Vintage Computing
80 m=t//10
90 PRINT “Elapsed Time =
“;s;”.”;m;””sec”
100 DISPLAY 13,13: PRINT “Again
(Y/N)?”
110 k=INKEY : IF k=0 THEN GOTO 110
120 IF k<>”N””AND K<>”n””THEN GOTO
10
130 PRINT “Bye!”
Closing Odds and Ends
Let’s conclude with one other trick
for the Mentor’s Friend that you and
your protégé may find useful. Several
popular microcontroller boards can
accept “hats” or “shields” that extend
their functionality by plugging a
daughterboard into headers on the host
board. The Amigo Experimenter’s Section
uses the same breadboard and header
placement as several popular boards
from Parallax, and they offer a little
through-hole kit that makes it easy to
convert breadboard circuits into permanent “shields.”
FIGURE 9: Another trick for your Amigo: Using the Parallax
circuit overlay board to create hardware “shields.”
Shown here on the Experimenter’s section headers is a shield
containing four solid-state relays which is being used to hack a
toy RC car controller.
If you’re interested in converting your own world-changing breadboard projects into permanent shields for
your Amigo, check out the Circuit Overlay Board from
Parallax (P/N 32999). Shield layout and construction are
really easy using the Parallax kit, and if you need plug-and-play convenience (I do mini-Maker Faires with the Amigo,
for instance), shields are a great way to go.
Figure 9 shows a solid-state relay shield sitting
comfortably on my Amigo.
That completes this update of Amigo Color BASIC
2.2L commands. I hope these additional commands (plus
the tricks we discussed) will send you and a young helper
on another adventure with your Amigo. Have fun and be
well! NV
Perhaps the easiest way to build your own Amigo is
from the kit available from the Nuts & Volts webstore,
which provides everything you need, including the circuit
board, all components (including an EEPROM pre-loaded
with Color BASIC), and a 2GB SD card with sample
programs. If you already have a Propeller board with
connectors for a PS/2 keyboard, VGA monitor, and 2GB
SD card, you can “roll your own” Amigo by downloading
the Color BASIC source from the Nuts & Volts website,
updating the I/O pin assignments to match your
hardware, and then loading the compiled Color BASIC
binary to the EEPROM on your board. Or, if you are truly
ambitious, download the Amigo schematic from the Nuts
& Volts website and build out the circuits using your
favorite construction techniques, then download the
Color BASIC source or binary and Flash it to your
EEPROM.
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July/August 2018 57