Customer Reviews

Programming and Customizing the Multicore Propeller Microcontroller: The Official Guide

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As an electrical engineer with 30+ years of experience designing with various microprocessors, microcontrollers, ASICs, FPGAs and CPLDs, I found the book to be a refreshing joy to read compared to most of the similar books available. This book has something for everyone regardless of skill level and is not just the common "re-hash" of the documentation commonly found in many books on the subject.
The book begins with a well-written discussion of the Multicore Propeller and the languages used to program it and escalates throughout, building layer upon layer of knowledge, showing how to have fun and learn using concrete example projects. Upon completion the reader will be well poised to continue
exploring this exciting world with the Multicore Propeller.

As a beginner to electronics with limited hobby level experience in programming computers, I am very impressed with "Programming and Customizing the Multicore Propeller Microcontroller." The book begins with a description of the multicore Propeller and an introduction to the Spin language used to program it. Debugging tools and practices are discussed followed by an overview of sensor basics with examples. Eight interesting projects fill the remainder of the book, with topics ranging from a balancing robot to an HVAC green house model. My favorite project is the chapter on wirelessly networking Propeller chips. In this chapter we are taken through the steps required to wirelessly network a robot with a compass and a PING))) ultrasonic sensor, an accelerometer/inclinometer, and a display. The communication is provided via XBee 802.15.4 modem/transceivers. The final result is a robot that can follow a heading, turn based on wireless input from an accelerometer board (steering wheel), and wirelessly transmit useful information back to the tv display, such as bearing, distance to objects, bar indicators for drives, and signal strength.

Anyone from beginner to advanced skill levels will find this book educational, interesting, and engaging.

This book covers everything you need to know to start building projects with and programming the Propeller microcontroller. From blinking an LED to wireless networking with XBee modules and more. It has examples of working with just about any sensor you can think of, such as GPS, ultrasonic, digital gyros, compass modules, and more. Each chapter has parts lists, schematics, and code. There's lots of good diagrams and photos to help you understand how to hook things together or work with the various devices you connect to the Propeller. They also include lots of "try this" boxes with alternate things for you to try with the project.

There is a chapter on how to debug your code and most of the chapters also contain helpful tips for testing and debugging the hardware as they describe the project. Also, all of the source code for each chapter is available online (the URLs are in each chapter). Some of the projects also have URLs to websites for the project or videos.

Most of what you need for these projects is available from the Parallax site, and if not then the text tells you where you can get the parts needed for the given project.

I am very happy with this book, and will be referring to it for several projects in the future. I highly recommend that you get this book if you are planning to work with the Propeller microcontroller.

This book is a must have! It's not very often you can find a book with this many different authors and have so much useful information in one book.
It provides very handy information on things such as interfacing different sensors, program code examples, a vision guided robot, and many other resources.
Don't pass this one up!

I have read a lot of microprocessor books over the years, and typically find that they are either written by a manufacturer as a reference, or by an end-user who utilized the chip only one way. This book is very, very much different from that. It's written by some of the very best Propeller users out there. The book is incredibly readable - I literally read this book from cover to cover over one weekend - it's that good. No amount of forum "lurking" or OBEX code perusal can even come close to how well written and laid out each chapter is. This book is a wonderful, must-have addition to any Propeller user, and for that matter, any microprocessor user in general. If you read this book, and are not using Propeller's - you will be soon. Kudo's to McGraw Hill. Publish more books on the Propeller like this. I'll buy every one of them.

Okay - I am a Hobbiest, but I do have some cool goals for this year using the propeller. The biggest problem I have is I really like practical examples. I bought this book thinking it would just be a good reference, and yes it does show you lots of practical things you can do with a Propeller. Fortunately for me, this is not a reference book after-all. You will find things for the absolute beginner, and all the way to the "Mad Scientists." I was surprized to see how I really wanted to read this book in a 'linear' form! This was not a book on tips and tricks. This is classroom material, with labs to be done! Fun, and crazy things to do at that. Looking for a better understanding of sensors - sure it's here, but that's just the surface. I realy like the way this book has been set-up with a backbone of understanding approach. You can skip ahead to see some really cool projects and the thinking process of how to do them, but you are doing yourself an injustice to skim the first parts. The Propeller is a different type of microcontroller and it has some way cool techniques to things so I appreciated the extra time put in this book for all the notes and extra care to really help explain all these crazy cool options.

Overall - I am very pleased with the book, and I wish this was the book I first was able to pick up when I started working on the Propeller. The forums are nice but this would have answered a ton of questions I had when I started. There are still lots of material in this book that is crazy cool and beyond my scope of projects and current understanding, but it's nice to know thats there when get to that level.

This is definitely not one of your boring technical manuals. Parallax has brought together 9 authors to bring out this amazing book. Each author is an expert in their field and each chapter brings a project that can be understood and recreated by the reader wanting to learn the Parallax Propeller chip. They are all great projects to learn the Propeller Spin or Assembly language.

I have spent a year with Propeller chip, and I have learned so much more after spending a weekend with this book.

This is a must have book, even though Parallax has some of the best shared resources in the business, the information in this book is priceless.

I have a number of books on programming the Propeller, but this one takes it off the breadboard and into the real world. The breadboard is not neglected though, blinking LEDs are covered as are a multitude of sensors. In addition to all of that there is a chapter on debugging and another on building a two wheeled balancing robot. Most of the chapter authors will be known to those who frequent the Parallax web site and forums. These are the real experts folks.

This book is amazing! Even its explanations of electronics are beyond most others. (Why MUST you use a pull up or pull down resistor...) And it simply takes you farther, faster, and clearly. This might be due to the goodness of the propeller chip, but in any case the book matches that goodness.

If you are reading this review, then you want to understand this subject. If you want to understand this subject, then get this book. You will enjoy it.

This is a very well and thorough book relating to Parallax's propeller chip, witten by some very bright and experienced authors.

I found many issues that puzzled me before reading this book to be easier understood, and in general it is a very helpful book both as learning this
very usefull chip as well as for reference material.