One board to rule them all?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello. :slight_smile:

Firstly, allow me to apologise if this is in the wrong category. I appreciate this is not project guidance as such, but I was not sure where else to post.

I am an electrical test engineer for a large aerospace firm, so have a moderate understand of circuit theory, though my use of Arduino is purely hobby-based. Whilst this is my first post on here, I have had some experience with Arduino for a little while now. I have used both the Uno and Mega before along with the Ethernet and WiFi shields.

Anyhow, I've come to ask for some advice on board selection. I no longer own either the Uno or the Mega - one was borrowed from me and never returned sigh, the other was borrowed from a friend and I did return - so it's time to purchase another.

I have not chosen what my next project will be, although I want to make it complex and I feel I will exceed the capabilities of the Uno model. As such, this leaves me with two main choices (in my opinion...), the Due and the Mega. I like the speed advantages of the Due, though I'm not sure I would necessarily need it, extra speed is nice to have. The main concern is of course flash memory. Ideally, I want one board that I can use reliably in all of my future projects, whatever they may be.

I've had a little look at previous threads dating three years back, and most suggest the Mega for compatibility reasons. However, we are now a number of years down the line since the release of the Due - am I likely to run into any trouble with compatibility now?

I have previous experience with the Mega but none with the Due, will I be able to pick this up quickly with little trouble of transferring what I've learned from the Mega/Uno?

I am not concerned about the 3.3V limitation as all of my circuits will be designed with this in mind. Is there anything else I should consider? Lack of EEPROM an issue for some?

Sorry for all the questions. I appreciate your help. :slight_smile:

Many Thanks
Dan

2

Look at 1284 also. 32 IO, Dual hardware serial, 128k flash, 16k sram.
3.3 and 5v operable.

3

Ideally, I want one board that I can use reliably in all of my future projects, whatever they may be.

Wrong! Ideally you want the cheapest board that will cope with the project. But is I had to pick just one board I'd go for the Yun.

Mark

4

IMO, 1284p or Mega if you plan on something too big for an Uno. The 1284p's huge amount of SRAM is appealing for certain types of tasks, and it's pretty popular on these forums - though they're not an official board.

You don't need to settle for one board (and indeed, you shouldn't - because different projects demand different things) - for the price of an official mega, or even an Uno, you can get a bunch of clones...

Mega clones ($13-14)

or
arduino mega 16u2 for sale | eBay (the 16u2 ensures that you get one that uses the 16u2 for serial converter. Usually the cheaper CH340G ones will work - I prefer them for most cases, actually - but you can't make them emulate a keyboard/mouse, or do USB MIDI (see: hiduino ) )

I would recommend having something that uses the 328p chip, since it's so universal, and there's just so much stuff available for them - you can get pro mini or nano clones for $2-3 each. Uno clones are $6-7 with ch340G, $9-10 with 16u2.

The Yun won't meet his needs, I don't think - the arduino side of it only has 32k of flash (32u4) and he indicated he wanted to work on bigger projects. The Yun is for a rather different sort of project I think, a specialized device, but one that's very effective in appropriate use cases.

5

on a related note, you might apprecaiate this.

I want to use a motor. I see that DC works, AC, single phase is common and AC 3 phase is also common.

what is the best.

if you answer "depends on your application"

then, that would be the only possible response to your post.

There is a reason there are convertibles, stations wagons, sports cars and pick-up trucks.

IMHO, as for the Arduino, I would say you need to have an UNO and then add to that.

6

My favourite Arduino at the moment is the Nano. It has more pins than the standard Uno, more serial ports, direct USB and it can be mounted on a breadboard or in a compact project.

The SAM3X chip on the Due has lots of features which are unavailable on the Due board - RTC, Ethernet and so on. The features which are available are surprisingly un-useful. The Analog out is really not that useful to the average Arduino experimeter.

7

I would stick with an Uno or Mega unless you definitely need the extra features of another board. The Uno is the most "standard" in the sense that almost everything works with it.

...R

8

Wow, this forum is awesome.

Thanks for all your replies everybody, I really appreciate it.

I already have a RPi for internet based projects, so whilst the Yun is a very cool board, @DrAzzy was right in that it doesn't quite meet my needs. Thank you though.

Nevertheless - maybe you're right. I am being too narrow-minded in the thought that I need "one board to rule them all". Dave's analogy was perfect really, I simply can't expect everything from one board.

I suppose every application is vastly different and there may be times I'll be hindered by the Due's lack of features, or the larger size of the big boards like the Mega and Due.

The Nano is not something I had considered. I am going to have a little look at its specs now, and ultimately make a decision as to what boards to buy tonight. I'll let you all know when I've placed an order.

I think the Mega seems a resounding favourite so I'll stick that at the top of my list...!