29 Sep
2011
29 Sep
'11
11:12 a.m.
On 29 Sep 2011 at 12:04, Dave McGuire wrote:
Yes, Arduinos are pretty neat. They're a good
way to get started in
embedded development, I think. The only pitfall is "reaching escape
velocity" from the handholding that the Arduino platform gives you, to
being able to do real designs. But for many people, who just want to
solve a quick problem or build a quick widget rather than start a
career in embedded development, they can be very handy.
And more ambitiious projects can be done with the Digilent PIC32-
based Arduino upgrade (? I don't know exactly what to call it).
Comes with a pre-programmed boot loader, so you don't have to go
through Microchip's ridiculous programming (PicKit3--puts out ISP,
which is then translated by the PIC32 into JTAG. Really weird. Why
not just start with JTAG?) Tool chain is free, as usual.
For me, it's a bit too much handholding. I like to select the uC
version that meets the design requirements, instead of the other way
around.
--Chuck