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Anybody else in SA playing with one of these?

Arduino wrote:Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.



Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).


The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs.


Arduino received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities section of the 2006 Ars Electronica Prix. The Arduino team is: Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe, Gianluca Martino, and David Mellis. Credits

Yes my brother has one of these. He uses it to interact with an LCD screen from his PC. Directly connecting to the screen from his PC via the parallel port didn't work, so he ordered an Arduino.

Apparently you can do other fun stuff with it; even hooking up thermometers and then output their data to a screen, etc.

I would have ordered one if I knew what I'd do with it. It's just not something you can intensively develop applications/operating systems for, albeit basically a tiny computer by itself.

One of my buddies got one last week actually. One exactly like the one pictured. I've known about Arduino's for ages now, but he explained it to me in MUCH more detail, and it sounds like something I'd love. Considering getting one

You enjoying it Prime?

Still considering which ones to get. I want two so that I can play with communication between them, ultimate goal being 2 wirelessly linked drones.

Problem is that I already have 5 programming boards (free mind you but still). (I'll never focus )

Arduino is good for one off projects and the like. A custom board is always better for the real stuff. I like the idea of Arduino in that it enables non-electronic engineer people to actually make stuff. A couple of our software people at work have them for personal stuff at home.

ARduino is good for prototyping.

I'm stuck on which system to go with for my project.

Its between Atmel, TI and something based on the cortex m3 architecture.

Prime wrote:ARduino is good for prototyping.

I'm stuck on which system to go with for my project.

Its between Atmel, TI and something based on the cortex m3 architecture.

CORTEX-M3 !!!!

I love it. STM32F103 is near perfection. If you want compilers let me know I can point you in the right direction.

Samaya wrote:

Prime wrote:ARduino is good for prototyping.

I'm stuck on which system to go with for my project.

Its between Atmel, TI and something based on the cortex m3 architecture.

CORTEX-M3 !!!!

I love it. STM32F103 is near perfection. If you want compilers let me know I can point you in the right direction.

WHat's the learning curve like for someone who's mildly familiar with AVR and C?

And integration with other hardware? I assume the stuff is all surface mount?

Prime wrote:

Samaya wrote:

Prime wrote:ARduino is good for prototyping.

I'm stuck on which system to go with for my project.

Its between Atmel, TI and something based on the cortex m3 architecture.

CORTEX-M3 !!!!

I love it. STM32F103 is near perfection. If you want compilers let me know I can point you in the right direction.

WHat's the learning curve like for someone who's mildly familiar with AVR and C?

And integration with other hardware? I assume the stuff is all surface mount?

Before I did M3 I did Arm 7 thumb and it wasn't that hard. I don't mean it was easy at all there are things that won't make sense. Things like having a register to read input and a seperate register to write io and another seperate register to set direction of the port and a fourth just to annoy you for checking the status of the port. And that is only port A. It will be easier to if you have someone who could help you with it but you could do it by yourself aswell.

Cortex-M3 is THE most widely used core in industry so you can pick and choose your cpu (its not a micro controller) depending on your requirements. And yes its all surface mount. You don't have to use the impossible to hand solder bga types but the good 'ol tqfp types is great to use.

I can provide you with a decent'ish PCB manufacturer's contact that won't be too expensive (unless you get a cortex-m3 arduiono board)

What's the difference between a CPU and MCU?

I've done assembler so I am familiar with registers though never on a micro.

Most people at varsity use PIC and a few use AVR so if I go with Cortex M3, I'll be the first and in the deep end.

I'd really appreciate the contact. Varsity is supposed to have facilities but it would be good to have a backup. guess I'd have to put the chips on a breakout board to make life easier. What do I hardware do I need to program them with?

It will depend on configuration but i'm going to either need several chips interlinked over a bus, or a unit with a load of ADC's or analogue mux's, I'll get to that once I start my high level design.

Incidently, have you heard the drama about the upcoming AVR studio 5? They didn't want to support the SKT500 or crossplatform dev. :/There has been a riot of sorts on the AVR freaks forum and apparently the marketing department flipped.

Ok, I looked up the differences and I'm still confused.

Prime wrote:Ok, I looked up the differences and I'm still confused.

I think your best option is to stay with the AVR. When doing big projects its always better to stay with tried and tested (stuff you know). You don't want to fail your project so rather stick with AVR.

With Atmel's SAM7 CPU's you could use their boot loader to program the CPU through its USB port directly - no programmer required. BUT no real time debugging either and that is a big drawback.

A CPU has a complex set of instructions while a micro controller have reduced instructions. The main differences would be in the assembler code but with current compilers and using "C" you wouldn't even notice the difference. Just the speed at which things happen and extra functionality. The biggest thing you will notice aswell is the price of a small 32bit cortex-M3 vs a AVR 8 bit. The 32bit CPU could cost less than the biggest 8bit uP, would be faster but might have less flash.

If you just want to display something on a 2 line LCD then 8 bit is perfect. If you want to display something while sampling 5 analogue sources and calculate the average of the sampled data and still send the collected data to external flash and communicate that to your database through GSM ----> CPU.

Hope that helps

S

Samaya wrote:

Prime wrote:Ok, I looked up the differences and I'm still confused.

I think your best option is to stay with the AVR. When doing big projects its always better to stay with tried and tested (stuff you know). You don't want to fail your project so rather stick with AVR.

The More I read, the more I am starting to think the same thing. The Cortex looks like a fantastic piece of kit, I just can't see any benefit in that approach. I had a good look at the TI and Atmel 32 bit Units tonight. Looks like alot more work to get started with and alot more risk.

Samaya wrote:With Atmel's SAM7 CPU's you could use their boot loader to program the CPU through its USB port directly - no programmer required. BUT no real time debugging either and that is a big drawback.

That boatloader sounds a bit like Stamp and ARduino, though you can do some real time debugging with Arduino.

Samaya wrote:A CPU has a complex set of instructions while a micro controller have reduced instructions. The main differences would be in the assembler code but with current compilers and using "C" you wouldn't even notice the difference. Just the speed at which things happen and extra functionality. The biggest thing you will notice aswell is the price of a small 32bit cortex-M3 vs a AVR 8 bit. The 32bit CPU could cost less than the biggest 8bit uP, would be faster but might have less flash.

Ok. Is this the EEPROM or the programming space? Somewhere I read that alot of hardware functions are built into the MCU, where as they need their own components in addition to the MPU, is this true?

Samaya wrote:If you just want to display something on a 2 line LCD then 8 bit is perfect. If you want to display something while sampling 5 analogue sources and calculate the average of the sampled data and still send the collected data to external flash and communicate that to your database through GSM ----> CPU.


Hope that helps

S

Well I was just going to measure the values, convert the analogue into the corresponding current/voltage/temp/power write these to a set of variables, and when I have done a run of all the values, write that to the memory card, then the LCD and finally the wireless transmitter. And repeat. So do I really need the power of a CPU to do all that?

It helps alot. I think I now know which direction I am heading in, atleast.

Revival time!

Where's the best place to buy Arduino from? Gauteng preferably.