The typical "where do i start" question

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. :)
 

hgmjr

Joined Jan 28, 2005
9,027
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.
It should be noted that some of the most simple shields come layed-out with two switches, two LEDs and 4 connectors with bussing for power and ground. These make it very convenient to add on your hardware. I do agree that they are a bit pricey but it sure is neat to be able to develop a bit of hardware on a shield and write the software and then unmate it from the arduino and create another shield with a different set of hardware. The shields designed for the Arduino Uno or Duemilenove are also compatible with the Arduino Mega making it easy to migrate your design to the higher IO count of Arduino Mega.

hgmjr
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
I am not "anti-arduino", I'm only in favor of more "useful" shields at a lower cost. I've seen some selling for $20, where a run of them would have a total cost of around $5 in parts, if that. There are simple shields, then "super wizbang" shields, that seem too specialized. I guess that's my point. Each of the basics should have a mini solderless breadboard so another 16 pin device could be added, stuff like that. The solderable proto-board area isn't as friendly to the basic concept behind the Arduino, Rapid App Dev.

Once the Proof of concept is done with an Arduino and shields, many can be made on a single board, ported to an AVR or PIC, but I do like the rapid no-fuss-no-muss plug and play of the Arduino. It seems a bit underutilized, or I've not looked into it deep enough to find the 3rd party items.

The best "Bang for Buck" I use for a base is the PIC 44 pin demo boards, but then it is all surface mount work for prototypes. I'm looking for a middle ground, preferably with a solderless breadboard tied in somehow, regardless of base uC model.
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
Would not that be a PICKIT 2/3 programmer with a solderless breadboard and a PIC MCU of your choice in DIP package:rolleyes:
That's my current use, but I'd like to have that part as an all-in-one module, power supply, ICSP, etc, leaves more room on breadboard. There are supply plugins already, all that is needed is to combine them with a "surfboard" and it'd be what I'm looking for.
 
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