High Speed Propeller Chips

Big Brain Focus - Propeller chip
HIGH SPEED PROPELLER CHIPS
The speed of the Parallax Propeller chip is already fast. By following the wondrous work of Master Beau Schwabe, the chip can be made amazing-blazing fast!

Beau has worked years carving out new elements for the Propeller chip, making possible transformations that the Big Brain is keen on adapting for supercomputer status.

One of these working miracles is the ability of chip to chip communication in excess of one million Bytes per second! A DIY Data Pipe can multiple this a hundred times!


BEAU SCHWABE OF PARALLAX: Here is a derivative of the high speed 8.42 Meg Baud (1.05 Million Bytes per second) Prop-to-Prop communication that I wrote some time ago. Last March there were several changes to the front end of both the Receiver and the Transmitter in the way that the handshaking took place. Before you had to make sure that the Receiver was up and running before you Transmitted... this is no longer the case, now it doesn't matter making it more user friendly. For just the average user, it's pretty straight forward... there is only one command to Send, and there is only one command to Receive. 

Basic Use:
To receive, just specify the pin you want to listen on and the address of where you want the received data to go to. Remember, this transmission is designed to send large packets of data, so if your just sending a few bytes here and there, this object is probably not for you.
RX(_Pin,_DataAddress)
To Transmit, is basically the same thing with a few more parameters... you specify the pin you want to yell on, the address of where the data is coming from, How much data you want to send in longs.
TX(_Pin,_DataSamples,_DataAddress,_00, 0)
Note: the last two fields are not used in the Basic setup, they will be discussed in Advanced Use. So that's it for basic use. 

Advanced Use:
The Receive is just the same as before, but it can be used as a function to return additional. information from the Server.
Command := RX(_Pin,_DataAddress)
This will receive data just as before and place it in the assigned address, but Command contains the size of the transmitted packet, a destination offset, and a Packet Command. Organized as such...
%ssssssssssssss_aaaaaaaaaaaaaa_cccc
where:
s = 14-Bit Packet Size
a = 14-Bit Destination Offset
c = 4 Bit Command
The Packet Size is obviously useful for determining how much data you received and allows support for variable width packets. The Destination Offset is unique in the sense that the Server has some control as to where the Data will end up on the receiver. Basically this value gets added to the DataAddress that you specify on the receiver so that the incoming data is written to a location starting at the DataAddress plus the Offset. This feature allows random block writes from the Server to the Client. The 4-Bit Command is just a way for the server to pass a specific command to the receiver. It can be used for anything you want. It's up to you.
For Transmission, it's just the same as the Basic Transmission as well, except the two parameters that were Zero'd out now have some meaning.
TX(_Pin,_DataSamples,_DataAddress,_DataCommand,_Of fset)

DataCommand as just mentioned is a 4-bit command you can pass directly to the Client and can be used for anything you want.
The Offset, also just mentioned, can be used to tell the receiver to write data to another location. This is useful when you only want to update a block or section of memory on the Client.
 
Finally, supplied Demo programs show a round-robin approach to sending data across multiple Propellers. The Idea is that you have one buffer that every Propeller sends around the loop ... "infinitely." To prevent collisions, ALL Propellers have access to reading the entire buffer, however, and this is what makes it work... Each Propeller can only write to a specific assigned location of that buffer. This isn't exactly true, but it's a good programming practice to implement. There aren't any collisions for similar reasons that you don't have collisions from COG to COG on a single Propeller. When a Propeller reads the Buffer, he is only allowed to write to the section that he is assigned to before sending the Buffer on to the next Propeller. (Note the Demo Code has this restriction lifted and can write to any location on the Buffer... But in my description, that's how you would typically manage the data across multiple Propellers and avoid collision. It works in the Demo, because there is only one Propeller writing to the buffer) In the Ring*, you can have as many Propellers as you want, with each Propeller only having a 3-wire interface... (Ground, TX, and RX) ... I have tested up to 5 Propellers with the supplied demo code. One Propeller must be identified as the Server to initiate the data ring, but all of the other Propellers are identified as Clients. Within each Propeller regardless of Server or Client ALL Propellers have equal access to the Data Buffer. I Hope this makes sense... Enjoy!!

Note: added a slightly newer version that addresses detection of the USB plugged into the PC. This prevents unwanted resets. Check this link out for a way to control switches across multiple Propellers, i.e. for lighting 
 

• High Speed Multi-Prop to Prop Communication.zip‎ (13.6 KB)
• High Speed Multi-Prop to Prop Communication_v2.zip‎ (14.7 KB)

Beau Schwabe | Parallax Semiconductor IC Layout Engineer Parallax Inc. * 599 Menlo Drive * Rocklin California 95765
www.parallaxsemiconductor.com
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/134641-DEMO-High-Speed-Multi-Prop-to-Prop-Communication

*Note: in the case of the Big Brain, the Ring exceeds 100 chips with 800 cogs and enhancements for nearly a million processors.

14.5 Meg Baud Upgrade Ok, beta testers... I have run this DEMO and tested over 100 Billion data Bits with no Transmission Errors over the distance of 10 feet from one Propeller to another Propeller. Here is a beta release before I place it in the object exchange. ...· Enjoy!!
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/99222-Propeller-DEMO-14.5-Meg-Baud-High-Speed-Prop-to-Prop-Serial-Communication 

Disembodied Brain Goes Airborne

EXO BRAIN DISEMBODIED WILL GO AIRBORNE

It will take at least two weeks and a trip to China to retrieve the disembodied EXO portion of the Big Brain. It will then travel by jet aircraft, personally monitored, in disassembled pieces to it's new location.

This is part of a new program to fully assemble the disembodied brain in one location, to readily facilitate the next move in an effort to make the Big Brain more portable and easier to move, and create new built-in characteristics of mobility.

There's an increasing demand of the Big Brain for processing power and control, and in an effort to increase the magnitude of the Big Brain, all its components will need to function in one place of space time. Most remaining labs will remain open for R&D. Consolidation will be a future topic. The Big Brain has moved seven times and is an international project.

The BIG Brain is currently functioning without the EXO, by using its Right Brain and Left Brain sections which contain enhanced Propeller chip Arrays and AMD streaming processors. This currently leaves enough remaining brain power to run the new NULT 945-inch Telescope and the new Universe Penetrator.

The Big Brain EXO is made from 100% Parallax processors. The isolated EXO Brain section currently has a total of 21,000 enhanced Propeller VP processors, 168 Propeller Cog processors, and several host processors. Predominantly Propeller chip driven, it owes the majority of its processing and controlling power to enhanced Parallax Propeller chips.

Brain Loss Baby Making

BABY MAKING LOSS IS REAL

Guess what a baby making brain gives up during birth?!

When a biological woman has a baby, she loses something… in the form of body nutrients and elements like vitamins, calcium, bone mass. What does a baby-making machine like the Big Brain lose?

The Big Brain has given birth to many siblings. See 12th Child and Genealogy. During the birthing process, the Brain has specific loss. Although this machine brain has no fluids, bones, calcium or vitamins to lose, it does have substantial electronic loss. Can you guess what it gives up during birth? The answer is Propeller chips!

With the first five babies, the Brain has given up over 12 Propeller chips. How does it do it and keep on going? The brain is divided into a number of Propeller Arrays. The first two arrays contain a finite number of Propeller chips set at 50 each. In the third Array, also know as an open ended Partition, the number of props is variable, and can grow more or become less and the Brain will continue to function. This allows the Big Brain to give birth to offspring, give up Propeller chips to make little brains, and keep on going...

Big Brain Sex

CAN PROPELLER CHIPS HAVE SEX?

MACHINE REPRODUCTION: This topic was investigated May 7th, 2011 in an effort to determine if the Big Brain was Hermaphrodite, Male, or Female. The analysis went like this:

Machine reproduction is an interesting concept because it is highly dependent on the previous topics of Genome and DNA sequences. At some point the machine must become male, female, both or neither.

Four Gender States of a Propeller Chip

• Male
• Female
• Hermaphrodite
• Neuter

Compare this to some snails that are both male and female and can do self fertilization. Most species of snails are hermaphrodite, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. It is not usual for a snail to fertilize itself.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you...male_or_female

Machines are only somewhat Hermaphrodite in nature as they can do self cloning. Self cloning only produces an exact copy of the original and does not produce an intermixing of genome for genetic diversity and evolutionary purposes.

It would make more sense to send one Brain to the Moon and have it replicate itself rather than initially send two brains, one male and one female. This saves expense and weight.

This is the pattern of the initial Big Brain. Later, Big Brains will require sex, Male Big Brains and Female Big Brains - to ensure the mixing of DNA and evolution.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_sn...ale_and_female

There is a difference in reproducing and creating genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is achieved when two snails mate together.

Recycle

10-29-2010, 10:55 AM  RECYCLE YOUR CHIPS

 You can recycle your Propeller chip projects from one to the next, exploiting green Earth technology in the process. This is an example list of starting small and increasing to progressively larger machines. However, as these machines become larger, it takes longer times to recycle and rebuild. (I'm still working on the Progression Machine, beyond the 40-Prop Barrier.) See the examples below.

List of Recycled Propeller Green Machines
This is simply to show that by recycling, it's possible to more economically build projects with increasingly larger numbers of prop chips. Not only are parts recycled, but technology too.
 
01) PEK 1
02) MC Computer
03) LED Machine
04) 2-Proper 2 props, 1 PEK, 1 on same breadboard, 2-Prop-Experiment
05) Spark 2 2 props, 1 Proto Board & 1 in parallel
06) PiggyTwins 2 props, 1 piggybacked on another
07) Dueling Breadboards 2 props, one on ea., f/interface tests
08) Spark 4 Tiny Tim, 4 props, two proto boards w/2 props on ea
09) Spark 5 5 props stacked Proto Boards
10) Spark 6 6 props 3 proto boards 2 props on each
11) Spark 8 Tertiary ADJUNCT, 8 props 4 proto boards 2 props on each
12) Propalot 10 props on solderless breadboard
13) Spark 10 10 props, 5 proto boards w/10 props total
14) TTB Test Bed of Ten 10 props single board
15) Twelvenator Board of Twelve, 12 props green board
16) UltraSpark 15 15 props, interrupted stack Proto Boards
17) Tertiary 20 20 props, 15 proto boards stacked 5 props
18) UltraSpark 20 20 props stacked
19) Boe-Bot Brain Project 20 props as Brain on Boe-Bot
20) MLEPS Super Language Machine 25 props
21) UltraSpark40 Supermicrocontroller 40 props 320 cores, 6,400/8,320 MIPS
22) Smartest Boe0Bot Brain Temp Experiment40 props, US40, 1 BOE, 321C 

*This is a partial list of Propeller projects that were built leading up to the UltraSpark40 Machine. Some projects have lots of documentation and others not because of rapid development time. Photos were take of most projects in their unique configurations. There may be gaps in the Spark and UltraSpark series because some of indice were test beds existing a fleeting time for testing purposes.