Genie circuits

Steve Rich

New Member
Hi I am new to this work and am wondering if the Genie Chips are the same as Picaxe chips. Also does anyone know of a cheap USB to 3.5mm serial lead that does not cost an arm and a leg?
Thanks
Steve
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
Hi I am new to this work and am wondering if the Genie Chips are the same as Picaxe chips. Also does anyone know of a cheap USB to 3.5mm serial lead that does not cost an arm and a leg?
Thanks
Steve
I'd never heard of "Genie" but they appear to be a different company to Revolution Education. I doubt there is much, if any, commonality between the two companies products.

Some cheap USB to serial adapters can be made to work with the Picaxe system, some can't. There are an awful lot of "fake" Chinese USB to serial adaptors around that are very much hit and miss when it comes to functionality, and there was a problem with drivers a while ago when FTDI decided (quite reasonably) to try to stop the cheap Chinese copies of their product, by stopping the fakes from working with the proper FTDI driver. I believe that some newer USB to serial adapters can reliably support break signalling and have the right signal levels and polarity to programme a Picaxe, so can be used to make up a programming lead - a search of this forum will find a fair bit of discussion on the ones that work and the ones that don't. I have to say that I still think it's very much a lottery when buying Chinese made cheap adapters, as very often there is no way of knowing what you will really get - often the vendors don't accurately describe these things. Others here may be better able to advise, as I've only ever used either the AXE027 or the AXE026 programming leads.
 
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techElder

Well-known member
Steve, welcome to the forum that is supported by RevEd and their products.

Take some good advice and buy the AXE027. In the long run, you won't look back to it costing "... an arm and a leg ...."
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
@ jeremy : I hope you don't mind that I edited your post slightly. Let's just say they are a different product and leave it at that, not give them the oxygen of publicity here. Those products have nothing to do with Revolution Education Ltd and are not PICAXE compatible.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
@ jeremy : I hope you don't mind that I edited your post slightly. Let's just say they are a different product and leave it at that, not give them the oxygen of publicity here. Those products have nothing to do with Revolution Education Ltd and are not PICAXE compatible.
No problem at all, Hippy. I'd never heard of them before, but was a bit surprised at what I found out when I did a quick web search this morning.
 

fernando_g

Senior Member
Unless one is running on a shoestring, always try to buy the genuine article, directly from rev-Ed or an authorized distributor.
You can be sure that Things have been properly tested and debugged, and if you run into problems, technical help will be always forthcoming.

Fortunately you are in the UK, which will greatly decrease the mailing costs as compared to users on the other side of the pond.
However, you'll have to pay VAT..................
 

kfjl

Member
[Removed] discussion on support by other chips for Linux

Speaking as a one-armed unidexter, I recommend the genuine Picaxe download cable for a beginner. Otherwise, when things go wrong, you could waste a lot of time looking for wonky wiring or buggy code, when the problem is with your chocolate FTDI adapter.

That being said, I do have a fake FTDI and it works. I'm currently using both cables, genuine and DIY, to experiment with fake nrf24 modules. They work too. Lots of lost packets though, but that might be me.
 
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westaust55

Moderator
Folks,
This forum is operated by Revolution Eduction for discussion about PICAXE chips, parts connected to those chips and related matters.
In line with the forum "policy" in the ReadMe First:
http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?7679-Read-Me-First!

Might I suggest that we consider this thread closed.
The initial question about a competing product has been asked,
It has been highlighted that it is not Rev-Ed product and some posts are going off topic.

Rev-Ed does in general accept some discussion on electronics that is not directly related to PICAXE but let's keep away from the competing microcontrollers.
 
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premelec

Senior Member
@ Steve; I started programing PICAXEs with D9 serial port so had cable - CH340 USB to D9 adaptors have worked ok for me.. you could try one and I hope you have fun with PICAXEs as i have for over a decade!
 

Buzby

Senior Member
I've only used one AXE027 to programme all my PICAXEs, and I've had it for for so long I can't remember buying it !.

There are hundredsof FTDI cables available on e**y, but I can't be bothered trying to find one that works off-the-shelf, so I'll stick with RevEd's offering.

It does cost £15 as opposed to a 99p Chinese knock off, but considering the hours it's saved me over the years, the AXE027 is worth it's weight in gold.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
Folks,
This forum is operated hub Revolution Eduction for discussion about PICAXE chips, parts connected to those chips and related matters.
In line with the forum "policy" in the ReadMe First:
http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?7679-Read-Me-First!

Might I suggest that we consider this thread closed.
The initial question about a competing product has been asked,
It has been highlighted that it is not Rev-Ed product and some posts are going off topic.

Rev-Ed does in general accept some discussion on electronics that is directly related to PICAXE but let's keep away from the competing microcontrollers.
I've re-read every post in this short thread, twice, looking for something off-topic, and failed. I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence and have expressed my view on the matter.

However, the OP did ask this very clear question in his first post:

Also does anyone know of a cheap USB to 3.5mm serial lead that does not cost an arm and a leg?
I can't see any post here that's gone off-topic, WRT to the two questions asked by the OP.

My view is that there are other threads here that have discussed the compatibility of various USB to serial devices, and it seems to be a topic that comes up fairly often, hence the reason for this advice that I gave in the second post in this thread:
a search of this forum will find a fair bit of discussion on the ones that work and the ones that don't
By all means close the thread for the first reason you give, if you wish, but it seems unreasonable to suggest that the posts regarding USB to serial leads are off-topic.
 

steliosm

Senior Member
Folks,
This forum is operated hub Revolution Eduction for discussion about PICAXE chips, parts connected to those chips and related matters.
In line with the forum "policy" in the ReadMe First:
http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?7679-Read-Me-First!
Still, when you step into this forum, it doesn't automatically have to mean that you have to forget about the other types/brands/models of IC chips out there that do a similar job, or better or worst, to a PicAxe. Understanding your competition will help you identify areas that you can step into and enhance you product.

I see a similar reaction when the "it-that-must-not-by-named" Arduino pops up.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I've re-read every post in this short thread, twice, looking for something off-topic, and failed.
Once a posting has been marked as off-topic by moderators it will not be visible on the forum unless logged-in as a moderator.

Still, when you step into this forum, it doesn't automatically have to mean that you have to forget about the other types/brands/models of IC chips out there that do a similar job, or better or worst, to a PicAxe.
However, this is not the place to advocate the use of alternatives to PICAXE, encourage people away from PICAXE and towards those, or provide free advertising for those who manufacture alternatives.
 

westaust55

Moderator
I've re-read every post in this short thread, twice, looking for something off-topic, and failed. I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence and have expressed my view on the matter.
Further to hippy's comments, I deleted/edited some of those posts.

Off those posts deleted in this thread:
one brought into the conversation yet another non Rev-Ed microcontroller
one brought into the conversation the TV series "Outback Truckers"


However, the OP did ask this very clear question in his first post:
:
:
but it seems unreasonable to suggest that the posts regarding USB to serial leads are off-topic.
those threads discussing AXE027 and similar USB to serial clones were not deleted.


For Steve Rich,
Yes, to reiterate Tex's initial comment at post 3, WELCOME.

Yes some threads to go off topic, but for those who have been here a while lets remember what is in the ReadMe First thread and endeavour to consider the "owners" of this forum and thier wishes/goals.
 
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SteveDee

Senior Member
Steve Rich is a first-time-poster to this forum and he asked 2 intelligent questions.

It looks like we've all learnt something from question 1.

Question 2 may come up several times a year, but it doesn't have a clear cut answer, and for someone just entering the wonderful world of the Picaxe, it is a reasonable question.

So Steve, I hope you don't feel you have just walked into a mine-field. Keep asking questions. This Picaxe forum is one of the friendliest places on the internet to discuss "tech". And they are very tolerant when old fellas like me wander off-topic.
 

techElder

Well-known member
I have absolutely no problem with Westy's moderation, but just suggesting that the moderation post should have mentioned that some off-topic posts were deleted. That was the confusing part of the thread posting. Hippy's post cleared that up.

I generally drag posts off topic and should be banned from the forum. Thanks for not doing that! :D (See? I just did it again!)
 

steliosm

Senior Member
However, this is not the place to advocate the use of alternatives to PICAXE, encourage people away from PICAXE and towards those, or provide free advertising for those who manufacture alternatives.
Hippy, I didn't see anyone advocating alternatives or advertising anything, did you? I did see people, though, mentioning them and referring to them.

So, I understand that as long as they are able to connect to a picaxe and acts as a connected part then it's OK to mention them on the forum.

Rev-Ed should really put more effort trying to move the Picaxe forward than trying to hide the competition from their users.
 

westaust55

Moderator
but just suggesting that the moderation post should have mentioned that some off-topic posts were deleted.
True, only thing in my defense in terms of lack of explanation was that
it was a moderately early 05:43 am my time when I had finished deleting and posting.
That makes me realise my settings must have daylight saving time turned on - I was already out the door an hour later.
 
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stan74

Senior Member
Taken to extremes there would be no "Has anyone used a so and so?" which occurs daily. Sorry, we don't talk about anything not marketed by rev ed. It would be a bit boring. I use "perforated stripboard", nearly said vero,(but I bought it from rev ed) for projects not axe boards so it's my fault if my program doesn't work. Trouble with ebay stuff although cheap, it's marketed at dweeno and pi and any code is c or python. So emphasise we don't convert other code to picaxe basic.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
I have absolutely no problem with Westy's moderation, but just suggesting that the moderation post should have mentioned that some off-topic posts were deleted. That was the confusing part of the thread posting. Hippy's post cleared that up.

I generally drag posts off topic and should be banned from the forum. Thanks for not doing that! :D (See? I just did it again!)
I agree wholeheartedly. I spent ten minutes re-reading all the posts to see if I was the guilty party being "told off"! I had absolutely no idea some posts had been deleted from the thread at all, as there was no indication of this and the implication seemed to be that perhaps I was the one de-railing things by answering the OPs second question, as best I could.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Hippy, I didn't see anyone advocating alternatives or advertising anything, did you? I did see people, though, mentioning them and referring to them.
There were posts which were deemed off-topic and inappropriate for this forum.

So, I understand that as long as they are able to connect to a picaxe and acts as a connected part then it's OK to mention them on the forum.
Posts which are deemed off-topic or otherwise deemed inappropriate may be moderated, edited or removed as appropriate.

Rev-Ed should really put more effort trying to move the Picaxe forward than trying to hide the competition from their users.
That suggests we do not put more effort into moving PICAXE forward when we very much do. However, posts which are deemed off-topic or inappropriate will be moderated, edited or removed as appropriate.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I spent ten minutes re-reading all the posts to see if I was the guilty party being "told off"! I had absolutely no idea some posts had been deleted from the thread at all, as there was no indication of this and the implication seemed to be that perhaps I was the one de-railing things by answering the OPs second question, as best I could.
On one hand it is unfortunate that the forum software does not provide any indication that posts have been removed and the reason for that. On the other we have no intention of 'naming and shaming' anyone.

Where a post is edited by a moderator that will be indicated and there will usually be an explanation why that was done.

Moderated posts are rarely deleted ( except when outright spam and the poster is banned ) but moderated posts will not be visible to non-moderators. This allows us to see what the post was so we can review whether moderation was appropriate, whether, with editing, it can be restored in some form or other, or what the most appropriate way to deal with it is.
 

steliosm

Senior Member
That was fun Hippy!

That suggests we do not put more effort into moving PICAXE forward when we very much do. However, posts which are deemed off-topic or inappropriate will be moderated, edited or removed as appropriate.
It also suggest that you are trying to hide the competition from your users, for whatever reason that is. Anyway, good to know all that Hippy. It did seem to me that you spent too much time on the forum deleting or moderating "inappropriate" posts, but it seemed I wasn't aware that you were actually putting a lot of effort doing great big stuff all at the same time for the PicAxe. Oh, and the community too. Good news, we all learned something today :)
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
On one hand it is unfortunate that the forum software does not provide any indication that posts have been removed and the reason for that. On the other we have no intention of 'naming and shaming' anyone.

Where a post is edited by a moderator that will be indicated and there will usually be an explanation why that was done.

Moderated posts are rarely deleted ( except when outright spam and the poster is banned ) but moderated posts will not be visible to non-moderators. This allows us to see what the post was so we can review whether moderation was appropriate, whether, with editing, it can be restored in some form or other, or what the most appropriate way to deal with it is.
In this case I think a simple comment saying that several posts had been moderated for being off-topic would have been very helpful. That way there would be no "naming and shaming" by having edits clearly shown, and yet those of us who hadn't taken the thread off topic wouldn't be concerned by it (and in my case just a bit angry at the tone of the off-topic "telling off", thinking was aimed at me!).
 

BESQUEUT

Senior Member
That suggests we do not put more effort into moving PICAXE forward when we very much do.
Please, can you remember me when was last released a really new Picaxe ?
IHMO, interpreted BASIC has (greats) advantages and some disadvantages, first of them being execution speed. The more powerfull the chip, the less theses disadvantages are sensitives.
Another point : maybe a day we can see a multitasking Picaxe ? (with no side effect, real background receive,...)
And what about feature requests ?
PE6-Simulation-SETTING-on TIME-System-variable
Named-Pipe-Plugin
midi-commands
No-Timeout-When-Using-Serin-With-Qualifier
and others...

Maybe I have to be cruel to be kind... and to look at the thread subject, this one seems to be worse, but that is not a good reason.
 
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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
As these kind of threads always seem to cause some kind of unnecessary disruption along with an added workload for staff and moderators I am referring it to the Administrator to decide what to do with this thread.
 

westaust55

Moderator
In this case I think a simple comment saying that several posts had been moderated for being off-topic would have been very helpful. That way there would be no "naming and shaming" by having edits clearly shown, and yet those of us who hadn't taken the thread off topic wouldn't be concerned by it (and in my case just a bit angry at the tone of the off-topic "telling off", thinking was aimed at me!).
Jeremy,
I apologise if my statements made you unhappy.

As I mentioned back at post 18:
True, only thing in my defense in terms of lack of explanation was that
it was a moderately early 05:43 am my time when I had finished deleting and posting.

While I knew that non-moderators could not see the content of a deleted post, as my iPhone is virtually permanently logged in I was misguided into thinking others, if logged in, could see a message about the deletion since I normally always see the location of a deleted post in threads in the format:

<member name who posted>
<member status>
This message has been deleted by westaust55.

Reason
Off topic
but even a moderator cannot see the content of a deleted post immediately on entering the thread, only by taking further actions/clicks.


I do not delete too many posts but have moved entire threads such as from the finished area to the active area often and to my knowledge have always indicated in a post that I have and why.
 

geoff07

Senior Member
At risk of provoking a storm, I work often with it-that-shall-not-be-named, and try to persuade the relevant school that Picaxe would be better, because a) more capable command set, b) free software, c) first-class vs. minimal technical support, d) less temptation for the kids to use an autolayout autorouter that is, in the vernacular, pants. Right now they are struggling with a not-backwards-compatible-chip release and are faced with a large bill for new IDE versions to be able to program the new chips, from a reduced budget. Sad. Knowing about a competitor isn't necessarily bad for RevEd.
 

steliosm

Senior Member
It seems you might have a window of opportunity there to introduce the picaxe to the school. If they don't understand the technical part they will understand the numbers :)
 

stan74

Senior Member
Isn't there a common standard in the uk for computer science or is it what the teacher knows how to use? (or thinks knows best)
 

Buzby

Senior Member
My lad used PICAXE at school, so I learnt.

One day he said to me, "Dad, we've done that PICAXE thing you're always playing with."

Me, "Great stuff !, What did you do ?"

Him, "I've forgotten."

Ah well, we can't expect everybody to want to be engineers.

( He's at uni now, studying Russian ! )
 

kfjl

Member
@Westaust55

Well I'll be a kangaroo's uncle! I thought it was the last paragraph you didn't like, but you got rid of the first two!

In the first deleted paragraph, all I said was I'd never use the other chip because, unlike Rev Ed, they can't be bothered to support Linux (and I can't be bothered to support Microsoft).

In the second deleted paragraph, I was taking the pi.... (carefull) mickey. I doubt if they'll sell much of their £299 software, even to Windows users. (Sorry!)

Anyway, thanks for reinstating me.
 
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stan74

Senior Member
Nice Buzby. My son is using spread sheets and data acquisition but don't know how he figured it. All the computers in the house when he lived here and I only saw him use office to write a cv. He had no interest in programming. Now his superiors are called analysts...fnarr. Analysts..ha.ha...analyse this. can they flash a led? What topic is this off?
 

techElder

Well-known member
Nesbit was hiding in the garden 10 years ago! Hippy still had hair!! :D

PS. Acts of civil disobedience against an out-of-control "forum government" :D :D :D
 

manuka

Senior Member
Bah - Nesbit was 2007 Blighty back yard stuff -for a 2017 off topic consider this commercial need!

I've recently been discussing UHF based farm water & stock monitoring for an Australian with an 8000 hectare spread. As such a 20,000 acre "back yard" is equivalent to a rectangle of sides 20km x 40km,even LoRa is going to be stretched unless antenna masts are erected. He presently 4WDs the land (as of course farm managers occasionally SHOULD anyway),but this takes considerable time & is tough on vehicles.

Thoughts are tending towards fixed wing GPS controlled "Ag. Drones", but even they will be pushed to fly the whole farm in one go.

FWIW those of you living city side may not have kept up with such "ag"plications. Both rotary & fixed wing UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are gaining productive kudos on our somewhat smaller Kiwi farms .

Stan. (predictably raised on a farm)
 

techElder

Well-known member
unless antenna masts are erected.
There's nothing as nice as a tall pole! I've got an 90 foot tower that I put up 20 years ago beside my house. Does wonders for range!

I'm sure Australia is a much tougher environment than Texas :)D), and it is tough keeping electronics/batteries working out in the netherlands of sun and heat/cold cycles.

The problem with those "drones" is finding them when they go down.

They need cheap stuff (that works) and redundancy to the max.
 

srnet

Senior Member
The AXE027 is good example of a simple product done well.

Its very well supported by Rev Ed who are always willing to help users getting it going or dealing with problems.

The AXE027 is very good value in my opinion.

Yes you can do much the same as the AXE027 with cheaper products off eBay, but is this forum, which is paid for by Rev Ed, an appropriate place to expect 'free' advice and support for competing products ?
 

rq3

Senior Member
The AXE027 is good example of a simple product done well.

Its very well supported by Rev Ed who are always willing to help users getting it going or dealing with problems.

The AXE027 is very good value in my opinion.

Yes you can do much the same as the AXE027 with cheaper products off eBay, but is this forum, which is paid for by Rev Ed, an appropriate place to expect 'free' advice and support for competing products ?
The AXE027 is a tool, defined (by me) as a seldom, or one time, purchase to make the fabrication of a manufactured item easier and simpler. My old man always told me to buy the best (not necessarily most expensive) tools that I could afford, and I've tried to follow his advice. The AXE027 fits his definition to a tee. Buy it, install it, use it. Or save a buck, struggle, and wonder where the real problem is. It's not like you need to buy a new cable with every Picaxe!

RevEd could pull stunts like Microsoft and HP do, and limit the cable itself to, say, 10 or 100 uses, and then require a license purchase. But they don't, and for that I am eternally grateful. And yes, I worked for HP (Agilent, Keysight...).
 

stan74

Senior Member
I just bought the rs232 to 3.5 jack lead for £2.99 from rev ed and thought glad I didn't buy the usb lead. Worked 1st and every time. I don't like the 3.5 socket rev ed sells. The ground pin is too short to fit on bread board.
 
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