Compare Duemilanove to Parallax BS2, SX28, etc. ??

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
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I am new to the Arduino and pretty much C programming in general. However, I have spent the last 3-4 years designing mainly smaller (e.g. 8x8 to 64x64) LED Displays and other projects with Parallax micro-controllers such as the Basic Stamp 2 (BS2) using its PBASIC language, and SX28 and SX48 micro-controllers using the SX/B language (BASIC like).

I currently have an Arduino Duemilanove and a Sanguino to experiment with and learn to use. I have gotten them to work with a few of the example programs so I know the beginers basics.

I hope to use these Arduino's for LED Matrix displays for very large industrial sized indoor/outdoor (possibly RGB with PWM) displays.

Not to be disrespectfull, I have noticed that the Arduino C like language doesn't seem to be as large as the SX/B language (for writing subroutines / functions) for the SX28 and SX48 by Parallax and may not have what I need for my project.

I'm questioning if these Arduino boards can handle what is needed for controlling large displays. Has anyone done this before with success? I am also looking at using a MikroElectronika BigAVR2 board with their BASIC with an ATmega2560 if the Arduino doesn't have the horsepower for this.

The Parallax SX chips have the speed at up to 50 MHz or possibly 75 MHz but was lacking the correct PWM for these a display of this magnitude. The displays I have are SPI based with PWM of which nothing had been done with Parallax chips using both SPI and PWM from what I could find.

Am I going in the correct direction for a project like this? Hopefully I don't have to go the way of FPGAs but just want some honest answers to know if the AVR chipsets can handle what I am trying to accomplish adequitely or if I need to go in another direction before too much time and money is invested.

Thanks to all for your time and honest answers.

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Not to be disrespectfull, I have noticed that the Arduino C like language doesn't seem to be as large as the SX/B language (for writing subroutines / functions) for the SX28 and SX48 by Parallax and may not have what I need for my project.

Not to be disrespectfull, but I disagree :slight_smile:

I've always been under the opposite impression, but I guess we're both wrong.

As far as driving large LED displays/matrixes, Arduino could do it with the right selections of construction and ICs. And ofcourse efficient code.

Exactly how large are we talking about?

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It's encouraging to hear this about the Arduino. The 16x8 modules are either single color (Red) or RRGB. They are SPI based with no PWM control lines yet, they are used in large displays with PWM characteristics for the 16M colors (RRGB) and 256 shades (single color) from what I see in the datasheets.

24 of these (16x8 pixel modules) make up a cabinet and many cabinets make up a large outdoor sign. A single PC (computer) card (with ethernet) control board is used which I am trying to develop an interface to replace this with my own software and micro-controller board. 1000's of LEDs need to be controlled with PWM shading for color control.

If there is a way to attach some files, I can send you the datasheets, etc.

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Here is another forum with posts and information about my project. There are also datasheets and files attached for you to see.

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/showthread.php?p=657708#post657708