Advice for a potential Arduino user?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Hey guys,

I recently discovered Arduino, saw some projects displayed @ the instructables website, and loved the idea of a DIY MP3 player, and as I looked in to it, I started wondering: Just how capable is an Arduino board? I had some cool ideas for stuff to incorporate but I am not sure if they are do-able with these boards, and to be honest I kind of have doubts that it can handle everything. That said, I should tell you guys that I just discovered Arduino and have taken a good amount of observation at the forums here, but I'm still unable to determine if this is right for my idea. So I suppose my question is what on the list below can happen with Arduino, what kind of compatibility would it have (or not have) with other things on the list, what kind of prices am I looking at, stuff like that. Sorry if this is all sounding noobish, because well, I am new to this after all, heh.

So here is the list:

MP3 player functionality (Play, Pause, Skip, Shuffle, Forward, Backward, stuff like that), also I wanted to know how good the quality could get on an Arduino Powered MP3 player

LCD Screen of an undetermined size (But most likely no bigger than an 8in. widescreen) In color.

For Touchscreen-esque functionality, I thought of buying a Wacom Bamboo, and placing it under the LCD for pen input.

A semi-permanant Hard drive as opposed to the Memory sticks I've seen used in some of these projects, a hard drive that could be replaced later if necessary while still internal. I was thinking around 120GB

I think a camera/webcam would be cool but not entirely neccesary.

And that's pretty much it for some of the features that I would love to see. If you haven't guessed I'm looking to make a good sub if not replacement for the iTouch by Apple. Getting all this to fit in a compact case isn't to important to me, I care about functionality first, and aesthetics second. Again I'm really sorry if some/all of these ideas are really farfetched, I'm pretty determined to find a way to make something like this. Any tips or pointers in the right direction would be most helpful. My final question would be: What kind of board would I use for this, there seems to be a lot of different arduino kits out there, but like I said I have an okay understanding of hardware (hopefully this'll progress my level of comprehension).

Thanks guys, hopefully I didn't just waste someone's time with my nonsensical thinking. One more thing, does any one know of a good website that gives an entire run down for beginners of arduino? I specialize in PC hardware, and never really ventured out passed that, but I love learning about this kind of stuff. Any links, comments, concerns, pointers, and anything else I would be most greatful for.

2

I dont think Arduino can do what you want, but mabye with some add ons and a shaved down wishlist

Arduino can not play mp3 files by itself. But Arduino can control an external module that can. I think this http://www.vinculum.com/prd_vmusic1.html might fit the bill. There are others.

Arduino can not control a real harddisk, i just doesen't have the horsepower to do it.

An 8 inch touchscreen is probably also very difficult / impossible to control by an Arduino. Remember that Arduino have very little memory, and is only a 16Mhz micro.

But a smaler display of some kind is probably possible. I doubt that a Wacom tablet can be interfaced to Arduino, it's USB tablet and Arduino can not be a host for USB devices.

Cam / webcam - no way :slight_smile:

And ---- it will end up costing mpre than an Itouch or Ipad

3

Ok, my thoughts.

An RM3 module from rogue robotics could play the MP3s for you and control a SDHC card (32GB) for file storage.

For touchscreens etc maybe look at: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1256896315/all but I doubt you can control audio as well without a bit of modification. The RMP3 requires 2 serial pins I think so if there are two pins to spare on the touch screen then you could probably manage that.

it's USB tablet and Arduino can not be a host for USB devices.
Cam / webcam - no way

Sure about that?
http://www.circuitsathome.com/
People have also managed to save from VGA camera modules to SD card and then presumably you could read those images using the LCD shield I linked...

I specialize in PC hardware, and never really ventured out passed that, but I love learning about this kind of stuff. Any links, comments, concerns, pointers, and anything else I would be most greatful for.

There are lots of tutorials if you search for them. There are so many I would not like to recommend one.

You would probably run out of space on a 328 (duemilanove) so maybe you want to look at the arduino mega (or similar boards - or make your own!).

I think that doing all of this together with an arduino would be pretty much impossible. The parts on their own should be possible though. You probably want to start off with a simpler project and then maybe move on to an ARM processor or something if you really want to try and do this!

Mowcius

4

One more thing, does any one know of a good website that gives an entire run down for beginners of arduino?

You are on it. look at:-
http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage
and
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/

5

The Apple iPad specification says things like "Processor: 1GHz"

According to Wikipedia, iPod touch RAM is now 256 Mbyte, so it's reasonable assume an iPad is no worse.

An Arduino's ATmega runs at 16MHz, and program memory 32 Kbytes with 2 K RAM. It isn't really comparable.

What software would you run? Linux maybe?

If you are interested in pursuing this, I think you might start by looking at something like fast ARM-based machines, AMD, Intel, VIA mobile processors.

A low-ish cost starting point might be a Beagle board
or maybe, just about, an Atmel ARM

There are lots of ARM-based machines in the mid 0.5GHz performance area that you could investigate.

If you are very interested, you might look at Atmel's (the company who make the microcontroller for Arduino) QTouch and MaxTouch technology.

You might find the company who makes the touch screen for Apple, and see if you can find someone who will sell it ready made.

Of course, you could wait a few months to see what companies like Asus bring out.

IMHO, making an iPad-like machine is a non-trivial undertaking.

HTH
GB-)

6

Couple of projects to look into. Bear in mind, that those are general AVR projects (AVR is the type of microprocessor that the Arduino is using), and that the software will have no resemblance to the usual Arduino stuff. But still those are audio players realized with an AVR:

http://elm-chan.org/works/pcmp/report.html
http://elm-chan.org/works/sd8p/report.html

and generally everything on this page:
http://elm-chan.org/he_a_e.html