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If you purchase an SX Tech Tool Kit you will get a Scrolling Text Medal. These medals were originally created by Parallax and awarded to the top three winners at the Robolympics. I guess the device was popular enough to include in the Tool Kit and I am pleased to see it included since it is good platform to use while getting familiar with SX/B and the SX microcontroller.

No batteries are shipped with the medal, but they are required for operation. Two battery holders for CR123 Photo batteries are attached to the rear side of the medal. When possible, I recommend buying rechargeable batteries or hacking your devices to run on more efficient power. You can purchase rechargeable Li-Ion batteries from Batteries Plus; just click the logo on the right. The two batteries are wired in series. Each battery is 3.0V DC, so the series of two batteries is 6.0V (add voltages in series).

Once your batteries are installed, slide the on/off switch on the front of the medal to the on position and the medal will light up and play a little tune. In the video posted below you will see two different programs running. The first program is the one that is installed in the medal by Parallax. When you first power up the medal it will look like this. The other program was created by Jon Williams and the source code can be downloaded from Parallax’s web site.

When you are ready to replace the factory installed code you will need your SX-Key to program the medal. You will also need to have the SX/B software installed. When your code is ready for download, plug in the SX-Key, switch on the medal and then click the “Program” icon or press Ctrl + “P” in the editor window. Remember that the medal must be on for the MCU to be programmed as the SX-Key does not supply power to the circuitry.

I am going to have to come up with a cool hack for the medal. Check out the pictures on the Parallax site of the medals that were given away.

Tags: Medal, SX Micro

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 7:25 am and is filed under Beginner, Hardware, SX Micro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.