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Thursday, 05 February 2009
Parallax believes that an economic recovery must be significantly driven by small businesses and innovators who create ideas and products, driving more electronics manufacturing and purchasing. We recognize the importance of education and the electronics hobbyist, as our own interests began when somebody shared their projects with us. This initial exposure sparks our curiosity and enthusiasm takes over, turning education into profession and hobby into business. Consider sharing your electronics interest with others, and find enthusiasm in your new projects. This Parallaxian focuses on a few inspirational individuals and free resources for the Propeller. We encourage you to contact us if there are particular products or topics you would like to see covered in future editions (parallaxian@parallax.com).
 Dean Goedde's AttoPilot: Make your R/C Plane an Autonomous, Unammed Aerial Vehicle
Dean Goedde's Propeller-based AttoPilot product turns any R/C airplane into an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle. AttoPilot is easy for the hobbyist to use yet has many sophisticated features for the demanding professional. With a 32 bit multi-processor at 160 MIPS, AttoPilot brings the functionality of high end autopilots within reach, and scalability for the future. The amount of real-time data and filters that AttoPilot employs is amazing. It integrates GPS, barometers, servo control and horizon detection into a small PCB. It turns out that AttoPilot flies R/C airplanes more steadily than a human hand. Learn about AttoPilot in our AttoPilot customer application page or on the AttoPilot home page. Parallax is pleased to be part of the AttoPilot product.
Parallax Propeller Contest
Parallax received a tremendous number of entries to our 2008 Propeller Design Contest. The entire set of projects is available for on-line viewing, and several notable entries are featured in this Parallaxian.
 Dennis Ferron's Prop-6502 Laptop, (Honorable Mention)
Chip Gracey's Propeller design gave special consideration towards building stand-alone systems. With much frustration towards an increasingly complex PC architecture, the Propeller design naturally included built-in high-level control for displays, keyboards and mice. Dennis Ferron's Prop-6502 Laptop puts the Propeller in a home-built laptop. Dennis turned a regular matrix keypad into a PS/2 interface, drove the display on his own, and proceeded to combine our new processor with something quite old: the 6502. The Propeller handles all I/O for the 6502 and serves as the laptop's programming interface. Dennis must be a fan of classic RISC architecture and older designs like the Apple, Atari, and C-64 systems. Dennis' example use of Propeller has applications in projects requiring a stand-alone user interface.
 DeepNote Guitar Hero Robot: Spoofs a Video Game with 98-100% Accuracy (Special Recognition)
Here's a hopeful bunch of high school seniors who created the DeepNote Guitar Hero Robot while they interned at Convolve, an Armonk, NY engineering firm. Their project received special recognition in our Propeller 2008 Design Contest. By designing a custom printed circuit board they were able to mount light sensors in front of the TV display. The Propeller does the sampling of the light sensors and controls the guitar to play all songs, in real-time, expert mode with near 100% accuracy! These students will probably become future entrepreneurs.
 Educators and Students: Propeller Education Kit Labs Book in Publication!
The Parallax discussion forums hide a wealth of programming information for the Propeller. Recently we released Andy Lindsay's 228-page Propeller Education kit Labs: Fundamentals text. Like all of our educational tutorials, this one is available in PDF download and now in print. These labs rely on the Propeller Education Kit, but you can still utilize this text without the hardware to learn Propeller programming on any of Parallax's boards. Contents includes I/O and Timing Basics, Methods and Cogs, Objects, Counter Modules and Circuit Applications. Engineers and hobbyists can utilize this text as a resource as a supplement to the Propeller Manual. If you prefer to jump straight to the projects, see the examples Propeller + PC Applications with ViewPort, EEPROM Datalogging and PEKbot featured on the same link above.
 Meet Jen Jacobs, Parallax Art Director
If there's one reason people think Parallax is a much larger company than it is, we'd all agree it has to do with the flexible skill of Jen Jacobs, our Art Director. For over 11 years Jen has produced a unique assortment of any media and art Parallax needs to communicate our products to our customers. Parallax takes pride in Jen's work, and we consider having her on our team a great fortune to our company and customers. Therefore, we introduce Jen in this Parallaxian interview.
Q: What is your job and when did you start working at Parallax?
A: I am the Art Director at Parallax and I started working here in the summer of 1997 soon after graduating college. My job is to create the visual identity for the company, which includes building catalogs, advertisements, trade show displays, graphics for our web site, and everything else on down, even signs for the Parallax kitchen!
Q: From an art production and marketing standpoint, have the changes over the last ten years been significant?
A: Oh my, yes. Software has improved greatly. Most of my work is done with Adobe software (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator) which has become more intuitive with each iteration. I started out on a PC and switched to a Mac about 4 years in; it's just better suited to the type of software I use. And with the advent of digital pre-press and printing, getting print work completed has become so much more user friendly. Love FTP, remote machines, optical mice, faster processing speeds...
Q: Who are the other groups or people with whom you most frequently work with at Parallax?
A: The Marketing department works frequently with Jim in Sales, Dave and Josh in Tech Support, and Stephanie in Education (she is also our editor), as well as many others. It is important for me to get feedback from coworkers who are in direct contact with customers on a day-to-day basis. The forums are also helpful in this regard. It's a great extension of our community.
Q: What would you like our customers to know about Parallax that they may not be aware of?
A: We are not a big company. There are less than 40 of us running the show, so we all get to wear many hats. It's an awesome collaborative experience. And, yes, we do have as much fun as you think.
Q: What kinds of customer applications do you find most interesting?
A: I like interactive projects best. Projects that have a human interface have the power to really draw people in, no matter how technical the audience may be. And I always enjoy a good techy art installation. There are some fantastic fine artists out there that are using Parallax products. Guy Marsden and Ken Rinaldo are two that come to mind.
Q: What's the most surprising event you've observed in your working career?
A: That they let me make that supermarket-themed catalog in 2001! It was so fun. I still feel today like I got away with something big time! But that's the beauty of working for Parallax, I have always been given a tremendous amount of freedom to do my work. It's why I stick around!
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