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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Simplicity...
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crackerjack Senior Member  Joined: 11/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
Hi all, I have followed with interest the many threads dealing with future enhancements, wish list items, colour 1024x768 HDMI output, soundcard, wii input controls and other things people would like to see added to the Maximite. Ok, maybe I made some of those examples up, but I wonder if the point of why the Maximite appeals to some of us is lost in the never-ending escalator of upgrades... To me, the MM's beauty lies in its simplicity. I finally received my kit, built it in a couple of hours and fired up the little thing of beauty - I have so many ideas to experiment with now. Some things are wonderful for their minimalism - to me the appeal of making a Maximite do the many things it is capable of because of its basic feature set, is what makes it fun. This is only an observation... |
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jman Guru  Joined: 12/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 711 |
^ ^ | | What he said John |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah I agree too. The Maximite is a unique little beast, and it needs to be protected, or it will evolve into a PC. At the moment its often compared to a TRS80 or Microbee, and I think it needs to stop there. If features are added, like colour graphics, disk access, etc, then it will soon be compared to a Macintosh or Microbee128k, and after that, a XT. If I want to play with a Microbee, I fire up a emulator on my PC. Same for TRS80's, etc. I would prefer to leave the Maximite as a Maximite, and I think we need to draw the line at hardware upgrades. Update the firmware, for sure. But I think the only hardware upgrades should be done through add on cards, like Audrino shields. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
But you agree that it needs a firmware as fast as possible and access to more internal peripherals and eventually more pins? I see this as a required rearrangement of the actual hardware and firmware (polishing it). I also don't want the firmware (and hardware) cluttered with things we can achieve using communication protocols between Maximite and external peripherals. It would be ok? Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Am I allowed to say "me2" on this forum? Sure, I want to see serial (RS-232-485), and all the other things I know we will get, but I don't see super graphics, etc. being part of any must have for the Maximite. As Glenn said, if you want this, add a suitable shield. Add a purpose built PIC32 shield even, but the simplicity of the Maximite has to be maintained. I would like to see it used in schools as a true BASIC introduction into Computers and Micro-controllers. I want to see kids programming traffic lights, and moving onto train sets, then real world applications. If you want a cheap netbook, then you can get one for less that the price of a Maximite on eBay. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Ray B Senior Member Joined: 16/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 219 |
Me2 Bring on Serial Comms capability .... As for Audrino Shields that is a great idea but that is & should remain via external hardware connected to the I/O connector. Cheers RayB from Perth WA |
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Xiongmao Regular Member  Joined: 25/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 48 |
I quite agree in principle with the minimalist sentiments. 'Better' is often the enemy of 'good'. On the other hand, the maximite design is not cast in stone. I have one of Don's excellent SM1 boards. Does the inclusion of the RTC on the maximite board "needlessly complicate" the design? A purist might think so! Remember, one of the reasons for the maximite wasn't to build the world's most minimalist computer, but to demonstrate the power and capabilities of the 32-bit PICs. |
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| rhamer Senior Member Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 174 |
First of all, Me Too However I think there is room for creative development. Don has got the Arduino shield interfacing under control and his new board looks to be the ticket to me for all things Arduino. One thing that I have been thinking about is producing something that is more like the basic stamp approach, where the PIC and a small amount of circuitry resides on a carrier board in a DIL configuration. This carrier can then be thought of as a single enntity that you just drop into your own project as the MCU. Initially I thought about the current 64pin chip, but then thought why not go the whole hog and use the 100pin. Then I realise it had already been done with the SparkFun BitWacker thingy, which I think from memory someone here has already got working to some degree. 
I discussed this last night with another board member here (who will remain nameless unless he puts his hand up) who was already heading down this sort of path. The guts of the idea would be to rearrange the firmware to free up as much of the PIC32's internal hardware support for things like UART's, I2C, Timers, PWM, and all the other good stuff that is available in hardware. Provide more general I/O just because it's there and let the PIC really stretch it's legs. In addition I would design a series of mother boards that have all the appropriate connectors on them to plug in all the existing and future peripherals. So you just drop the SparkFun board into a socket on either one of my mother boards or your own project, and away you go. But the big question is, does anybody else like that approach? I'm really in 2 minds as to whether to persue it or not, so let me know. Cheers Rohan Rohan Hamer HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions Makers of the Maximite Expander. http://www.hamfield.com.au |
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Dinosaur Guru Joined: 12/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 311 |
Hi All Rohan , are you referring to doing this with the UBW32 (Bitwhacker) or the MM. I have already made a mother board for the UBW32 to suit my needs. That is 24 opto coupled outputs and 16 opto inputs. I did draw up a board with every pin interfaced but not yet manufactured.  Regards
Regards Hervey Bay Qld. |
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| rhamer Senior Member Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 174 |
Yeah, kind of like that, but the mother board would have all the standard MM connectors + new ones for other functions the MM does not have. The key is though, to move the existing I/O around to free up the pins that have hardware interfacing available for stuff like serial, I2C, PWM, Ethernet and so on. Cheers Rohan Rohan Hamer HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions Makers of the Maximite Expander. http://www.hamfield.com.au |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
We are doing boards like this, but it is a little premature to release details, as they aren't set in concrete just yet. Perhaps 3 to 4 weeks. Call it MK II or whatever, but the I/O pins will be different. http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/maximite-compatible-the-w orlds-first-arduino-computer/ is the clue. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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haiqu Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 152 |
Isn't that how Bill Gates got started? unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes, fsck, fsck, fsck, umount, sleep |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
I would say, the main reason. Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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