A bit new to the Arduino scene... I'm looking for some recommendations of what chip best suits a current project. Would like to accomplish the following:
USB connection to a host PC, emulating a MIDI device. Is it possible to emulate multiple MIDI devices at the same time?
Physical 10/100 Ethernet connection, with the capability of a few simultaneous TCP/IP socket connections
Two independent UARTs capable of 115.2k baud
All three of those things, at the same time. What chip(s) should I start looking at?
There is no chip that has all that functionality. However, when we look at boards, I think a Beaglebone Black could do all that. A Raspberry pi also perhaps, not sure.
An Arduino Mega would also be able to handle it, but you'd need an external Ethernet connection.
Gotcha. I'm looking for something that can boot fairly quickly, or at least start listening to the UARTs within a couple seconds of being powered on. The PIs need an external board for the second serial port, and are a bit of overkill in terms of hardware (not to mention currently very expensive!), so wanted to see what was on the Arduino side. I'm not opposed to adding another board (like for ethernet connectivity), but am not familiar with all the current chips and their capabilities.
Are there supply chain issues / high costs with any of these like there are with the PIs?
Not that I've seen. I had someone contact me last year about a project that I was going to spec the pi for. By the time she got back to me, even the Model 2 B+ was over $100 but the Beaglebone price hadn't budged from $55. And I already had one on hand just in case...
I'm certainly not opposed to add hardware to existing boards. I'm really just trying to find what chip has the capabilities that I need for this project. If there is an existing board that has everything I need, great... but if it needs some added stuff, that's ok.