Where to start? Books?

[Overlord]

I am new to the world of stamps and props, but have been reading N&V and Make articles for a while now and want to get my feet wet. The question is, where does one get started? Is there a good book that could be recommended? I have some programming and electronics experience so it wouldn't need to be a "for dummies" kind of thing, but nothing too advanced.

I'm sorry if this is a common question that I should have been able to find an answer to somewhere, but I'm really interested in what the average person out there recommends.

Thanks a lot everyone

[JonnyMac]

Tragically, there's not as much information on the BS1 (we use in the Prop-1) as there is the BS2 (used in the Prop-2)... still, there is information out there.  The nice thing is that PBASIC, in either form, is BASIC -- with some special features added in (unique to embedded control).    If you're using the Prop-1 I would suggest you go back and read the N&V articles; they're available at www.parallax.com on the Downloads menu (start with the old ones that use the BS1).

If you're using the Prop-2, well, Parallax has LOADS of information on the BS2, including a book called StampWorks written by yours truly.  Again, these materials can be downloaded from the Parallax web site. 

I'm working on some EFX-TEK specific materials, but those projects are taking me longer than I'd hoped....

[Overlord]

Hey, thanks. I had looked there, but totally missed the Nuts and volts articles.

Guess it's time to jump in and make something.  :)

[JonnyMac]

You will learn far more from experimenting than from any book -- use the books/articles as a start, and then just do it (like the shoemaker says).  Of course, we're always here to assist if you happen to get stuck or need a bit of direction.

[Overlord]

Just to add a bit of an answer to my own question, I was just handed the book "123 Robotics experiments for the evil genius". This book uses the basic stamp 2 and comes with a PCB to build an experimenting board. It has a lot of examples that build on what you learn in the last chapter. A lot of it was review for me, but it give some practical projects to start learning the stamp and pbasic.


One other question, if I may. Money is rather tight for me right now, is there an emulator for testing programs or do you need to have a programmable chip and everything that goes with?

[JonnyMac]

I think there's a European company that makes a BS2 emulator but it's probably not as cheap as a controller setup -- why emulate when you can have the real deal.  Al Williams (no relation to me) created a BS1 emulator that I've posted here in our forums but it's not terribly useful and you have to use the DOS version of the BS1 editor to compile the program as the DOS version has a command that saves an EEPROM image file that is used by the emulator.

Keep reading, save your pennies, and when you have enough to buy a kit you'll be ready to play with it.