Seeduino Mega sanity check

Projects General Guidance
1

I've got a project that counts RPMs (using duration) on a small motor and sends the number to a bluesmirf.

Now I want to add GPS and have the board listen for GPS data and when the end of a lap is reached transmit an additional piece of data to the same bluesmirf.

I'm thinking the seeduino would work with it's mutiple UARTs? If so, how (in code) do you distinguish between multiple serial pins? I would need to read from the pin connected to the GPS and write to the same pin that is currently talking to the bluesmirf.

2

Yes, mega1280/2560 based board have four hardware serial USARTs avalible for use. The standard serial library will support all four ports.

Here is the reference (last paragraph) showing what pin numbers are associated with which serial port:

Here is a reference showing how you use other serial ports with library calls:

Good luck with your project.

Lefty

3

Nice info, Lefty!

I have a clone of that Mega (Which is nice, having the same small footprint as the Arduino).. that I need to try out...

I'm trying to get a good price on these so I can sell some to you hacker guys 8)

4

I'd be happy with just a minimal breakout board, two 22pF caps, crystal, three 0.1uF caps.
Arranged in a square with 0.1" spacing, easy to drop on a perf board for wirewrapping (or soldering for the gluttons for punishment).
Install the part turned 45 degrees, 2 out columns of 25 pins, 5 inner columns of 5 pins each on either end of the board.
If not clear, will draw up when I get home. Maybe find a way to make or shorter even. If convenient, arrange 6 pins to plug FTDI-Basic onto for programming. If not, can be done via adapter cable to FTDI connector.
Or provide a version of FTDI-Basic with access to equivalent of X3 on Duemilanove for bit banging in a bootloade to start.
Maybe 100pin TQFP adapter exists already. I dunno, haven't looked.

Do the same for atmega1284P, like a 644P, 2 serial ports, SPI I2C, etc. but with twice the memory.
Let folks connect up "D13" LED, reset switch, whatever external stuff they wanted.
Come up with standard shield it could plug onto for "legacy" boards, or a "double wide" for new shields that could use the extra I/O.
Just some thoughts ...

5

Lefty,

Thanks! that was exactly what I was looking/hoping for.

Serial0....
Serial1....

Can't get much easier :slight_smile:

6

remout:
Lefty,

Thanks! that was exactly what I was looking/hoping for.

Serial0....
Serial1....

Can't get much easier :slight_smile:

Your welcome. However there is no Serial0, but rather Serial, Serial1, Serial2, and Serial3.

Lefty

7

Seeeduino did do a nice job on their mega1280 board. I like the super low profile using the smaller usb and jst power connectors. Also the manual power selection switch and enable/disable auto-reset switch is a nice feature. Another (probably seldom used feature) difference from the official arduino mega board is that the Seeeduino breaks out 16 additional I/O pins that the arduino mega does not.

Lefty