[Coco] re:Radio Shack STAMP Developer's Kit

[Tony C]

There are many beginners stamp packages available.
I picked up a whole bunch of pic stuff (used) from a guy at a very
reasonable price.
But this didn't come with the beginners manuals that these kits provide.
These manuals are very detailed, and at the right pace for most beginners.
Nuts and Volts used to have a monthly article on stamp projects and you used
to be able to download several applications nots in PDF form, either from
Parallax or Scott Edwards.
Scott Edwards (not dilbert) used to sell a Counterfeit stamp kit that was a
lot cheaper than the basic stamp from parallax, but still used the same pic
and I htink the same basic interpreter. I dont think this product is stiall
available though.

Depending on what you want to do, there are already several companies making
midi processors out of pics or pic-like processors.
http://www.ucapps.de/
http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php

The basic stamps  have  some good instructions for doing serial IO, as well
as sending out DTMF tones.
The the instructions really take the drudgery out of setting up the IO line,
but if you're a low-level guy, then this isn't something you'd want.


Message: 1
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:52:29 EST
From: KnudsenMJ at aol.com
Subject: [Coco] Radio Shack STAMP Developer's Kit
To: coco at maltedmedia.com
Message-ID: <202.128a764d.3156268d at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Say, apropos the recent discussion of the STAMP and other micro controllers
-- just today I found, hanging on the wall at the local Shack, an $89
developer's kit for a STAMP, including small PC board with prototyping
sockets,  a
textbook, and presumably the PC software to talk to it over the RS232 serial
port.

Anyone try this?  Is the STAMP any good for fast data processing, like
serial port data (as in MIDI), or is it restricted to slow events such as
toy
robot control?  There was a second kit for a small robot that rolls across
 the
floor, senses when it hits something, backs away and turns, etc.

Do STAMPs come in families, of slower and faster?  What does anyone  know?
This would be a great chance to get into something, for those of us  who
don't
have lots of spare junk Coco 6809 boards and ROM burners (I do have a
 classic
ROM burner, but no cheat-sheet for it).

Oh yes, the Shack also sells a small PC board making kit for $15.
Thanks, Mike K.