BASIC Stamp
From Free net encyclopedia
The BASIC Stamp is a microcontroller with a small, specialized BASIC interpreter (PBASIC) built into ROM. It is made by Parallax, Inc. and has been quite popular with electronics hobbyists since the early 1990s due to its low threshold of learning and ease of use (due to its simple BASIC language).
Although the Basic Stamp has the form of a DIP chip, it is in fact a small Printed Circuit Board that contains the essential elements of a microprocessor system:
The Basic Stamp language incorporates common microcontroller functions, including PWM, serial communications, I2C and OWI communications, communications with common LCD driver circuits, hobby servo pulse trains, pseudo-sine wave frequencies, and the ability to time an RC circuit which may be used to detect an analog value.
The end result is that a hobbyist can connect a 9V battery to a Basic Stamp and have a complete system. A connection to a PC allows the programmer to download software to the Basic Stamp, which is stored in the onboard memory device. This memory stays programmed until it is erased and reprogrammed (the memory remains intact even when the power is removed).
There are currently two variants of the interpretor, Basic Stamp 1 and Basic Stamp 2. The Basic Stamp 2 variant has seven sub-variants:
- BS2
- BS2e
- BS2sx
- BS2p24
- BS2p40
- BS2pe
- BS2px
Many companies make virtual "clones" of the Basic Stamp with additional features, such as faster execution, A2D convertors and hardware based PWM which can run in the background. However, many use the same pin out as the Basic Stamp, to allow Basic Stamp users to plug in their products in a design that already uses the Basic Stamp.
External links
- Parallax, Inc. – Corporate website
- Parallax Forums – Discussion Forum
- "Comparing PBASIC 2.5 control structures to the old PBASIC" – By Tracy Allen, EME Systems, 2003
- "Independent review of the Scribbler Robot, a programmable intelligent robot utilizing the BASIC Stamp 2 Microcontroller" – By Andy Kaiser
- "Il BASIC Stamp® 2 - Un microcontrollore dalle dimensioni di un francobollo" – By Giuseppe Francesco Indelli, published in the Italian language as an introductory article to the BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller.