Just wanted to let you all know about a seller of a clone I found on Ebay; the clone is marked and advertised as "compatible", so I think it "follows the rules" as far as things go (?); I ordered it on 4/15 and got it today (fast shipping from HK in my book) - here is the seller:
Plugged it in, uploaded the blink sketch - seemed to work fine. I'm pretty happy with the purchase and the seller; take it for what it's worth (and as always, do your own research).
good tip, I will have to see whats left in my toy budget after blowing 25 bucks at mouser on dip 328's smd 328's, a few 644 and some other junk, I have a project where 4Kb would be exactly enough if there was no code overhead, and really dont want to deal with parts of that pitch (soldering EZ, printing .. eh) for a proof of concept .... tasty
edit
eh ... F it ... I got one, for 30ish bucks I need the ram on this project, then I can dial it in on other models as I go (I estimate I need like 5 or 6K at most, but 8 is great and I have not owned a mega yet, so that opens some doors)
If one was interested I have most of a prototype Apple // virtual floppy drive going for those machines without slots and cant access smartport devices without digging up rare roms and 200+ $ programmers (like my //c) its semi working wonky now direct from SD card, but if I could save a 4096 byte track at a time direct in ram all would be fixed as I have a whole 20ms between tracks and SD is running at 8Mhz
if I can I would like to publish it as a cost effective solution, worst case I will publish it as an extravagance
they don't seem to be keeping up with the "share alike" part of the Arduino CC license. Ie, no posted schematics/pcb/cad files that show their modifications. They're not alone; that seems to be the "last hurdle" that otherwise compliant companies fall down on.
Osgeld:
If one was interested I have most of a prototype Apple // virtual floppy drive going for those machines without slots and cant access smartport devices without digging up rare roms and 200+ $ programmers (like my //c) its semi working wonky now direct from SD card, but if I could save a 4096 byte track at a time direct in ram all would be fixed as I have a whole 20ms between tracks and SD is running at 8Mhz
I'm interested - pm me (I've got a couple of IIgs machines that I some point I plan to ressurect)...
I ordered the Ethernet shield shortly after this post was made. Within a day I am not sure?
I received the Ethernet shield yesterday Thursday, and it looks pretty good, cleanly built, red with their e-kit logo on it. I have yet to test it but, I have happy so far. It has a wiz5200 chip instead of the 5100 but, I have found some code posted on the forum that should make it work. It was stated in the details on E-bay so, I had looked up the 5200 chip before I made the order.
Thanks for the post cr0sh!
EDIT: fixed a couple words, because I didn't proof read my post...oops.
cyclegadget:
I order the Ethernet shield shortly after this post was made. Within a day I am not sure?
I received the Ethernet shield yesterday Thursday, and it looks pretty good, cleanly built, red with their e-kit logo on it. I have yet to test it but, I have happy so far. It has a wiz5200 chip instead of the 5100 but, I have found some code post on the forum that should make it work. It was stated in the details on E-bay so, I had look up the 5200 chip before I made the order.
Thanks for the post cr0sh!
Nice to hear! I hope it works out for you. I've been eyeing that shield as well, along with their Uno clone (not sure why, I don't need either - ha). They seem to make some good products, and their shipping times are hard to beat, considering the location...
OK so I said it appeared to be working fine, but I just got a chance to plug it in and nothing happens, plugged it into a windows machine and nothing happens
I think the 16u2 is not programmed as I find no physical defects on the board, so instead of dicking around for a month to return this and get another I am going to solder in a header and load it myself
If that doesnt work then I will have to do the long round trip.
I know stuff happens, but its still a bit disapointing
That's pretty cheap. I remember paying a bit more for my MEGA1280 almost a year back. Very nice dev board, no mention of Arduino brand. What concerns me is not these dev boards getting cheap, that's great news. But shields are also getting very cheap. Take a look at these almost identical ones:
I'm a bit discouraged to make any further development on my own LCD shields. I bet some others will share my concern. If I start selling my shields at that price, I don't have to worry about buying a house anymore ]
Is this what open source hardware has become? I thought the idea was a bit futuristic (like Karl Marx and his communism around 1840) and would only work without differentials of labor and parts across the market. I hope I'm wrong. With the current price of my shield (more features and software support libraries), you can one of each of the above LOL
I'm a bit discouraged to make any further development on my own LCD shields. I bet some others will share my concern. If I start selling my shields at that price, I don't have to worry about buying a house anymore
Yes, once your open source design is well known and popular and the Asians decide to produce your design you can no longer compete on price alone. I guess that limits you to try and keep your production runs limited in size and to keep trying to come up with new designs, features, and innovations to try and stay ahead of the cloners. I seldom see the cloners coming up with their own designs from stratch and their documentation is almost always very poor if not non-existent, so that is their venerability you must exploit if you want your 'cottage enterprise' to succeed I guess.
For the most part I am too impatient to wait for things to swim to the USA from China, so I will buy locally unless it's just an impulse buy for something that I really do not need. If I am buying for a project that MUST WORK, I will buy domestically if at all possible.
Liudr - there is NO COMPETITION for your shields in my opinion. You provide that "value added" that more than makes up for the price.
update on mine ... its USB is still dead, I cant get avrdude to lock onto it, but I have to poke at it some more, meanwhile dude wont do anything but refund it when it gets back to him, then I can get another.
I offered to take a 25% refund on the board I had now instead of wasting more money mailing this thing back and waiting another 16 days for a refund, than another 16 while it slowboats back here, the response was that I would get the 25% refund on a board after I sent this one back and re-ordered it.
SO either I spend my time fixing it cause some pud didnt bother to see if it worked before shipping it, OR I end up paying the same amount as I would have buying the real deal at effin radio shack, and waiting over a month for the privilege.
Its a nice board, Mr Wong seems like a reasonable guy, but thats it, I am never buying anything that comes from abroad again, its just too much hassle.
