Post by donburch on Mar 18, 2007 11:57:20 GMT 10
It's probably old news to most of you guys, but I just came across a couple of Atmel-based boards which look as though they could be good for beginner and/or intermediate level. Your comments pleas...
The Gadgetboard is a Free, low cost, user friendly microcontroller experimentation board on steroids. The Atmel ATMEGA32 microcontroller comes programmed with a command-line interface which runs over the serial port, allowing the user to read the 8 analog inputs and set the 8 outputs during prototyping. Four of the high current outputs optionally drive 15-amp relays, while the other 4 outputs are driven by the Atmel's 4 onboard PWM channels. All inputs and outputs are static-protected, and are connected to screw terminals so users don't have to bother with soldering connectors just to try out an idea.
For the more advanced, the design of the ECB_AT91 Single-Board Computer is free. It already runs Debian, OpenEmbedded (Angstrom Distribution) and Buildroot. You can buy one or more, or download the design and build your own. The board is powered by an Atmel AT91RM9200 processor, which features an ARM9 core clocked at 180MHz. It supports up to 64MB of SDRAM, has one SD/MMC slot, 2 MB of serial flash, one 10/100 Ethernet interface, USB host and two serial ports. 1-off price is US$170.
Coming from the software side, I would rather overkill on the hardware and use high-level OS and programming tools, so this sounds pretty good to me. I'm looking for enough processing power to analyse real-time video, so I guess their V2 would be even better...
The ECB_AT91 V2 is compatible with the Free ECB_AT91 V1, but extend by a FPGA Spartan3 (XC3S400), a PSoC (CY8C29566), and Stereo audio codec (TLV320AIC23B) for US$295.
If there are any obsenely affluent among us, they are developing a GNU/Linux powered robot using compatible with the ECB_AT91 family of boards. Price US$ 1200 <pre-order discount available>
The Gadgetboard is a Free, low cost, user friendly microcontroller experimentation board on steroids. The Atmel ATMEGA32 microcontroller comes programmed with a command-line interface which runs over the serial port, allowing the user to read the 8 analog inputs and set the 8 outputs during prototyping. Four of the high current outputs optionally drive 15-amp relays, while the other 4 outputs are driven by the Atmel's 4 onboard PWM channels. All inputs and outputs are static-protected, and are connected to screw terminals so users don't have to bother with soldering connectors just to try out an idea.
For the more advanced, the design of the ECB_AT91 Single-Board Computer is free. It already runs Debian, OpenEmbedded (Angstrom Distribution) and Buildroot. You can buy one or more, or download the design and build your own. The board is powered by an Atmel AT91RM9200 processor, which features an ARM9 core clocked at 180MHz. It supports up to 64MB of SDRAM, has one SD/MMC slot, 2 MB of serial flash, one 10/100 Ethernet interface, USB host and two serial ports. 1-off price is US$170.
Coming from the software side, I would rather overkill on the hardware and use high-level OS and programming tools, so this sounds pretty good to me. I'm looking for enough processing power to analyse real-time video, so I guess their V2 would be even better...
The ECB_AT91 V2 is compatible with the Free ECB_AT91 V1, but extend by a FPGA Spartan3 (XC3S400), a PSoC (CY8C29566), and Stereo audio codec (TLV320AIC23B) for US$295.
If there are any obsenely affluent among us, they are developing a GNU/Linux powered robot using compatible with the ECB_AT91 family of boards. Price US$ 1200 <pre-order discount available>