Hi,
I am new here, but got a fez Domino and some plans for it.
I need to attach GPS, a position / accelerometer, 4 servo’s and wireless communication (zigbee?)
what is the best stuff to get for this configuration?
Hi Gilbert, and welcome to the Fez crowd 
So do you have the things you’re talking about, ie do you have a GPS module in hand, or even a specific one in mind? If not, then you can look at the one GHI have (go to the grid view of Domino accessories: [url]http://www.tinyclr.com/hardware/1/fez-domino/#/grid/1/[/url] ) I personally have an old USB GPS that I’ve run on my Domino, even with it’s 1Hz update time it’s ok for low-speed nav; so don’t discount what you might already have.
One of the things you might ocnsider getting is the component shield. If nothing else, it gives you a good board to connect modules to; make sure you get some of the JST3AA wires too, and then you can splice your devices in, if the ones you obtain don’t have nice connections.
So for Servo you can use one of the GHI servo shields (serial servo controller). For the wireless comms, you can use their xbee expansion board (if that is actually what you want - do you know what you intend to communicate to/with?)
For accelerometer/positioning, depending on what you actually need you can look at some of the IMUs from places like sparkfun, or if you only want simple then you can go with something like the accelerometer again here from GHI.
In general I would expect that to do a project like you’re talking about needing a fair bit of “manual” connections, so traditional stackable shields will probably not meet all your needs; in that case I’d also make sure you have a breadboard to prototype on, as well as using something like a stripboard/veroboard to “make your own” PCB to mount bits to.
Good luck with your project!
Hello Gilbert,
Welcome!
It really hard to recommend something like this to other.
It may lead to the wrong direction.
If I were you, what I would do are
-
read the eBook
[url]microframeworkprojects.com
so you’d know what your Domino can do, and the driver get supported on both the software and hardware side. (of course a lot!) -
use the “Search forum” tool, to search for the similar thing, such as GPS, Accelerometer, or Zigbee, etc…
So, you could see that there are existing project, or some other discussion of similar project that you are doing or about to do.
Or find some discussion about the components that you might find it suits for your project.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the reply’s. I already did surf around and googled a lot too.
The thing is, when i look at the different parts sites it’s like being a kid in a candy store.
For example i found a gps unit connecting to the UEXT port but also an accelerometer. Can i tie both of them up?
I’ve found multiple parts but for not all of them it’s clear if they hook up to the domino. I think that’s where my main problem lies. I guess i am more of a software guy that is not scared to solder a bit here and there.
Posting is just a shortcut to quickly get a reference for the parts that i need so i can order them and hook them up.
Once its all completed i will publish the project.
The GPS and Accelerometer (Extension with SMB380 chip, I assumed) use different type of communication.
The GPS use the Serial Comm port (COM2).
And the Accelerometer us the SPI2.
In case, if you want to use both of these components.
My suggestion would be, use the GPS with UEXT.
Then, have the accelerometer to use SPI1 on
Domino (pin Di11 (MOSI), Di12(MISO), and Di13(SCK) and use any available pin to use for CS pin from the accelerometer.
(The reasons I choose the Accelerometer are
-GPS use the Serial Com Port, also XBee use Com Port as well. So I would
reserve the COM1 (di0, and Di1 for the XBee http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/158)
-GPS extension cable is so neat that I don’t want to cut or modify it.)
Just forget to mention, that the accelerometer is not only limit to the SPI communication, some accelerometer can use I2C or simply analog Input as well!
Hope this help!
GPS is actually just one wire (serial data from GPS going to RX pin on FEZ) so it is easy to wire it to FEZ. I would not worry about it at all.