DIY Supercomputers with Multiprocessor Mix

Old/new cameras: resources, cpu, card, electronics

DIY SUPER COMPUTERS WITH MULTI-PROCESSOR MIX

The world can be a fast changing place with new ideas born every day. While most people are able to embrace societies new technology, others cannot. In the history of computing, which has seen radical changes over the years, it's the very people in the field that are either innovators and welcome change, or entities of a resistive force which die out or fade away.

Here at the Lab, we like to think there's at least a small part of science innovation and the offering of new approaches and ideas with combined fields of science. One new idea involves supercomputers. Generally a supercomputer is created by taking a bunch of computers of one type, and multiplying its number to create a cluster. This plurality of many computer machines computing in parallel makes a powerful combination.

The Lab is working on supercomputers of a different type. We've discovered that it's possible to connect together many computers and processors of varying types. One may do supercomputing with a mix of highly specific chip boards, different types of CPUs, different types of computers, and a mix of supporting hardware and resources.

In home supercomputing, you use what you can get at a reasonable cost. Home supercomputing projects simply don't have millions of dollars to cash up on expensive arrays. So we collect the parts available, perhaps on closeout, good deals, yesterday's models, used equipment, unusual equipment like the guts of cameras, or great finds from anywhere and anyplace offering lots of CPUs and resources.

This mix may include PCs, Macs, Linux boxes, game machines, GPUs, assorted boards, DIY machines, cameras, or raw chips from assorted companies like Parallax, Parallella, Green Machines, and other multicore chips from various manufacturers. For example, take a look at what you can do with old computers. It's now possible to turn these outdated computers into more processors.

http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/convert-old-computers-into-processors.html

In another example, proof of the pudding, let's take an inside look at the Big Brain Supercomputer. How many different types of processors does it hold? It appears to hold over thirty different types of CPUs and technology. One development state of Big Braining led to a period of assimilation where other material, machines, chips, components, boards, etc. were consumed and made part of the Big Brain. The following list details some of those varying types of assimilated technology.

Parallax Propeller Chips
AMD GPUs
New Mac Computers
Lenovo Computers
ASUS Computers
VP Processors
Parallax BASIC Stamps
Netbooks
MacBooks
iMacs
iBooks
Video Card Processors (several varieties)
Various Boards (8 varieties)
Cameras
Smart Phones
iPad

In conclusion, it's possible to mix a variety of processors and technology to create supercomputers. This can include computers recycled into more CPUs, and a "what's available" approach to the hardware.

Propeller Mini Project Index

PROPELLER MINI PROJECT INDEX

Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 1
Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 2
Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 3
Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 4 & 5

Bare Bones Propeller

Propeller Spin Brain Part 1
Propeller Spin Brain Part 2

Supertronic Spin Brain

Cherry Pie Tiny Super Computer Wannabe
How Slow Can You Go? Processing Speed

Propeller Brain Three Year Anniversary

In the beginning: Brain Stem with BS2 and Prop

PROPELLER BRAIN THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The first post made specifically for the Big Brain project was on August 5th, 2010, by humanoido. This led to a total of 1,763 posts which have received a total of 200,089 views at the Parallax site as of Monday, July 29th, 2013.

1st Big Brain board

On January 3rd, 2012, the Parallax Forum was filled and no longer had space for Big Brain posts. The project was moved to its own blog site. The current blogging site has added another 525 posts. The new site was up and running shortly after January 3rd, 2012 and has remained in full operation through 2016.

The first posted photo of a Big Brain board was on December 21st, 2010 (see photo above). It shows the robotic Brain Stem which was constructed first. The Brain Stem handles the nerve sending ability for robotic motor and various motion control functions. It uses a protected interface that communicates between the 5-volt level of the BASIC Stamp and the 3.3-volt level of the Propeller chip. A serial software interface joins processors and enables inter-board communications. The Lab's first Robotic Brain Stem is created from Parallax processors and designed to communicate motion mobility commands to a Giant Brain. The HBP Hybrid Brain Processor is programmed in two languages.

At the 1st year anniversary, a celebration party was held. Below is a portion of the original post. 
The first multi-brain was made from several Parallax Stamps placed into a humanoid robot built from Parallax Toddler robot parts. The Big Brain's official first post was on August 5th, 2010. The Big Brain uses Propeller chips. Out of respect to its heritage and to remain compatible with ten years of development, a BASIC stamp is designed into its Brain Stem. In building humanoid robots, they were consistently lacking in two things - a long lasting battery and a powerful brain. I wasn't interested in working with battery chemicals so I chose to develop a brain. The brain began by many suggestions from Parallax Forum members. The Brain has many supporting projects posted in the Brain thread. The most recent is a Brain Wave Monitor that can see and hear the thinking of Propeller chips. The Brain led to offspring, several smaller brains, even including a two prop brain in a jar that won Parallax's Project of the week...

At the second year anniversary, the Big Brain machine's state was described.
A working massive Machine Brain with over 100 Parallax Propeller chips. The Big Brain is simply a fun hobby project to run experiments and play with endless possibilities. Over 16,000 MIPS, over 3,200 I/O ports. 3 Partitions - the 3rd is a Magic Partition - holds any number of props from 1 to 50, allows removal & loan to other projects. Talk, sing, dream, learn, evolve, demonstrate Life, color TV, hearing, speech recognition, keyboard, mouse, 2 LCD displays, host boards, compatibility (Stamps, Props, PCs, Macs), sound out, mic in, stomach, Brain Base, Brain Spans, Brain Stem, EXOskeleton, multiple languages, over 100 x 64K distributed RAM/ROM, LED enabled, crystal/EEPROM supported, Mac/PC support computers, 3 TeraByte hard drives, Neural Matter Injector syncs & load props in parallel. Developed ParaP, AtOnce, EnhancedChip technologies - parallel-parallel operations, loading @ once, increase p^N, inject 100,000 Simplex Neurons. Expanding Array. Created modest RTOS - handles cogs, loading, timing, neural matter distribution. Cloning. Executes all-chip-multi-enumeration in a second. Expanding Arrays. HYBRID interface (Serial Communications, Daisy Chain Token Ring Topology, Prop to Prop, Parallel), RI Reduction Interface, AE Automatic Enumerator, Waveform Reliability Filter, No Parts Technology to reduce cost. Addendum: Medical doctor/ Human Genome Project. Offspring: Brain Child, Baby Brain, Bit Brain, and Brain in a Jar. Supporting Mac/AMD add 724 processors. TeraFLOPS computing power just under PetaFlops." 

For the 3rd year anniversary, it's become more challenging to describe all the programs conducted by the Big Brain Initiative.

Principally the Big Brain is doing its own projects which have become greater, more sophisticated and all encompassing. For example, a series of very powerful telescopes are now created, and numerous machines that can see with inference engines, molecular constructs, and gravity are in effect. The Humanoido Labs were internationally expanded to handle more of the Big Brain's work. Work progresses on a new Spin Brain and a manned space program has explored Near Space and deployed a Tiny Space Telescope. Recently a space flight was unexpectedly positioned above a rainbow and discovered that rainbows are shaped in a complete circle.

The Big Brain has already written a scientific paper, and has now progressed to writing a book about itself and Propeller circuits. The Big Brain was enhanced several times. The most recent added enhancements include Supertronic abilities and conventions. As of the third year, many of Big Brain's children, like Bit, have grown up. The Spin Brain is one example of a more mature brain.

The third year budget was greater than the previous two years, owing primarily to summing the increasing resources from NASA, related NASA agencies and continuing investments by Humanoido Labs to keep the Big Brain Initiative running. The largest part of the budget involves the overhead in keeping the Tropical Island Laboratory open and running, such as the cost in running and maintaining two air massive conditioners day and night used to maintain Big Brain operating temperatures within normal parameters, and the use of dehumidifiers and other equipment. Purchase of transportation this past year was also a priority to enable an immediate path to more expeditiously acquire Big Brain parts and related items.

Budget also involves continuing Big Brain projects like the human exploration of Near Space, space launches, acquiring equipment and adding on operations to include the Tiny Space Telescope, Radio Telescope and SETI program, test equipment and providing the time for additional operations, and Propeller and supercomputing R&D.

(The stretch of this time has analyzed black holes and looked at more dimensions beyond space and time, including the quantum arena, particulate entanglement, and numerous other effects.)

One continuing goal is to increase the number of processors inside the Big Brain, as the core density is directly proportional to the given intelligence level of the machine. The push is to lead from a processor density around 200,000 to one million in order to move from a semi-cognizant state to a fully aware state. The exact requirements to accomplish this are unknown at this time, and it's likely the Big Brain itself will be a part of the process in determining its own new state.

In a nutshell, three years of study and experimentation with the brain's propeller chip has led to more discoveries and greater enhancement. In the third year, the Propeller has moved far beyond its original specs, operates faster, can do more, and has more processors. It has more algorithms and has grown up to become a supercomputer, making discoveries about the Universe and beyond. It's now poised on horizon's edge of new science and technology. We cannot begin to fathom what will come next.

LINKS 
2ND YEAR ANNIVERSARY
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2012/07/big-brain-2-years-ago.html
INDEX on current blog
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/p/index.html
1ST FORUM THREAD at the parallax site
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain?highlight=Fill+Big+Brain
CURRENT BLOGGER at the current big brain site
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com
Download Big Brain 1st Anniversary Proceedings (offsite)
http://forums.parallax.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=83945&d=1313056167 
BRAIN IN A JAR
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/132716-Propeller-Brain-in-a-Jar
BRAIN STEM
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/127310-Robotic-Brain-Stem

Propeller Supercomputer

Evolution of the super propeller stage

PROPELLER SUPER COMPUTER
Some thoughts on building a Propeller supercomputer

Don't give up on your projects. Why? They said it couldn't be accomplished. They bickered and argued, flamed and incensed their tempers and raised blood pressure. Not standard they yelled. Impossible they cited. Never been done before they reminded. They demanded stoppage. It's too power demanding. Too costly. Too big. Too crazy. No useful purpose. No apps. They insisted it was pure senseless madness.

The questions asked included, would it be fast enough, would it have enough processing power, would it have enough memory, would it do this, would it do that, would it float, would it...? With too many arguable questions, too many debates, too many mouths speaking all at the same time, too many repeats, and not enough action, we decided to move forward.

To gain enough power, we concatenated processors. To gain enough speed, we added GPUs exceeding Teraflops. To gain enough resources, we added memory, terabyte drives, monitors, cards, and additional computers. To gain enough computational thinking power, we paralleled the circuits. To gain software flexibility, we accessed the ultimate list of propeller languages and ran a fractional number of the near 260 possibilities.

It didn't end there. But to make a long story short, after years of development, the Propeller Supercomputer is complete and accomplished. So if you have a project and you hear the infamous words, "it can't be done," just move forward and finish it. Never give up on it and don't listen to the nay-sayers.

Twin Propeller Board

BUILD A TWIN PROP BOARD USING A PPPB
There's so many uses for the Parallax Propeller Proto Board that we've lost count. However, making this Twin Prop Board is one of our favorite projects and most useful.

The idea is to take one Parallax Propeller Proto Board and add a solderless breadboard and another Propeller chip. Wiring the prop takes place on the back of the board and a connector helps make the circuit connections. This is a good board for experimenting with multi-prop experiments and testing new communications code.

Irony of the Retro Propeller

Retro machine becomes more

IRONY OF GOING TEMP RETRO WITH PROPELLER CHIPS
It's very strange - that to become more powerful, at least in ranking and rating, the Propeller powered Big Brain had to initially take a step into yesteryear by going retro!

— When less becomes more! —

Sometimes less is more! Going retro is not a new idea (pun intended), even though the shape of today's modern processors are sometimes molded and formed into nostalgic products and projects stemming from the past. For example, the Propeller Pocket Mini Computer uses one Propeller chip to create a remarkable retro computer. But what about the Big Brain? What could possibly be gained by going retro and stepping into the past?

The idea on June 30th of 2012, was the creation and completion of a retro "Propeller chip only" machine that had supercomputer rating but only from a nostalgic past viewpoint. This was, of course as we all know now, a precursor to the Big Modern Brain, which took some time and growth to place in the actual Top 500 List of supercomputing machines.

One can take the timeline of supercomputers, divided into decades, and rate even the smallest board today in terms of speed. Range includes 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s etc. Be prepared to calculate speed ranging from flops (floating point operations per second), through the gradual progression of faster and faster ratings, kflops, mflops, gflops, and teraflops.

The photo, seen here in a rotated retro effect, shows the "all propeller laden" retro supercomputer machine, laced with PPPBs and giant solderless breadboards. This experimental Big Brain and retro supercomputer was a gem that led to the development of the first supertronic enhancements and continuing experiments with machines inside machines.

Propellerizaton

Propellerized Big Brain DBA Direct Board Access

PROPELLERIZE YOUR BIG BRAIN

Hey, even if your big brain (or multi prop project) is a congenial mix of parallel processors, there's still a way to pump out more use from the same circuits.

This experiment looks at the Propeller Big Brain in a new way. Existing Propeller chips within the Big Brain are wired for specific purpose. A board may have TV or VGA out, while another board may have more RAM, SD Card, or large EEPROM. There's a variety of boards too, like the Propeller Demo board, Propeller Proto board, and even the full featured Hydra board. Then, there's arrays upon arrays of our own flavored propeller solderless breadboards (now known as Giant Boards) and specific config boards.

For testing and developing, we may want to isolate these particular boards and resources without going through the entire Big Brain's numerous Propeller circuits every time we need new code. For example, not every bit of written code requires a parallel process.

The solution is to "Propellerize" the Big Brain by resource mapping and creating access points to individual boards.

Although every processor can be an access point, this form of Propellerization will possibly include just the boards. Mapping out the boards will be an exciting process because the rewards will include more effective programming, more efficient accessing, a wider variety of singular applications, and faster testing.

This technique also works well for testing pre-existing code, as most code written is specific board dependency in regard to pin numbers and resources.

POINTS OF PROPELLERIZATION

• Propeller Boards
• Host Boards
• Processor Groupings
• Function Groupings 
• Mouse
• Keyboard
• LEDs
• Metered Sections
• Pre-existing Code
• Memory
• Processors
• RAM
• ROM
• EEPROM
• SD-CARD
• Sound Out
• Sound In
• Speakers
• Sensors
• Wireless
• Video
• (TV)
• (VGA)
• Interface
• Serial Communications
• Game Paddles
• Functions

Convert Old Computers Into Processors

CONVERT OLD COMPUTERS
INTO PROCESSORS

Left: The photo shows the MC computer which can add an additional 1008 processors and a Lenovo PC which can add a half million processors

The research department has found a way to convert "old" computers into vast numbers of individual and parallel processors. This could potentially increase the number of processors inside the Big Brain by a vast amount, perhaps well into the millions.

For example, the use of an extra Apple iMac could produce an additional 500,000 processors. The idea comes from the Propeller chip, which, as one chip, has eight cogs and eight instances of the Spin interpreter.

Left: This iBook could add over a quarter of a million processors.

A recycled computer can have many instances as well, with a placement of the interpreters into the main machine. The key will involve finding a low overhead interpreter and linking the repetition of interpreters from the computer to the remaining machines. This may be accomplished with cloning, and the new technique of spatial mapping used in our Monster Machine series as linked to Big Brain telescopes.

Left: one multiple processor micro controller board like this can add over 27,000 processors

The numerical limit of these new processors is unknown at this time when using all the Big Brain peripherals. It will likely depend on the computer's speed, memory, size of the interpreter, speed of the interpreter, display real estate, and other factors. An experiment is being conducted to determine the practicalities of speed and function, and the number of cloned processors that can co-exist on the latest iMac

Left: appending this BoeBot Brain project can add an additional 40,400 processors.

Big Brain Upgrade

BIG BRAIN UPGRADE
Is it time for a Big Brain Upgrade?

From time to time, the big Brain has upgrades, expansions, additions and mods. In looking at some of the discombobulated assemblies that could benefit more effectively in being linked closer together and unionized, an idea sparked and the design of a new Big Brain was underway.

First let's take a look at the basic brain and how the Propellers add up. The original Propeller Powered Big Brain supercomputer stock unit has about 30 boards, over 100 eight core props, 800+ processors (cogs), 719 gpu processors, over 110,000 Vprocessors, paralleled Mac, INTEL and ATOM clustered computers, coming in at an approximate total of over 111,520 processors. A supertronic enhancement convention increases processors significantly, reaching towards 200,000. The dream is to reach one million processor density, obtainable with Prop 2s and/or other techniques. Expansions are scheduled for this summer and fall seasons. Just how these expansions will be implemented is under debate. Below are possible ideas.

1. Unified Containment Exoskeleton
2. Faster Clock Processing
3. More output
4. TV screens
5. A new BIOS
6. Integrated RTOS
7. Creation of a new larger EXO
8. Ability to disassemble for international air flights
9. Hardware groupings
10. New circuits
11. Easier rewiring
12. Relocate 21 inch monitor
13. Mapping of thousands of controls
14. Test Software
15. More processors
16. Resource Computers Conversion To Processors

Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 4 & 5

Experiment 4: crisscross wiring

PART 4 & 5 - IMPROVING RELIABILITY
PROPELLER SIMPLE SPIN BOARD
The Propeller Simple Spin Board will be expanded more in the future. Let's make some preliminary preparations for this and improve its reliability. While in it's RC speed state with RCFAST and RCSLOW, the circuit is already reliable and durable.

Experiment 5: decoupling

 









However, at higher clock speed, overclocking, with unusual loads or demands, electrical pressures and imbalances occur internally inside the chip, which is also effected with various operational configs. These conditions are not always for the better. However, it's possible to improve the operation of these circuits with external wiring and components.

Although it's a lot of technical mumble jumble jargon to describe it, basically the Propeller needs decoupling capacitors on each side of the dip chip, as close as possible to Propeller pins VSS and VDD, and a special added "criss-cross" wiring. Propeller experts say both the connective wiring and the capacitors (use a .1 uf value) belong to the chip and help to prevent blowing out the PLL circuits inside the chip.

The wiring connects one side of the chip to the other side. Ground VSS on one side (use a green or black wire) is connected to ground VSS on the other side, and power VDD (use a red wire) on one side is connected to power VDD on the other side. Use shortest wires that run directly over the top of the chip. This circuit will balance the chip's internal circuitry and help prevent a condition that could damage the chip. With these improvements installed, the Propeller chip is ready to run extremely fast and do much more than we ever expected. Stay tuned for more.

Another possible requirement involves using the addition of 10uf and 100uf capacitors for when the Propeller is expanded with additional demands. Due to limitations of breadboard pins nearest the chip, these capacitors may or may not connect at the power rails position.

Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 3

The main battery supply is switched off, however the LED blinker program continues to operated from USB power. The added breadboard circuit controls the brightness of the LED.

PROPELLER SIMPLE SPIN BOARD
Experiment 3 - Running on USB Trickle Power

Last time we disabled BOE (Brown Out Enable) so that our simple prop board could run on low power. We then asked the question, "How low can we go?" Exploring and experimenting led to a discovery.

First we ran the LED blinker program. Then we shut off the 3.0 volts battery power supply expecting the program to shut down and the LED to go off. However, in a darkened room, the LED was dimly continuing to blink, and the program stayed in memory continuing to run properly.

TEST PROGRAM
pub main
dira[15] :=1
repeat
 !outa[15]
  waitcnt(clkfreq*2 + cnt)

The program is modified to slow down the LED blinker so the meter can settle to get a good reading of voltage drop across the LED.

RESULTS
Run the program with the power supply connected. Remove the power supply. With the USB port connected, the prop chip has a 2.32 voltage high from P15 when the circuit's power supply is off and the USB cable remained connected.

Tests were performed on an iMac with an unpowered four port HUB. When the power supply is on, the prop chip has a 3.0 volt high from P15. The simple way to increase the LED brightness is to use a 5 volt LED or a high intensity LED, carefully controlled without the dropping resistor. When switching back to the full 3.0 volts power supply, the resistor must be reconnected beforehand.

A transistor circuit can also boost the power to the LED. The illustration shows an experiment. The shown circuit is found in Parallax' book, "What's a Microcontroller."

CAVEATS
When the main power is shut off, the program continues to run and the LED continues to blink. When the USB is disconnected, there is no power to the prop circuit and the program is lost. With USB power attached again, without the mains power supply, the prop is not detected and the program will not reload.

IDEAS
One idea is to place the amplifier circuit in between the battery power supply and the prop circuit to see if the programs will continue to load on USB power only. The most simple approach - substitute a 5V LED and the LED dropping resistor can be removed to increase the LED brightness. When switching back to the full 3.0 volts power supply, the resistor must first be reconnected. Or simply route the USB +5 Volt line to become the prop's power supply.

LINKS TO PROPELLER SIMPLE SPIN BOARD EXPERIMENTS

Experiment One - Bare Bones Circuit
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/propeller-simplex-spinner.html
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/bare-bones-propeller.html

Experiment Two - Disabling BOE for Low Power Operations
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/propeller-simple-spin-board-part-2.html

Experiment Three - Running on USB trickle power
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/propeller-simple-spin-board-part-3.html

Experiment Four & Five -  Improving Reliability
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2013/07/propeller-simple-spin-board-part-5.html

Fish Oil Telescope Lens

TELESCOPE LENSES MADE FROM FISH OIL
IS A FISH IN YOUR TELESCOPE'S FUTURE?
The Humanoido Lab was successful in creating hundreds of perfectly formed refracting lenses, of varying size, using fish oil. The objective is to create optics using materials other than glass that circumvents the many hours needed for grinding, polishing, figuring, testing and coating. Such methods could be used for rapid creation and deployment of telescopes in low Earth orbit, on non-orbital missions, spinning in deep space, on the lunar surface, and on the Earth.

These lenses employ a clear and pure fish oil extracted from Cod fish that comes from the deep ocean. The surface tension of a substrate is enough to hold the lens in place and is conducive to the collection of droplets and the formation of the convex curvature. The Cod oil has a propensity to collect together and thus perfect round convex lenses are created.

LENSES ARE FORMED WITHOUT SPINNING
The oil is processed before lenses are created. A recipe of cooking the oil precipitates its consistency before the lenses are made and held in place.

It's possible to vary the diameter of the lens from small to large. The amount of collective oil is directly proportional to the diameter of the lens. The size, amount of oil, weight of the lens, amount of surface tension, and the collective attraction of oil to oil, all contribute to the lens FL focal length process.

Small lenses are teased to join other lenses, forming larger lenses in the process. Keeping the process slow in formation will reduce or eliminate bubbles. The fish oil has a very light viscosity keeping the lens interior very pure and bubble free, perhaps significantly more so than plate, pyrex or other glass created specifically for telescopes.

It may be possible to substitute other carrier liquids (instead of water) to form the lenses and vary their properties. For example, using the CRC Handbook of Physics, a higher viscosity material may be found. As the viscosity varies, the size and depth of the lens also varies.

A collective (top right in the photo) was placed in the substrate and allowed to fill. The idea is to produce a creation vessel for a much larger lens. The results were successful and encouraging and could lead to creating much larger refracting telescope lens objectives of extremely pure quality.

So far, the 40-inch Yerkes Refracting Telescope doesn't have much competition as these lenses still remain under the 14-inch diameter mark due to the limitations of the experimental containment vessel.

Over the Rainbow Space Flight

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW WAY UP HIGH

Wednesday's Spectacular Space Flight View discovery - Over the Rainbow!

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW -
A SPACE FLIGHT TO REMEMBER!
Something Spectacular Happened!!!

We cannot believe what we saw during the second July human space flight, around the time of mid-flight during the process of re-entry descent, at 10,000 feet altitude when above the clouds. The most rare event happened. When traveling in Near Space during the journey on the afternoon of Wednesday July 17, 2013, we were expecting to deploy our radio telescope for testing and observe daytime meteors as radio events from the top down. Instead, when we looked out of the spacecraft cockpit window, this spectacular very rare event image appeared (see photo) - our first time view "Over the Rainbow!"

Oz book

Many things make this event very special. First, few people in the world have ever seen a rainbow like this from space in the "above vantage point," literally above the rainbow. Next, as seen from above, a primary rainbow appears round! Then it has secondary and third rainbows. Looking a bit more careful, above and to the right, a fourth rainbow is dimly visible!

It's believed water vapor in the form of frozen ice crystals were laden above the clouds and the refraction of sunlight rays from the craft's rear direction activated the beautiful prismatic effect causing the rainbow system to become visible. The spacecraft is visible at the bottom of photo. The image was captured through the only available cockpit window with the Tiny Space Telescope set to RFT mode.

The spacecraft was "over the rainbow" exactly like the lyrics to the song as sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie Wizard of Oz. Of course, there's no place like home, but very beautiful and romantic places and events exist in space. Now you know, the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

OVER THE RAINBOW
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Like the song, we can confirm, over the rainbow, way up high, there's a "special land" with things that make up dreams, where stars are seen, and skies are blue, where clouds fall far behind, and the dreams that you dare to dream really truly do come true!

The Human Near Space Program is conducted by the Big Brain Initiative, a semi-cognizant AI supercomputer, born from Parallax Propeller processors, that's exploring the Universe and the science that surrounds all humanity.

Bare Bones Propeller

BARE BONES PROPELLER
PART 1: THE BARE BONES

The Bare Bones Propeller is a minimum circuit designed for a series of step by step expansions.

It will run at RC speeds, has great reliability, and uses programs that output to virtual LEDs and a terminal. The provided program is one example that uses a terminal to display data.

The circuit required a stable power supply and the adding of two filtering and decoupling capacitors. We chose to add these to the power supply leads to avoid clutter on the first schematic. In a series of step by step upgrades, the bare bones schematic will be expanded. Each schematic will show one addition for clarity.


Read the text next to the schematic because it has information about attaching two filtering/decoupling capacitors. The pictorial is from the Parallax PEK manual revision 3 and shows actual breadboard wiring for power and ground connections (VSS/VDD) of one side of the Propeller chip to the other.



Also shown is the program's output showing the on off blinking of a Terminal LED. In the example on page 38 of the PEK manual, the crystal shown at the right, is not needed. The value of filtering capacitors, also known as decoupling capacitors (these capacitors have multiple functions) is .1uf.

 

Propeller Label

PROPELLER LABEL 
This new Propeller chip label is used for drawing Propeller circuits

Copy and paste

Propeller Simple Spin Board Part 2

Schematic: Simple Spin Board

A LOW POWER PROPELLER
SIMPLE SPIN BOARD

PART 2: Updated schematic, more simple software, 1st circuit to run at low power

 

If you missed Part 1 of the Propeller Simple Spin Board, find it at this link:
Propeller Simple Spin Board

A More Simple Program
Here's a program with 5 statements instead of 7 to blink the LED on pin 15. Later we will show a program with only 4 steps in Spin.
 

FIRST MOD DISABLING THE BROWNOUT DETECTOR

In this first modification to the Propeller Simple Spin Board, the connection from BOEn to Ground is removed. Insert a new connection between BOEn and Vdd. This will disable the brownout detector by connecting it to high, and prevent the board from resetting at 2.7 volts or less. (not shown on schematic)


I can't seem to disable brown out detection, if I connect BOEn to Vdd even at 3.3v the Prop won't do anything.
 
Put an external pullup on RST (a 220 ohm resistor from RST to VDD).

When BOE Brown Out Enable is grounded, the Propeller chip has an internal pullup activated. When BOE is held high, the internal pullup is not active, and an external pullup is required on RST to restore functioning.
VOLTAGES

The Propeller Simple Spin Board is capable of operations at voltages much lower than 3.3, 3.0 or 2.7 volts and disabling the brownout detector BOEn will make this possible. This will allow longer battery operations as the voltage drops down, and running on tiny pen cells, watch batteries and other low power sources. How low can you go below 2.7 volts? This is left as a student exercise. A new schematic will reflect this change. For more information http://tymkrs.tumblr.com/post/116554...pins-explained

Q&A Section

Q - I can't seem to disable brown out detection, if I connect BOEn to Vdd even at 3.3v the Prop won't do anything.

A - Put an external 220 ohm resistor pullup from RST to VDD. When BOE Brown Out Enable is grounded, the Propeller chip has an internal pullup activated. When BOE is held high, the internal pullup is not active, and an external pullup is required on RST to restore functioning.

40 Props in a Skyscraper - UltraSpark 40

Smart Boebot brain app

40-Prop SkyScraper Computing Machine
UltraSpark 40 - Super Microcontroller
A Propeller project with 40 prop chips providing 320 RISC computers with 1,280 ports and 6,400 to 8,320 MIPS speed.

DOCUMENTED FROM JULY 10, 2010
(demonstration of basic principles to take some characteristics of a supercomputer, in particular the notion of larger multiples of relatively simple processors communicating over a common bus, each doing a portion of a task in parallel)

This is a simple hobby project designed for pure fun and enjoyment! It may be the most fun project I've ever worked on (cool toy). I only started with the prop about 2 months ago. Thanks to everyone on the forum who posted helpful comments as I learned more SPIN and elements of assembler code. Also thanks to those addicted prop-heads who convinced me to take a look at the Propeller chip. I took a look and this is what happened. It's all your fault!

EDIT: the US40 has become a much more massive project taking several turns of development. It is being used primarily now for Academics. Additional posts underscore continuing developments.

Photo montage shows various views of a simple multiple Propeller chip ongoing project. It will morph into various configurations as new circuits are tested.

Price & Disclaimer
This is a pure hobby project for my personal enjoyment and use only, and is not for sale. If the project does not satisfy your requirements, keep in mind that it was not intended to do so. This is not a product, and the descriptions are offered as is, in whatever degree or lack of degree of completeness for your inspiration and ideas. Good luck!

Form Factor
The UltraSpark 40 easily fits onto a desktop with its small form factor. The space between the Proto Boards is reduced using smaller 5/8-inch spacers. For size comparison, the IBM ThinkPad is the black object under the SkyScraper.

SkyScraper (Tower)
The first Skyscraper took on this shape using 20 Parallax Proto Boards and nylon spacers to achieve a minimal 5/8" board-to-board spacing. Spacing is determined by the vertical height of the board's 1000uF electrolytic capacitor. The SkyScraper has three sides of the board supported. The open end allows more easy routing of wires and cables (not shown in these early pics).

UltraSpark 40 Specifications
40 Props DIP Mix with SMT, Model Number: P8X32A-D40
320 Tiny RISC Computers
Processor/cog/small risc computer Per Chip: Eight
Architecture: 32-bits
Math: Integer and Floating Point
Standard System Clock Speed: DC to 80 MHz
Overclocked to 100MHz
Global RAM/ROM: 40x64 K bytes; 40x32 KRAM / 40x32 KROM
Cog RAM: 512 x 32 bits each x 320 cogs
1,280 ports
640 Counters
20 Dual Expanded Proto Boards with SMT Props
20 Socketed Prop DIPs
Hypered Stack Configuration
Socket Twins Concept
6.4 Billion IPS Standard (Instructions Per Second)
(40 props * 8 cogs * 20 mips = 6,400 MIPS, 6.4BIPS ~= 64MFLOPS)
8.32 Billion IPS Overclocked
(40 x 8 cogs x 26 mips = 8,320 MIPS. 8.32 BIPS ~= 83.2MFLOPS)
Computer Programming Languages approaching 200
Open Ambient or Compressor Cooling
Tiny Parallel Architecture
Computing Array: Parallel Clustering
IEX Technology Endowed
Ext PS Enabled
EEPROMs for Programming, Indexing
Reconfigurable Whole Cubes up to 6 x 6 x 6
Video 3.5-inch TFT LCD AV 4:3 Panel NTSC/PAL 320 x 240 Pixels 12V 3.5W

Terminals
Prop Terminal + special version of FemtoBASIC

Emulation
Emulators: TV, Mouse, and Keyboard

Compatibility/Expansion
HW Proto Boards
HW HYDRA
HW Propeller Demo Board
SW Prop Terminal (virtual keyboard, TV, mouse & keyboard)
SW Digital Storage Scope
OIT (Optics Interface Transceiver)
P-BUS (Prop BUS)
DEEPROM (Dual-EEPROMs)
FLEXPANDABLE (upward mobility path)
SIGNAL ROAMER (not confined to boards)
SKYSCRAPER Expanding F1, F2, F3 ... or B1, B2, B3 ...
Testing Various Designs
Multi-Interface MINT encompasses the chip to chip communications
Circuits for downloading one program into all the props (bootloader)
Path for maintaining 'across the Skyscraper' critical timing
Special oscillator to handle all mult props
Nominal RFI/EMI blanket shield
What is it for?
Hobby only (fun)
Pure Academics
Robots, Robot Control, Sensors
Education, Schools, Students, Educators
Tiny & Simple Parallelism Exampling
running benchmarks
new programming
developing new parallel programming languages
developing & testing new circuits
running many different programming languages
new experiments
exploring capability of 320 little computers running at the same time
developing new apps
robot brain
testing
multi-games
pushing the limits
testing and developing a small neural net
solving codes
New Algorithms
Currently an interest has developed in parallel and various algorithms which has led to some very interesting experiments and results.

Software & Wiring Criteria
Wiring is simplified
Wiring is easily changeable
Speed is maximized for the interface used
Interface facilitates loading all props at the same time
Interface handles frequency synchronization
Code handles identifications
Minimal power consumption is implemented
Interface is compliant with parallel programming and code
Wiring Real Estate Provided
Parts/Circuits are green configured

Software Download
Current software is available and can be downloaded at the Parallax Propeller OBEX. The UltraSpark 40 is a flexible machine and not confined to one design. However, if you want to duplicate the first fundamental design, most of the single wire serial interface drivers will work.

Schematic Download
The schematic that I used is the same as the BASIC Stamp Supercomputer and can be downloaded at that thread. A modification to the value of the resistor may be needed.

Hardware
The first setup included a wire bus in Daisy Chain mode that threaded all of the prop boards through pin 0 and the twin prop. Wire wrap technology is used because the twin prop can be removed and the board will be available for other configurations and recycling into larger projects. A front end prop experiment (one HYDRA) provides TV, Keyboard, game controllers, VGA, mouse, and numerous more capability.

Concept
There are two concepts for communicating internally - 1) the Master/Slave technique and 2) the deterministic approach. More information and examples are provided in the Handbook of BASIC Stamp Supercomputers. The BASIC Stamp Supercomputer uses the Master/Slave approach while the SEED Stamp Supercomputer uses Tiny AI. The UltraSpark 40 can run programs with either approach although different deterministic methods are used for the latter.

Photos & Wires
From a time standpoint, the first pics were taken immediately after the SkyScraper stack was built. This is different from the BASIC Stamp Supercomputer project that had hundreds or thousands of wires protruding. The first UltraSpark 40 design is much more lean and intentionally wired as compact as possible. At higher frequencies there is a consideration to keep wires shortened, and minimal. With overclocking and 100MHz frequencies, such wiring efficiency becomes more important.

Overclocking
I'm experimenting with overclocking and have some very good results. I've found that use of solderless breadboards is possible if the clock is not raised over 100 MHz. Wires need to be kept non looping and minimal length with proper gauge selected. Overclocking raises the current consumption dramatically. Be prepared to use a power supply that can handle the increased amps. If machines are built massively bigger than the UltraSpark 40 with overclocking, they may need to tap into adjacent rooms for power, like a kitchen and a living room for example.

Cryogenic SuperCooling
There's ongoing research and some experiments being developed for supercooling to around dry ice temperatures. Peltier devices are favored though other methods are being tested. More equipment is needed to make this self running. The Cryogenic chamber can be approximately the same as that of the ST4 Astronomical CCD Super Cooled Imaging camera sensor chip. Grouping chips and enlarging the chamber will benefit future designs. I may introduce Virtual CCD Cooling concepts across the Propeller chip.

Color Coding
Colored wire is coded throughout so if a wire falls off, it can easily be remedied by color grouping techniques.

Mixing Art & Science
As some have pointed out, projects may appear have a degree mix of art and science. It may be the way the photos are composed or the construction style of the device, or the way that it can be re-purposed. It's perfectly valid to style your projects by morphing together art and science.

Predecessor Machines
There are at least sixteen machines built before the UltraSpark 40. Each of these machines was utilized to test functions and lay the groundwork for a larger machine. Each project was recycled into the next larger machine. The list will be updated with historical data in a future post.
Demo Board for confirmation
HYDRA front end for mouse, keyboard, TV, VGA
PEK 1 prop on breadboard
2-Prop-Experiment 2 props, 1 PEK, 1 on same breadboard
Spark 2 2 props, 1 Proto Board, one in parallel, recycled for Spark 4
PIGGY-TWINS 2 props, one piggybacked on another
Dueling Breadboards 2 props, one on ea., f/interface tests
Spark 4 Tiny Tim 4 props 2 proto bds w/2 props on ea
Spark 5 5 props, 5 stacked proto boards, Spark 6 forerunner
Spark 6 6 props 3 proto boards 2 props on ea board, led to Spark 8
Spark 8, Tertiary ADJUNCT 8 props 4 proto boards w/2 props on ea
Propalot - 10 props on solderless breadboard, led to Spark 10
Spark 10, 10 props 5 protos 10 props total, Twelvenator forerunner
Twelvenator aka Board of Twelve, 12 props, green board
UltraSpark 15 15 props, interrupted stack Proto Boards
Tertiary 20 20 props, 15 proto boards stacked 5 props, photos
UltraSpark 20 20 props stacked, photos
MLEPS 25 props, boards/breadboards, stripped for UltraSpark 40
Additional Results & Ongoing Studies
Banking experiments
Loading techniques
New inventions (BIN)
PWR management
Horizontal forms
Adjunctive considerations
Forms of communication using LEDs (cheap)
Exploring advantages of FP processing and analysis
BUS expansion
Additional designs with COUNTERs
Chunk space signaling
How a neuron can be implemented
Recycling
(New!) Additions to the US40
Floating Point
Hybrid Integer and FP Mode
Addtl. Processor Functions
Addtl. States in Trinary
Speed Test
Languages

Guest Commentator
It is with great honor that we have comments from Forest Godfrey, a man who has worked on building the world's fastest Jaguar Supercomputer.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?t=125674&page=2

I like the "supermicrocontroller" name to describe Humanoido's tower. It's phenomenal at doing the things microcontrollers do well: controlling GPIO pins, talking low-level hardware protocols, controlling screens, etc. If your goal is to create a cool piece of microcontroller hardware that nobody else has and can control massive amounts of I/O, the Prop Tower is pretty darn sweet. I've been working to get us to use a Prop in our control paths. Forest Godfrey