Where do I get an Arduino locally?

[d-_-b]

I went to electronics123 yesterday and they said they could order a ATMega168 for me. But it will cost about R 50.00, so its not economical but at least I can build the Arduino on a breadboard and play with it a bit.

Regards,

[TheRift]

So what are the alternatives to the arduino?
I see the Arduino Mega runs something like $80+ for something like this:

http://toysdownunder.com/arduino-mega.html

Tons of PWM outputs. Seems odd they can go up to 16 bit resolution from a 8 bit CPU.

What else is out there at the same price?

[d-_-b]

So what are the alternatives to the arduino?
I see the Arduino Mega runs something like $80+ for something like this:

http://toysdownunder.com/arduino-mega.html

Tons of PWM outputs. Seems odd they can go up to 16 bit resolution from a 8 bit CPU.

What else is out there at the same price?

I don't know about the same price but have a look at the Embedded development with FOSS slides. There are some links to different platforms and options.

Hope it helps,

[TheRift]

Thanks.
I had some links here somewhere to small Arduino Pro type alternatives. Got to find them again. Was looking for something that had registers for the Capture/Compare/PWM outputs. Philips had a number of such things which seemed real good.

[JakesSA]

That would be 16 analog inputs at 10 bit resolution on the Mega btw ..

[TheRift]

Was looking at the PWM outs.

[JakesSA]

Still .. the specsheet says 8 bit for PWM, http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega, does the Aussie site say different?

Lovely boards these Mega's the seedstudio one has even more pinouts and other stuff. However .. it can't beat the swop out functionality of DIPs though.. especially for surface mount challenged individuals like myself.

[TheRift]

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/p...ts/doc2549.pdf

Says 6/12 PWM outputs with programmable resolution from 2-16 bits.

One could ofcourse have an adapter made to mount any of these things on a DIP style socket.

I have a bundle of DRV8402 drivers here from TI which have 36 pins so small I'll never be able to solder them by hand. I'm hoping to get some DIP adapters for them.

[TheRift]

I kinda like this little guy:

http://www.makingthings.com/store/ma...board-kit.html

Not as kitted out as some the arduinos in terms of pinouts, etc, but not a bad price for a 32-bit goodie with an RTOS on it (apparently).

[Vis1/0N]

Sure, I received some Atmel samples just two weeks back. Granted they weren't ATmega's but yes, they do supply, at least I didn't have a problem.

Another reason why I prefer the Microchip route, never hassles getting samples, and once your design hits production, never issues with long lead times or having to wheel and deal to get your hands on them.

What did you get, if I may ask? Their avr32 uc3 parts look interesting, but like everything Atmel, is not easy to get. Microchips PIC32 otoh is available at RS for R50-70, as well as STmicros STM32. Atmels ATXmega has been hard to get from what I read.

I want to playbut will skip the Arduino. A STM32 board for $25 from futurlec is amazing value, just lacks usb and ethernet.

[kayvee]

What did you get, if I may ask?

In this case, ATTiny13A's , all 8 pins of them

No point throwing a 32bit uC at a task you achieve in an 8 pin 8 bit one.

A STM32 board for $25 from futurlec is amazing value, just lacks usb and ethernet.

You do know Future Electronics has an office in Cape Town. I know the FAE is syphathetic to the small casual developer, and possibly can save you the cost of importing direct.

PM me if you want his details.

[JakesSA]

That Maker board sure does look good!

For myself I ended up with Arduino because of the ease of development and low cost of entry.

I come from a high level software background and did not own a soldering iron more than 8 months ago, ohm's law being a somewhat obscure calculation related solely to passing matric!.
Now can I build two wire interfaces to simple LCD screens, numerical keypads and even PS/2 barcode scanners. Current project is controlling 16 solenoids for a pneumatic dispenser including feedback from opto-reflective sensor while interfacing with a PC for instructions. Even went as far as prototype building the sensors from IR remote control components.
I was able to do this because, IMO, Arduino (and a bit of google!) makes all of this easy.

[TheRift]

What's the math and interpolation like on these 8-bit controllers? I mean, for motion control or interpolation between values a higher bit count is preferable, isn't it?

[JakesSA]

Err .. yes .. can't say I have done a lot of interpolation myself .. recently .. in fact I admit to looking up the word on wiki... Think I'll stick to memorising bit math for now ..

[zageek]

How can I buy a zarduino?

Sorry for the delayed reply. The ZArdino will take a couple of months because of lead time on the IC's. I am trying to get the parts at the lowest possible cost so that will unfortunately take a while. You should check out the Aarduino in the meantime. Follow the link from here http://arduino.za.net/antonc/2009/08/01/hello-world/