Freeduino V1 v V2?

[SVOboy]

Clicked the link for the freeduino from the MPGuino thread today and noticed that there was a new version coming out soon: http://www.nkcelectronics.com/freedu...ompatib20.html

Should I buy this one?

[dcb]

Man I wish I had a simple answer for you. I like the iduino these days. $18, usb, breadboardable, could fit behind an LCD, http://spiffie.org/kits/iduino/ But it is a different layout than the standard duino. You were one of the first USB proponents but I liked the serial cuz it was a bit cheaper, and worked better with that whole palm fiasco (and my elm adapter).

Unfortunately the iduino folks don't sell LCDs. And we are experiencing some failures with the ones from NKC currently, but cannot determine the cause so I don't know what to tell you there.

I also think I underestimated the footprint the non-legacy machines had, and am starting to think a USB solution is better, especially at $18.

But if you get the iduino, consider adding another pre-loaded atmega168 and 16mhz crystal to your order too (ok, and a couple of their 18pf caps if you are feeling nice). Then you can do cool things with your breadboard like the signal generator or have already collected the key parts for a custom guino or kit or prototype and still have your iduino to play with on the desktop.

So sorry it isn't a simple yes or no.

[SVOboy]

Haha, no worries, I honestly don't know much about electronics and will be learning as I go, but I'll prolly pick up an iduino for the USB since it will work my my lappy.

What then do you suggest I do about the lcd? Thanks!

[drivenByNothing]

I like to think of myself as thrifty (some may say cheap). I ordered the iduino to build the mpguino project. I must say that putting the board together was a breeze. I like the fact that it's usb because my laptop doesn't have a serial port and it'll make for easy updates to the code without pulling everything out of the car.

It's set up to be friendly with a breadboard, but I'm gonna go ahead and use it for my in-car mpguino. I haven't wired it up to the car yet, but I have the mpguino circuit for the buttons and inputs as well as an LCD hooked up to it. I guess the true test will come when I wire it up this weekend.

The only thing that I think might give me trouble is that the board doesn't have input for power outside of the USB. What I'm thinking of doing is finding the 5v and ground pins of the USB and adding power input after some diodes. The diodes would be there to prevent power from flowing back into the USB port when it's hooked up to the computer. The diodes probably aren't necessary if I only upload with the car off (ie no power going to the board other than from the computer through the USB.

Does this sound like a viable solution? I've built a lot of simple circuits before, but haven't really done much more than just following a schematic.

I've been wanting to toy around with both the arduino and some c++ for a while and I'm all about fuel economy/efficiency. I love this project!

I haven't had a lot of time to go through the code, but is the mpguino supposed to cycle through all of the screens automatically? I've uploaded a youtube video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPN_cRZD7xA

Please let me know if this appears to be working properly so far.

Thanks,
Matt

[SVOboy]

Glad to see that it's working. You got that LCD from NKC, right? I'm gonna go buy an iduino...

[awillard69]

Was it my imagination, or was your device restarting? There were changes made to v.62 and beyond to address some of those. Try with the latest version and see if that improves the stability.

Nice video.

[drivenByNothing]

Yes, it is restarting. I'm not sure what's causing that. I thought maybe the code was setup to have it cycle through screens in a loop, but I guess not. I uncommented the #define debuguino statement and it's not resetting at the moment. I'll have to look at the code to figure out why.

I got the LCD from ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330241770623
(shipping was really quick)

[dcb]

Is it still cycling? You might want to measure the resistance to ground on analog 3 (and 4 and 5) with the unit unplugged. If you are getting fancy with the button placement you have to ensure that they are not grounding out also.

[drivenByNothing]

Somehow I managed to leave my multimeter at my parents' place, so I may be out of luck for the next week or so. It was doing the cycling nonsense before I added the buttons.

It doesn't cycle when I define debuguino for some reason. I can't seem to figure out why, but if it works it works, right? (I just found out it does cycle, but it takes much longer before it restarts)

I'll be putting it in the car tomorrow.

[dcb]

I put the iDuino together and need to report some strangeness with the drivers. It was looking for ftdiun2k.ini and I did not see that in arduino 0011, only in arduino 0010, so unless the iDuino folks start shipping something that is compatable with the latest version of arduino I do not know that I can reccomend them. I will inform them of the issue.