In between prototyping and system-on-a-chip platforms

Archive
1

Hello,

I started out learning about electronics by way of the Gadgeteer initiative. Still learning at a geometric rate (which I guess is easy when you knew next to nothing).

I’m sort of in between the mainboard and system-on-a-chip stages: Ready to experiment with non-Gadgeteer sensors and relays and such, but I’d rather not loose the plug-in-your-usb-cable-and-debug-away functionality.

Also, for some of the projects I want to do, the aboundance of sockets and ports on the standard Cerberus, as well as the CPU power, is not really required - not to simply receive an RF signal and turn a relay on and off, for example.

So I find myself looking to the USBizi100 and USBizi144, perfectly suited for some of the applications I’m thinking of, with less but still more than enough power and pins compared to the standard mainboards. And the pricetag is of course also very attractive.

Then I get thinking about some of the arduino variants, with their low price tag yet still with easy-to-program features, comparable to the ease of programming a Gadgeteer mainboard. Specifically I’m thinking ‘I want what they have!’ :-). I can see I’m not the only one: https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29821

I can really follow that Sparkfun-linked guy’s notion, of having a USBizi breakout-board with pins exposed, room for a coincell battery and a micro-usb port for the easy prototyping through Visual Studio I’ve come to love and cherish.

I could really go to town on the Internet-of-things concept with something like that. I know it’s not bound to be a priority with you guys: you have a great environment for prototyping, and an equally great one for production. It’s just that, well, I’m in between those stages and, heck, it’s Christmas so I might as well add my wish. I’m pretty sure I’ve been good.

Thanks for considering.

/Morten

2

cerb40 is something close to that “in between”. And another option, OpenDaisyLink and DL40.

USBizi is somewhat in limbo, because it has not been decided if a 4.2 port will be made for it, or whether it’ll remain as 4.1. So for someone coming along with Gadgeteer and you’re using 4.2, that might be adding complexity in your learning. But for someone who wants to use a robust and well proven framework, 4.1 on USBizi is a great place to be

And Godefroi hangs out here too :slight_smile: You’ll probably find that the SF post was well before Cerb40 was thought about, and if you search for Fez Ant you might see some of the history