The BASIC Stamp is a
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable i ...
with a small, specialized
BASIC interpreter (
PBASIC) built into
ROM. It is made by
Parallax, Inc. and has been popular with electronics hobbyists since the early 1990s.
Technical specifications
Although the BASIC Stamp 2 has the form of a 24 pin
DIP chip, it is in fact a small
printed circuit board
A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in Electrical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a L ...
(PCB) that contains the essential elements of a microprocessor system:
* A Microcontroller containing the
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
, a built in ROM containing the BASIC interpreter, and various peripherals
* 2kB of
i²C EEPROM
EEPROM (also called E2PROM) stands for electrically erasable programmable read-only memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers, usually integrated in microcontrollers such as smart cards and remote keyless systems, or as a ...
memory.
* A clock, in the form of a
ceramic resonator
A Ceramic Resonator is an electronic component consisting of a piece of a piezoelectric ceramic material with two or more metal electrodes attached. When connected in an electronic oscillator circuit, resonant mechanical vibrations in the device ge ...
*
Voltage regulator
* External
input/output
The end result is that a hobbyist can connect a 9 V battery to a BASIC Stamp and have a complete system. A
serial connection to a
personal computer allows the programmer to download software to the BASIC Stamp, which is stored in the onboard
non-volatile memory device: it remains programmed until it is erased or reprogrammed, even when the power of the stamp is removed. If the power is reconnected the stamp immediately starts executing the program in slot 0 (of 8, numbered 0..7).
Programming
The BASIC Stamp is programmed in a variant of the
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
language, called PBASIC. PBASIC incorporates common microcontroller functions, including
PWM, serial communications,
I²C and
1-Wire
1-Wire is a device communications bus system designed by Dallas Semiconductor Corp. that provides low-speed (16.3 kbit/s) data, signaling, and power over a single conductor.
1-Wire is similar in concept to I²C, but with lower data rates and ...
communications, communications with common
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...
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.
Once a program has been written in the 'Stamp Editor', an
integrated development environment (IDE) in Windows, the
syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
can be checked,
tokenized and sent to the chip through a
serial/
USB Mini-B cable, where it will run.
Versions
There are currently four variants of the interpreter:
# (1992) BASIC Stamp 1 (BS1)
# (1995) BASIC Stamp 2 (BS2), with six sub-variants:
## BS2e
## BS2sx
## BS2p24
## BS2p40
## BS2pe
## BS2px
# (2002) Javelin Stamp
# (2006) Propeller\Spin Stamp
The BS2 sub-variants feature more memory, higher
execution speed, additional specialized PBASIC commands, extra I/O pins, etc., in comparison to the original BS2 model. While the BS1 and BS2 use a
PIC, the remaining BASIC Stamp 2 variants use a
Parallax SX processor.
The third variant is the Javelin Stamp. This module uses a subset of
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
'
Java programming language instead of Parallax's PBASIC. It does not include any networking facilities.
The fourth variant is the Spin Stamp. The module is based on the
Parallax Propeller and therefore uses the
SPIN programming language instead of PBASIC.
A number of companies now make "clones" of the BASIC Stamp with additional features, such as faster execution,
analog-to-digital converters and hardware-based PWM which can run in the background.
The Parallax Propeller is gradually accumulating software libraries which give it functionality similar to the BASIC Stamp; however, there is no uniform list of which PBASIC facilities now have Spin equivalents.
See also
*
Arduino
updated ARM pin compatible with Parallax BASIC stamp*
ioBridge
*
Make Controller Kit
*
OOPic
*
PICAXE
References
External links
"Comparing PBASIC 2.5 control structures to the old PBASIC"– By Tracy Allen, EME Systems, 2003
Parallax Forums– Discussion Forum
Parallax, Inc.– Corporate website, home of the Basic Stamp and Basic Stamp 2
– By Andy Kaiser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basic Stamp
Microcontrollers
Parallax, Inc. products
BASIC interpreters