thatoneguy
- Joined Feb 19, 2009
- 6,359
The biggest downside to the arduino is the cost of shields needed for a mid-functional system, if not using DIY add ons. Even blank shields are far beyond the cost of protoboard and headers.
I wish somebody like blueroom electronics would come out with a board that is 18 or 28 pin PIC compatible, Onboard 3.3 and 5V regs. And "standard lines" going to an LCD display, another set going to a quad H-Bridge driver (2 motors), and all pins brought out as 0.1" headers so the parts to be used can be jumped together using ribbon cables or individual female-female jumper wires. Maybe a small size breadboard built in. That would be way more flexible than the Arduino with the shield concept, and could be done for less cash. Ship it with an 18F2550 or 16F628 or something.
I wish somebody like blueroom electronics would come out with a board that is 18 or 28 pin PIC compatible, Onboard 3.3 and 5V regs. And "standard lines" going to an LCD display, another set going to a quad H-Bridge driver (2 motors), and all pins brought out as 0.1" headers so the parts to be used can be jumped together using ribbon cables or individual female-female jumper wires. Maybe a small size breadboard built in. That would be way more flexible than the Arduino with the shield concept, and could be done for less cash. Ship it with an 18F2550 or 16F628 or something.