Thanks to our customers’ feedback, we are glad to introduce the new FEZ Panda II, the second generation of FEZ Panda. The new FEZ adds Micro SD card connector, Real Time clock and a 40pin header with plenty of extra IOs. http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/256
GHI hasn’t stopped there but also added FEZ Connect, FEZ Touch and the all-new Tinkerer Kit.
FEZ Connect: A combination of Ethernet Shield, servo header and 3-pin eblock connectors. Software developers can enjoy using the many available 3-pin eblocks without the need for any electronics background. http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/261
Got the TINKERER KIT today. Thank you GHI! What a great routing job!
I would like to see an eagle video tutorial on how to do that kind of routing from start to finish if somebody can make one.
This looks great and I am really amazed you can run a web server AND a graphics touch-screen simultaneously on such a memory-constrained device!
One comment though: surely it would have been better to put the backup battery/capacitor on the Panda II and the SD card slot on the shield? This way, real-time clock would have been maintained when you disassemble the board stack.
A question/suggestion: any plans to apply the same recipe to a Domino II? It has always struck me as a terrible waste that so little of that 144 pin I/O goodness is accessible on the Domino. Perhaps you could have two of the Panda II connectors on a slightly longer board with the outer one compatible with Panda II so the LCD board would work with Domino II also? Or use the exact same footprint as the Panda II and bring the rest of the I/O out on solder pads like on the Panda “classic”?
John, you could do all of that yourself if you really wanted to. There’s a number of threads discussing this, perhaps we should just bite the bullet and create the Mega Domino… Spot for an Ethernet module, RTC crystal and batt/cap, all IOs exposed through the same header as Panda II and an additional one if needed. Actually If I thought it would “sell”, I’d propose we ditch the Ardu-compatibility and just have lots of plug-in headers
You are right about Domino/Rhino - I corrected that. Actually I am paralysed by indecision between Domino, Rhino and Cobra at the moment. I need both USB ports, both CAN ports and all four asynch serial ports. Ethernet is a bonus, but not essential. I’m not really fussed about GPIO numbers because my distributed architecture uses 8-Bit PIC micros on the CAN bus for sensor and actuator interfaces. If the design works out, I’ll do my own board with either the 144-pin USBizi or the EMX depending on how the memory requirement pans out.
I agree Ardu board design leaves a lot to be desired. I think it got popular because it was the first to offer an integrated development environment that did not have a learning curve like K2 and lots of expense. I am hoping that FEZ is like this at a higher level of sophistication. Main thing is to keep reasonably pitched connections that half-blind sausage fingered idiots like me can solder confidently (i.e. NOT like EMX!).
The best thing about NETMF is that it is a standard and different companies are in or will get into it. You can start with Panda and then move to Cobra with near zero learning curve. Even future devices or non-GHI NETMF devices can be used by you with still near zero learning curve. The sky is the limits.
non-NEMTF devices can be fun to get started with but sooner or later you will hit a brick wall and you can’t finish what you started. With NETMF a student can use a $40 board to learn embedded systems and in future use the exact same knowledge to developing an advanced commercial project.
LOL! My fingers are permanently cratered from meteoric solder burns. I think a recent fight with an iron left my son wondering wide eyed about some new 4 letter words. A really nice addition to his vocabulary, according to his mother :o
I’m interested in the Fez Connect Shield. Can it be stacked with a motor shield? Unless I’m missing the link somewhere, I don’t see the schematics of it for the pin layout. I know Fez Connect has 2 servo controllers on it, but I want to control additional DC motors. Thanks!
We are still in the process of adding more details on fez connect. Yes you can connect other shields plus panda has this extra 40pin header to give you plenty of other IOs
For my money, simple “breakout” boards are what is missing from the line-up: Small boards with just the USBizi chip or EMX module, clock crystal, USB client connector and (maybe) a voltage regulator. The board should have 0.1" pitch header sockets for all I/O pins. A double row on all four breakout board edges is routable on a single-layer base-board. Sockets on the breakout board and pins on the base-board are better than contrarywise because you can use the bare header as a pseudo-breadboard by pushing solid core hook-up wire into the socket. Also you are less likely to accidently make shorts than with bare pins.
With cleaver design it should be possible to make all three breakout modules fit on the same base-boards (maybe a square board with sockets on three sides for 100-pin, extend to a rectangle for the 144-pin and then a socket on the fourth side for EMX).
Hi, Fez newbie here. I’d love to get hold of a Fez Connect shield to go with my new Domino but I can’t seem to find a UK stockist. Are you aware of any?
I love the Domino by the way - two hours after plugging it in I had it reading NMEA GPS data from a USB dongle. Couldn’t do that with my Arduino, at least not natively.
[quote] I’d love to get hold of a Fez Connect shield to go with my new Domino but I can’t seem to find a UK stockist. Are you aware of any?
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This is very new product and should be available at all our distributors very soon. You can contact the closest one to you and ask them for dates.
[quote]I love the Domino by the way - two hours after plugging it in I had it reading NMEA GPS data from a USB dongle. Couldn’t do that with my Arduino, at least not natively.
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Glad you like it. We look forward to seeing some cool project and videos made by you
no more sandwich!