I'm working on an new graphical programming environment for Arduino, physical computing devices and robots. It's called Minibloq and, although it's not finished yet, it's possible to see something here:
I think it may be specially usefull in schools, and it may have some interesting features as well, like the following:
Runs completely offline and it's portable (can execute from a pendrive).
It's fast (C++ native program).
Really generates C/C++ code, compiles it and sends it to the board's flash, just with one click.
Wine compatible: It even runs on an OLPC XO (there are videos on the website).
Expandable.
Modern GUI, with dockable panes, zoom, key navigation, etc..
Made with open source tools (basically wxWidgets, MinGW, Code::Blocks, Inkscape...)
Once finished the v1.0 it will become open source (MIT like license, with just a limitation: non-military use).
I'm trying to finish a first public version (v0.4) for the end of the next month (waiting for a possible kickstarter one-month campaign).
Hi, it's made with wxWidgets and GCC, and as the sources will be out there too, so it's portable. But the first version will not be ported by me (I don't even have a Mac, ). So the software is being developed with portability in mind, and I'm strictly using portable tools, but I'm pretty sure that I will not be able to port it to all platforms, at least yet.
I'm working right now on the project (well every day in fact).
Your site seems nice, did you already put that low cost kit you mention?
BTW, I hope that this kind of graphical tool may help to reach a wider audience for the hardware suppliers too. In fact, at RobotGroup (http://robotgroup.com.ar) a lot of customers has asked for this kind of tool, specially when they buy robots for their kids. And soon we will finally have it.
I have been using the Alpha version of Minibloq and I really like it. I find that it lets me quickly make minor changes to my code. That ability allows me to experiment more. I have been blogging about it as new things come out.
Hi! We have created a small page with complete examples, most of which include Frizting diagrams, videos and Minibloq code (mbqc files). These examples start from the very simple ones (like the well known "blink", to get started fast) adding complexity progressively. All of them include the parts list and most can be built using spare components as well as sets such as the SparkFun Inventor's Kit for Arduino, the ::oomlout:: ARDX or the RobotGroup Multiplo TechBox.
You can see it here:
With time, we want to add examples sent by users.
The project itself is also very active. We want soon to have a lot of new features to make it more useful in more complex appliations. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated
Last week was released the Minibloq.v0.81.Beta, which is the first version that supports full internationalization. Soon I will be posting about the roadmap of the project, as well as updating the documentation with the new features. Also, I hope this week to document exactly how to add complete translations to any language.
Here is the post about the release:
Hi again, today we released Minibloq's UpdatePack-1, which includes full translations to French, German, Dutch, Catalan, and Galician, and also partial translations to Hebrew and Romanian. Here is the link:
I’m glad to (finally!) announce the new miniBloq.v0.82 version. It has a lot of improvements, and it supports the Arduino Leonardo, the new DuinoBot.v2.3 (both in HID and in CDC mode) and a bunch of robots. There is a lot of new features too: small 2D simulator for kids (miniSim), more blocks, better usability, improved performance, and a new XML backend to easily add new hardware and new blocks without recompiling anything! This last feature makes it really easy to hack, since miniBloq now can generate code not just for C/C++ Arduino-compatible boards, but also for Python and nearly any imperative/OOP language Take a look at the release post in miniBloq’s website:
Dear Julian,
I downloaded today the last version of Miniblock.
It's very interesting!
I would like to write on an SD card. Is it possibile? I tried to enter in the miniblock forum without success.
Is it still open?
). So the software is being developed with portability in mind, and I'm strictly using portable tools, but I'm pretty sure that I will not be able to port it to all platforms, at least yet.