Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users here? It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share experience with this in an embedded system. Ed Prochak
Arduino users?
Started by ●March 6, 2014
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
On Thu, 6 Mar 2014 11:59:03 -0800 (PST), Ed Prochak <edprochak@gmail.com> wrote:>Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users here? > >It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share experience with this in an embedded system.I point folks that express an interest in learning embedded development towards the Arduino. Gives them the chance to get the flavor of embedded work without having to find a JTAG pod or bootloader, figure out the clock tree, read through umpteen pages to learn how to configure a pin as an output (and don't forget to turn on power/clock to the GPIO peripheral!), etc. For a one-off hobby-style project, it's a fine platform (modulo as always size, speed, capability) if you don't want to mess with a breadboard or don't have a "header board" that's a better fit.
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
Ed Prochak wrote:> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users > here? > > It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share > experience with this in an embedded system.I've said before: it's over-packaged. For proofs-of-concept, or for one- offs to drive test jigs and such things, I love Arduini. For a final design, I find that the baked-in design decisions start to get in the way, and eventually it's time to do a custom board. And the expense, too. Mel.
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
On 2014-03-06, Mel Wilson <mwilson@the-wire.com> wrote:> Ed Prochak wrote: > >> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users >> here? >> >> It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share >> experience with this in an embedded system. > > I've said before: it's over-packaged. For proofs-of-concept, or for one- > offs to drive test jigs and such things, I love Arduini. For a final > design, I find that the baked-in design decisions start to get in the way, > and eventually it's time to do a custom board. And the expense, too. >And a good thing about the AVR is that much of the range _is_ available in PDIP so prototyping a circuit is rather easy and a hobbyist does not have to go to pre-packaged boards like Arduino, or start designing and assembling PCBs, in the same way you have to do when working with ARM. Simon. -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
Simon Clubley wrote:> On 2014-03-06, Mel Wilson <mwilson@the-wire.com> wrote: >> Ed Prochak wrote: >> >>> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users >>> here? >>> >>> It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share >>> experience with this in an embedded system. >> >> I've said before: it's over-packaged. For proofs-of-concept, or for one- >> offs to drive test jigs and such things, I love Arduini. For a final >> design, I find that the baked-in design decisions start to get in the way, >> and eventually it's time to do a custom board. And the expense, too. >> > > And a good thing about the AVR is that much of the range _is_ available > in PDIP so prototyping a circuit is rather easy and a hobbyist does not > have to go to pre-packaged boards like Arduino, or start designing and > assembling PCBs, in the same way you have to do when working with ARM. > > Simon. >I am on a strict no-AVR diet these days. Never again. -- Les Cargill
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
Ed Prochak wrote:> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users here? > > It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share experience with this in an embedded system. > > Ed Prochak >They're pretty limited. I am using a Cubie board and looking towards a Beagle board down the road. There are just so many USB peripherals and interfaces that work with them these days. If nothing else, you can do a heck of a lot of prototyping with the little ARM boards. The Cubie works like an eval board for the Allwinner ARM stock, but I'm not 100% sure about Allwinner as a chipmaker. Hence the look towards Beagle. Frankly, they're cheap enough to use just as a terminal server. -- Les Cargill
Reply by ●March 6, 20142014-03-06
On 3/6/2014 8:04 PM, Les Cargill wrote:> Simon Clubley wrote: >> On 2014-03-06, Mel Wilson <mwilson@the-wire.com> wrote: >>> Ed Prochak wrote: >>> >>>> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users >>>> here? >>>> >>>> It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share >>>> experience with this in an embedded system. >>> >>> I've said before: it's over-packaged. For proofs-of-concept, or for >>> one- >>> offs to drive test jigs and such things, I love Arduini. For a final >>> design, I find that the baked-in design decisions start to get in the >>> way, >>> and eventually it's time to do a custom board. And the expense, too. >>> >> >> And a good thing about the AVR is that much of the range _is_ available >> in PDIP so prototyping a circuit is rather easy and a hobbyist does not >> have to go to pre-packaged boards like Arduino, or start designing and >> assembling PCBs, in the same way you have to do when working with ARM. >> >> Simon. >> > > I am on a strict no-AVR diet these days. Never again. >I have used AVR 8-bit on a few products. Good enough for what I was doing. I do not like the Arduino IDE, as there is no debugger or jtag interface. But, I do like PIC18 for 8-bitters. This one uses the Arduino form factor so I can use many Arduino shields. http://vestatech.com/catalog/embedded-controllers/vt03-merc18/ hamilton
Reply by ●March 7, 20142014-03-07
On 06/03/14 19:59, Ed Prochak wrote:> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users here? > > It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share experience with this in an embedded system.I'd be curious as to how difficult it would be to use Arduino hardware /without/ using the Arduino run-time environment. What I'm thinking of is: - take any of the many Arduino processor boards - add whatever shields/peripherals are relevant - program in plain old C against the bare metal - use Arduino libraries to setup the hardware Why? Because it would avoid me having to learn what can /and can't/ be done in the Arduino run-time environment. Examples: - using sleep modes for very low mean battery current consumption - multi-threaded RTC application Background is that I recently build a glorified real-time clock calendar with personalised information that runs off a couple of AA cells for several months. I used the AVR IDE and AVR Dragon, which was pleasant enough except that it required Windoze. (No idea whether it could run under Win8, and quite frankly I don't care).
Reply by ●March 7, 20142014-03-07
hamilton wrote:> On 3/6/2014 8:04 PM, Les Cargill wrote: >> Simon Clubley wrote: >>> On 2014-03-06, Mel Wilson <mwilson@the-wire.com> wrote: >>>> Ed Prochak wrote: >>>> >>>>> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any >>>>> users >>>>> here? >>>>> >>>>> It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share >>>>> experience with this in an embedded system. >>>> >>>> I've said before: it's over-packaged. For proofs-of-concept, or for >>>> one- >>>> offs to drive test jigs and such things, I love Arduini. For a final >>>> design, I find that the baked-in design decisions start to get in the >>>> way, >>>> and eventually it's time to do a custom board. And the expense, too. >>>> >>> >>> And a good thing about the AVR is that much of the range _is_ available >>> in PDIP so prototyping a circuit is rather easy and a hobbyist does not >>> have to go to pre-packaged boards like Arduino, or start designing and >>> assembling PCBs, in the same way you have to do when working with ARM. >>> >>> Simon. >>> >> >> I am on a strict no-AVR diet these days. Never again. >> > > I have used AVR 8-bit on a few products. Good enough for what I was doing. >AVR works, but you can't stick your hand in the same river twice with them. Granted, that's not unique to AVR, but I got bit by that on AVR.> I do not like the Arduino IDE, as there is no debugger or jtag interface. > > But, I do like PIC18 for 8-bitters. > > This one uses the Arduino form factor so I can use many Arduino shields. > > http://vestatech.com/catalog/embedded-controllers/vt03-merc18/ > > hamilton-- Les Cargill
Reply by ●March 7, 20142014-03-07
Tom Gardner wrote:> On 06/03/14 19:59, Ed Prochak wrote: >> Just wondering what folks thought about the Arduino platform. Any users >> here? >> >> It looks like a simple easy to use platform. Anyone care to share >> experience with this in an embedded system. > > I'd be curious as to how difficult it would be to use > Arduino hardware /without/ using the Arduino run-time > environment.Apparently not difficult. I've seen signs on Adafruit and maybe BoingBoing that people are doing that. Seems you can use the Arduino serial bootloader to download any binary code, and if you have a native AVR programmer you can replace the bootloader. And I believe there may be a sketch to program an Arduino to be a native AVR programmer. I haven't tried this. I may be wrong. Thing for me is that if I must start soldering, I can put an ATmega onto a board for $10 or less. Not $30.> > [ ... ] > > Background is that I recently build a glorified > real-time clock calendar with personalised > information that runs off a couple of AA cells > for several months. I used the AVR IDE and AVR > Dragon, which was pleasant enough except that > it required Windoze. (No idea whether it could run > under Win8, and quite frankly I don't care).I think openocd will work with the Dragon. See <http://hackaday.com/2010/10/25/avr-programming-02-the-hardware/> . There's a lot there we all already know, but the rest seems to be from the horse's mouth. Mel.
