reason
> for that, but they had to go somewhere and I figured that might allow it to
> be used on a BS2 carrier board.
> 
> I haven't found a good source for the press-fit edge pins like the BS2 uses,
> though... and I'm a little worried about the feasibility of installing them
> by hand.  For now I'm just using regular 0.1" pin headers instead.
> 
> Scott
> N1VG