After doing a bunch of tutorials, and educational projects. I ended up building two projects on my own design (well... sort of ). Now I am looking to lift the challenge, and do just a bit more complicated project. Something that moves autonomously, so I will need a bunch of sensors, connection to internet, motors, servos, potentiometers , and so on. That being said I am looking for something with more memory like Arduino Mega or even Portenta. What worries me, is that Mega looks like Arduino Uno, I can work with it just like with the Uno, connect with jumper wires, any kit, and program it with the standard IDK. However Portenta seems to be much pore powerful, but it looks so different I do not even understand where to connect my jumper wires :)... Could you please advice me on any product, that would be suitable for similar project?
For a project such as you envisage I would suggest that you do not use jumper wires but solder directly to the board or to a PCB that you mount the board to. If you are determined to use jumper wires then you solder sockets (or pins) to the board
However, the fact that you have to ask makes me wonder whether you are ready for such a complicated project
My plan is to prototype first. There are some back, and forward on any start, so soldering/scheme will do some professional after the project is complete, and everything is clear. At this point I am planning on the bases of my knowledge, as you well understand it is not much, but I am up to the challenge. There are many things that I do not know, and therefore I can not consider, so I am asking for a tip, on the hardware.
Project maid be complicated, of course, but not that complicated. For the first stage I plan to create something simple, like a compass(HMC5883L), and servo for a straight movement. Than I plan to build wind direction, and wind speed* detectors, using maybe 3590S, or P2201. After that is complete I plan to install GPS module. So far it is pretty simple. The real complication comes when a calculation have to be made on a course, based on wind direction, and way point position.
Of course I maid be on the wrong path, so any suggestions are most welcome!
*That needs a more research. I am wondering what will happen if I to attach rotating cups on a simple motor, so when the wind rotate the cups it will generate electricity. Maybe if I measure it, and manage to map in analog input, I will be able to get a speed readings. I will need some resistors to protect the Arduino. So yes, a bit more research on this direction is needed
It really depends on your project details. How many pins, how much RAM. How fast must it be.
That said, for any serious project, I like to have at least two of the chosen controllers on hand, preferably more in case of electrical accidents and for standalone testing. That makes the Portenta an expensive option.
There are many other products that use the Arduino IDE - look at the ESP32 for example.
The reason for recommending soldering it that when you have many connections, the risk of a bad connection with many jumper wires which are easily dislodged, increases substantially.
Understood, but soldering is not my thing. If an unstable connection happens (I have been into that with a card reader) I will get it to someone that will solder it. But in the initial stage I really prefer jumper wires, because that allows me to change position, and sensors very easily.
I suggest that it becomes your thing as it will be a handy skill to have. If nothing else, sockets or pins need to be soldered to the Portenta so that you can use jumper leads
A big project is just lots of little projects. I suggest you use whatever you have to design and breadboard modules for one component at a time. Develop code that will do what you want with that module and then picture it in the bigger plan. Think what output you need from this code to work with. That way you can make your code more 'encapsulated' and when it is joined together at the end it will work nicely with the other modules.
It is good to plan out on paper, be very specific and work out the requirements and the bounds of each part and how they work together. Your final microcontroller will be decided by this. Often you need something a lot smaller than you think as what seems complicated to a human is often trivial for a machine especially if you cut the carp out of it.
When coding don't be afraid of creating multiple sketches. Have a beginning sketch for each module and make iterations. Don't write a load of code and then debug. get chunks working exactly how you want and then iterate. When you have a module how you want it then look at how you can simplify it. Remove repetitive code and look for other ways of coding. Consider OOP.
Soldering is easy and reversible. Get a soldering iron and start doing it. You will have fun and breadboards are like a napkin. Good for a sketch of a plan but not anything permanent.
Yes it is sad that there is only 512Kb of ram per core plus another 512Kb in a shared memory pool and the ULP processor only has 8Kb of ram. Oh and there are ESP32s with 4 and 8MB of extra ram, only 4MB is available under the Aruino IDE. So sad.
Heads up for the soldering - as you use more and more jumpers the chances of one falling out or a bad connection increase to the point where nothing works
For something complex
Make a small part of your project with jumpers , get it working and solder it up , then move to the next step ( same as you might do with code
-get it working , save it )
It’s also worthwhile mounting your parts on a board or similar ( plastic chopping boards are good) to give you a stable surface for the proof of concept , so you can move it about without wires falling off .
See pic of a project I’m starting using UNO’s to see if it will work ( learning about NRFL24’s , pipes , frequencies , multiple Tx/rx setups)
). Now I am looking to lift the challenge, and do just a bit more complicated project. Something that moves autonomously, so I will need a bunch of sensors, connection to internet, motors, servos, potentiometers , and so on. That being said I am looking for something with more memory like Arduino Mega or even Portenta. What worries me, is that Mega looks like Arduino Uno, I can work with it just like with the Uno, connect with jumper wires, any kit, and program it with the standard IDK. However Portenta seems to be much pore powerful, but it looks so different I do not even understand where to connect my jumper wires :)... Could you please advice me on any product, that would be suitable for similar project?