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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : The Maximite
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I first saw this little project when it was introduced in last months ( March 2011 ) edition of Silicon Chip magazine. Its basically a microcontroller with 20 I/O ports, nothing special there, but you can also plug a VGA monitor and keypad into, and program in a version of BASIC very sililar to GWBasic. At the time I thought it looked promissing, but I would wait for the next edition to see what it costs. In this months edition of Silicon Chip ( April ), part 2 of the project covers the kit construction, and its price and availability. Altronics will stock the kit for $79.95! The Maximite is a palm sized complete computer with VGA or Composite video output, 20 I/O pins, a mix of digital and analogue, takes a standard keyboard, and a SD( or SDHC, MMC ) card reader for storing programs and data, and will run on 7 to 15volts DC. Its a 32 bit CPU with 128k of RAM built in. Now I have to say I will be rushing out to get one of these! This has more power than my first PC, a Microbee, and it uses a type of programming language thats easy to understand and very powerfull, especially compared to PicAxe basic. One of these little computers could manage your RE system, run as a bugular alarm, water the garden and wake you up in the morning, all at the same time. http://geoffg.net/maximite.html http://geoffg.net/MaximiteFeatures.html Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Bryan1 Guru  Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Glenn, Thanks for the heads up on this  As I no longer waste my $$ on that siliconchip mag as advertising has killed it I wouldn't of known about this. I'm on reading the manual now and MAN does this look like nifty project to play with. Soon I'll be checking to see if my ICD2 will program the pic32 and if not a pickit3 will be ordered soon as. I'll be sampling some of the pic32 chips and have a go at making my own board.
Cheers Bryan |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah I can see some real interesting projects coming up in the future. The more I read about it the more I'm impressed. Its a fast little bugger, would leave my old Microbee for dead. I can see some CNC applications. Its also go the basic collection of graphics commands, so could display logs in graph format, like the PicLog, only without the PC. The output is mono VGA or Composite, I have an old mono VGA monitor thats been waiting for a project like this. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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CraziestOzzy Senior Member  Joined: 11/07/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 135 |
Yup, in the same boat, so thanks for the share Gizmo. I grew up on the 'original' BASIC and this looks like a go. 20 I/O ports is enticing :) http://cr4.globalspec.com/member?u=25757 http://www.instructables.com/member/OzzyRoo/ |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Well I got onto microchip last night and sampled 3 of those pic 32 chips, also got onto futurlec and got a heap of electronic parts including the 64 tqfp breakout boards. Futurelec is notorious for taking weeks to deliver so that will give me plenty of time to make up a double sided pcb with the other goodies. Even thought the pic32 chip is only 10x10mm and would be a small footprint on a pcb the tracks would be a nightmare to place. I did get some 44 pin tqfp 16f887's and some 18f4550's and for soldering my first ever tqfp I couldn't believe how easy it was.... Also I gave the link to a mate in England and one in Thailand last night and both guys were impressed so as Glenn has said it won't be long before some very interesting projects are done. A project I'm working on now which I've called a 'glcd backpack buddy' is going to be with a 128x64 GLCD, touchscreen, 1-wire, rtcc and USART output. It will be a fun job to interface that with maximite for data logging the temp and humidity and throwing it straight into an excel file. I am thinking I could just interface the maximite breakout board with a SD card then say once a week take the sdcard out, put it in another maximite and log the data. To say I am impressed is an understatement and I am keen as mustard to get working on it. DIY of course 
Cheers Bryan |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I placed an order with Altronics for the complete kit today. Its not in stock yet, but should be within a few days. Yeah I'm pretty keen too, feel like a kid waiting for his birthday. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Glenn, If you like mate as I'm getting 3 of those pic 32 chip and 3 of the breakout boards I'll solder one up and program one for you. Also if your happy with the double sided board I make for them I can also make another one as I did get a heap of UV boards cheap. As it does state on the website it is open source so I just can't see buying a kit and going from there is the way to go. The last statement is basically about myself and other DIY guys that like to make circuitboards etc. Cheers Bryan ( with a slightly shorter right little finger after the grinder got in the way ) |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Thanks for the offer Brian, but I want to give it a go myself. I've been reading up on the surface mount stuff and I think its about time I learned how to do it myself. I've got the tools, so no excuse. 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 |
Wow! It is a great board. Can't wait to see what are you cooking for this... Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Well it looks like we could be waiting for our Maximites. They are on back order, again. I ordered mine from Altronics on the 31st March, at the time the web site said they would be available mid April. Well its mid April, and now the web site says they wont be available till late May. Tempted to cancel the order and try another supplier, I dont want to wait to the end of May and then see a message on the web site to say they wont be available till late June! I think maybe the Silicon Chip articles came out a little early, its not a good start for such a promising project. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
COOL  the futurlec order finally turned up so now I have both the pic32's and the breakout boards, so hopefully sometime on this up an coming 5 day weekend I'll have a chance to solder up one of the breakout boards and have a go. I did some research and I don't think my icd2 clone will program the pic32 chip but I did find a hack so if mplab hasn't blacklisted the chip for the ICD2 I should be able to program it. I need to instal the pic32 on mplab to see as when I installed it I didn'tthink I'd ever need it.
Cheers Bryan |
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| Alasdair Regular Member  Joined: 12/01/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62 |
Hey Bryan, you want to take a look at any non tech mag for advertising overload, my wife buys a few that are 100% ads, cover to cover, as bad as paying for a Jaycar catalogue! Silicon Chip is our last good electronics mag, full of projects, reviews, stories and enough ads to keep me buying it. They did give us the maximite after all, and lots of current and past kits originated there, still great value to me. Amc-elec |
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Dingdoc Regular Member Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
I'd love to know how long the Altronics' waiting list is for the Maximite. When I rang to order mine a couple of weeks ago the guy on the phone replied " I was afraid you were going to ask for that!" I think the other supplier is also waiting for stock. BTW, I reckon I've got an old Microbee in the shed somewhere - should drag it out one day & see if it still works. Trev |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah I'm in the same boat, I ordered a Maximite in late March, not impressed, at the time they said it would be a couple of weeks. Now it looks more like a couple of months. Yeah I've got a Microbee packed away in a box somewhere, a 16k model I upgraded to 32k. It was a fantastic little computer, I must have spent hundreds of hours on it learning to write software and playing games. It was a great little friend. There is a Microbee emulator for the PC called Nanowasp. I've used it and remember thinking it was just like using the Microbee over again. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| greybeard Senior Member Joined: 04/01/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 161 |
off topic  but, try this site for mircrobee stuff and info http://www.microbee-mspp.org.au/
I've got my old microbee going and have been playing with a simple CF interface for it. cf microbee build |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Guy's, Well I soldered the pic32 to a 64/80 pin kiwacan proto board on the weekend and now I have to wait for the smd reg's, and the smd max232 to turn up. I have another board that will sit ontop which will hold all the output stuff and when done it will be 100x100x40mm which will make a nice small basic box. Cheers Bryan |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Hi Bryan, Can I see some pictures?  . What language you will use for the board?
[quote=Brian1]...so that will give me plenty of time to make up a double sided pcb with the other goodies...[/quote] Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Vasi, I got an email from TI today the smd voltage reg's are on the way so hopefully in the next week I'll be programming the chip. I gotta get some smd 1uf caps too as the 232 chip needs them and i had already soldered 0.1uf a suggested on the board. I may yet just cut the trace and solder in a dip 232 and use standard caps on one of the boards. As the maximite hex is already generated one just needs to use a pickit3 to program it in then it's MMBasic all the way. Once I get a bit further I'll take a few pic's for ya. Cheers Bryan |
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| Dingdoc Regular Member Joined: 23/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 76 |
Hi Bryan Like everyone else, I am getting impatient waiting for the Maximite kits to be back in stock and am looking at ordering a couple of PIC 32s and breakout boards. My problem is I am confused about the type of breakout board to order. The SC article mentions a board for the TQFP package but shows a photo and part number for the LQFP package. Not having used the 64 pin smd chips before, I wonder what the difference is & which one should be ordered. Maybe I have missed something (not the first time!!) Also, I have noticed there are 'clone' PICkit 3 programming dongles available online and wonder if anyone has tried these and how they compare with the originals. They are not much cheaper unless you take freight into account. Trev |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Trev, The lqfp breakout boards on the futurlec site are the correct ones and I did get 3 of them. but as I had the kiwacan 64/80 pin board here and the proto board that can go ontop I thought I'd use that for a 1st attempt. Honestly the way the Oz$ is going just buy the pickit3 off 'microchip direct' and be done with it. Soldering the 64 pin chip is pretty easy but getting it aligned is the fun part. All I do is put a small blob of solder on a corner pin then slide the chip over. A magnifying lens is good due to the pins being so small then just run a the iron and some solder over each row of pins. Do this over a few minutes so the chip doesn't get too hot, then use some solder braid to suck up all the surplus solder and use a keen eye to find any solder bridges. Also with the pickit3 I installed it on this 64 pit puter running winblows7 and winblows refused to use the microchip driver. Anyway I put the pickit on my breadboard and programmed a 16f887 and it worked purfect. As I use Oshonsoft Basic I downloaded the pickit 3 standalone software and now I don't even need to use Mplab to program which is a big bonus for me. Cheers Bryan |
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