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AppNote - PROP001

Installing Brad's Spin Tool (BST) on Mac OSX

Brad Campbell of Perth, Western Australia has created a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux) Spin Tool equivalent to Parallax's Windows-only Propeller Tool. There is a Parallax webpage that covers the BST and mainly focuses on Mac installation, but, IMHO, it's not as clear as it might be, hence, this webpage.

Before I start, I want to say that this all could not have been done without a quite a bit of help from BradC himself. What you are seeing here is the results of a dozen or more exchanges of email with him, and then, of course, there is the not insignificnat effort that BST itself represents ... thanks, Brad!

First we need to assemble/obtain the pieces; that is Brad's code and, then we need the Parallax font and the core spin objects from the Propeller Tool

We will start with Brad's tools. The links below will take you to open directories where you can directly downlaod the desired files. The latest stable version is clearly indicated and you want to select the file with "OSX" in the filename.

• bstl- The command line loader
  

  This application allows you to load pre-compiled .binary and .eeprom files into your Propeller. It is a command line (Terminal) application that takes optional parameters and a file name.
  

• bstc - The command line compiler
  

  This application is a completely Parallax syntax compatible SPIN and PASM compiler and linker. In addition to being able to compile and load a Propeller, it has a few additional features often requested by users (like being able to emit a list file, some basic optimisation, and zip file generation)

• bst - The GUI IDE
  

  This application is a fairly complete Graphic User Interface based Integrated Development Environment that aims to be eventually comparable and compatible with the Parallax Propeller Tool. BST is structured to be a work-alike to the Parallax Propeller Tool so that new users will find the Parallax documentation familiar enough to be able to start from scratch without being plunged into an unfamiliar environment.

Note - the btsc and bstl binaries from Brad's Spin Tools suite are delivered named "bstl.osx" and "bstc.osx". When you place them someplace in your path, say, "/usr/local/bin", you mights as well rename them trimming the ".osx" off. You are not likely to have a different platform executable hanging around! So they become "bstl" and "bstc" and easier to type. Note also that they are not needed for running the bst.app GUI IDE.

The second and third parts of the needs have been combined into one file called Propeller4BST_Mac.zip (13.7 MBytes). I took a Windows installation of the Propeller Tool (current version 1.2.7) from my Bootcamp partition and I made a copy on the Mac side. I then created a folder called "Propeller". Into that directory I placed the various pieces of Parallax Propeller documentation. I then created a sub-directory called "libraries". Into that directory I moved all of the spin objects. Then add to that the two folders labeled "Examples" and "Help". Last, I placed into the main folder a special copy of the Parallax TrueType Font. Pay particular note of the font file size of 53 KB. If you somehow mix in the original Parallax font file it will be over 1 MB. The wrong font file will screw up the BST IDE Editor. That folder looks like this

A partial view of "libraries" looks like this

Now we take the "Propeller" folder and place it into your "/Applications" folder. Then you unzip the BST zipfile which will extract "bst.app". Take this app and drag and drop it onto the "Propeller" folder. A this point the "Propeller" folder should look like this:

Now we need to install the Parallax font. Once again, check that the font file size is 53 KB. Now double-click on "Parallax.ttf" which should produce the screen below. Click on the button "Install Font" and then quit the Font Book application.

We will now bring up the BST IDE. Double-click on the bst.app and goto Tools -> Compiler Preferences, select "add" and set the path to your "libraries" folder.

Now goto Tools -> IDE Preferences and we willl set the Editor pathes. Select "add" and set the path to your private space, to the sample libraries in "Examples" and, for convenience, to the BST compiler core spin objects. "Default" is the defaulted name for each added path but you select that text entry box and make it more meaningful.

There is one thing left to do. If you have not already done so, you need to install the FTDI USB driver for the Propeller Plug/Clip. The Parallax webpage mentioned earlier has links for the FTDI drivers. You now should be ready to go!

Random Shots

QUESTION: What if you have a ".binary" or a ".eeprom" file to download using the GUI IDE?

Answer #1: Using the drop down selector for file type (just above the "INS") select "binary" or a "eeprom". Work you way down the file tree until the desired file shows and then double-click on it. Then select RAM or EEPROM and off you go.

Answer #2: Using the File->Open navigation find the file you want and open it. The download type window will open. Then select RAM or EEPROM and off you go.