A new arduino board?

I was kind of hoping the next release would fix the pin spacing problem with headers (using a second row to maintain shield compatibility).

I realise this is a re-hash but I don't expect to see a revised pinout until there's a "next generation" board that also requires some other electrical or physical incompatibility in its design.

--Phil.

What is the difference between this board and the previous version ??

things I could see in the schematic:

  • auto power select using a comparator (3.3V from FTDI chip vs. power jack) and a P-channel FET .
  • disable auto reset by cutting a trace instead of having to desolder an smd cap. (not as nice as a switch, but still a big improvement)

I realise this is a re-hash but I don't expect to see a revised pinout until there's a "next generation" board that also requires some other electrical or physical incompatibility in its design.

The beauty of Arduino is that shouldn't really be necessary. Isn't this Arduino '09 still shield compatible all the way back to the serial version 2 (with female headers)? Moving forward, the basic board shouldn't need to change that. Even if they add io, it could just be an extension and old shields can fit on a subset of the pins. Of course, we can't predict the future.

I've been thinking about this.
Couldn't we make some kind of adapter, that goes between the Arduino spacing and standard spacing? Both kinds, so you could use shields with perfboard and breadboard setups, and also to make it easy to clap a regular set of headers onto an Arduino.
How hard could it be* ?

  • TM Famous Last Words, inc.

I've thought about an adapter but it would basically be a full shield between the arduino and your perfboard shield, so it would be bulky and cost as much as a protoshield just for the adapter.

It's so much more elegant to use the seeeduino solution: http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/seeeduino-v11-fully-assembled-arduino-compatible-p-114.html

It has a second optional row of headers right next to the standard ones, but with the spacing corrected.

I was just hoping for an official board with that feature so future shields could migrate to the new dimension. It's nice to have the seeeduino option, but nobody's going to make a shield that's not compatable with the true arduino.

Actually I have... http://www.nkcelectronics.com/freeduino-protoboard-breakout-shield-arduino-compatible.html

I came up with this board by mistake, but it is a protoboard compatible shield after all...

The idea is that you pay for the compatibility once and re-use it many many times saving money using standard protoboards.

May I ask why the ATmega328 was not used on the Duemilanove?

I would guess that the 328 was not available when the Duemilanove was in development. It only recently started shipping.

-j

It started a very limited shipping, but now availability slipped to December, so probably ATMEL found some bugs or they are experiencing manufacturing delays / problems.

May I ask why the ATmega328 was not used on the Duemilanove?

I would sorta suspect that it was supposed to use the 328, but the 328 turned out not to be available enough. (While some vendors now have a limited supply of ATmega328 chips, it's still not a part listed as "in stock" at any of the usual distributors.)

Hey. Am I seeing right? The Duemilanove is slightly cheaper than the Diecimila? That's a rather pleasant surprise! Extra functionality at less cost - yeah!

Where are you seeing a price for the '09? I see Ladyada's lowered the price on the Dieci to clear it out in anticipation of the new model but none of the usual suspects seem to list it yet.

This is the only online place I've seen it and it is under $30 USD.

http://www.nkcelectronics.com/arduino-diecimila.html

One clarification... the link says arduino-diecimila.html, but it points to the new arduino duemilanove product.

Also seen at fungizmos and liquidware. In general, it looks like duemilanove has a price around $33, while Diecimila is around $35.
It's not BIG change in price, but it's sorta nice to see.

NKC's $29.95 appears anomalous - get them while you can!

That's pretty cheap :slight_smile:

Time to stock up :slight_smile:

There are some other options. I'm sure this doesn't cover them all, but cheaper boards I'm aware of:

ModernDevices makes the RBBB ($12 kit, $21 assembled) and BBB ($15 kit, $25 assembled), which are no-USB boards perfect for "production" or breadboarding. A generic USB->serial cable is available for $20.

NKC Electronics has the iDuino, a USB 'duino ($18 kit, $23 assembled), as well as the Freeduino- a shield-compatible 'duino ($24 kit).

HVWTech (a SolarBotics company) sells the Freeduino SB (shield-compatible 'duino), ($26 kit), as well as the Boarduino, a breadboard-style that needs a USB-serial cable ($20 kit).

Phew!

The official arduinos are very nice :slight_smile:

In some cases though you may need something smaller or different like the boards mentioned by tedder

There is also the dorkboard http://www.dorkbotpdx.org/ which sells for about $10

It is incredibly small, it is half the size of a RBBB from modern device, 1/4 the size of a BBB from modern device, about 1/4 the size of an iDuino from Fundamental logic and about 1/6 to 1/8 the size of the official Arduino

Unfortunately the Dorkboard uses 2 SMT resistors which can be very difficult to solder, has a 5pin programming header which does not work with the 6pin FTDI cable, as far as I know, and does not have a voltage regulator onboard, which is a good thing and a bad thing

You either have to power it with a battery or an external regulated power supply

I have several of most of the boards tedder mentioned and a dorkboard and a few other boards

:slight_smile: