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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Mini Maximite V2
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VK6MRG Guru  Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Interesting...... A few issues, questions and comments.... Should I wait or can I kick this off now? 
Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
OK, first a question. Will this be available somewhere (Altronics, Jaycar or Dontronics) to buy ready to go or as a partially assembled kit? And if so, any idea how much? And when we can get one? (or a hand full  )
I see Silicon Chip are selling the PIC32 chips and the PCB's. But I would assume that the PCB will only have the PIC32 chip and nothing else. Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Second a comment. I love the additions to the firmware (v2.7) And can't wait to have a play with it. I'll need to get a copy of Terra Term for Windows (And learn how to use it.  )
Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
My apologies. The magazine arrived early on the streets and I don't have my website or the downloadable packages ready yet... should be tomorrow, For anyone who is interested, the magazine describes the mini Maximite, which is about the size of a large postage stamp. This does everything that the full sized Maximite does except that the connectors for video/keyboard/etc are not included. You can wire the connectors to the board but it is really intended as a plug in module to add intelligence to your creation. The idea is that you develop on the full sized Maximite and when you are ready, copy the program to the mini Maximite and plug it into your circuit. 
The new feature in MMBasic 2.7 is that you have two "disk drives", drive A: and drive B:. Drive B: is the SD card on the full sized Maximite (and the mini version if you wire an SD card socket to it). Drive A: is a 256KB "disk drive" created from the internal flash memory of the PIC32 - you treat it the same as the SD card, ie, save files, run programs, list files, etc. The only difference is that you cannot create directories. This internal drive means that the mini Maximite does not need an SD card when it is used as an embedded controller, but you can still run programs, log data, etc. By the way, this firmware also runs on the full sized Maximite, so you get drive A: and B: on that also. To copy files to and from the internal drive ver 2.7 adds support for the XModem protocol. There is a separate version of 2.7 for the UBW32 board (sold by Don) so it also gets the internal drive along with support for 50 I/O pins. Amazingly I have not seen the final copy of the article but I understand that Silicon Chip were going to include a box in the article offering to sell the PCB and programmed PIC32 chip. There are only a few additional components so it would be an easy build. I don't know if Altronics will be producing a kit but they would be silly if they did not. I should have everything ready tomorrow (Tuesday) and I will list the download links here. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Sorry to jump the gun Geoff, But it was too much to have a copy of the Magazine and not make a start on the forum.  Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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jebz Regular Member  Joined: 13/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 79 |
Wake up Geoff! |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
And one issue. Just wondering why the PCB has no provision for a 3.3v regulator to power the PIC when using the USB connector to setup the Mini Maximite for whatever function. I know that a few are going to use it for a remote data logger and also remote controller for wind, pumps, etc. So to have the option to add the 3.3v regulator if required would have been a big advantage with no extra cost per PCB, just a few extra tracks and pads etc. Just an observation. Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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retepsnikrep Senior Member  Joined: 31/12/2007 Location: United KingdomPosts: 131 |
I assume if you upgrade the firmware to a newer version you lose anything on the new internal disk drive ? Looks interesting something else to spend my money on. Are we getting DOS like commands as well so you can copy from A to B or vice versa using the interpreter? Copy A:/test.bas b:/ etc etc my dos is a bit rusty  Gen1 Honda Insights. |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
This is excellent. I don't get the magazine here in USA and I don't see anything on their website either. This is a great addition to the Maximite family. I look forward to the details. Great work Geoff! www.elproducts.com |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Geoff swore me to secrecy on the software details, but this is the first time I have seen the hardware, so I'm really looking forward to the magazine article, like everyone else. I better go check my P.O. Box
If it isn't there, I may have to buy one. BTW DuinoMite will be updated to V2.7 shortly, so the shared SD card lines won't be a problem if Drive A: is to used as the program source. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| aargee Senior Member Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
This sort of annoys me with Silicon Chip, as a loyal subscriber for quite a number of years, seeing the magazine at the newsagents sometimes up to a week before receiving it in the mail!!! For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Another point to watch, and it is one of the points that I know Vasi mentions on a regular basis, and one of the big negatives of the PIC32. I'll quote Tsvetan of Olimex: The PIC32 flash minimum erase cycles is about 1000. This means pretty fast flash wearing if somebody tries to use the internal flash to log some info. So if you are logging, you really need an SD card. I guess that makes good sense anyway. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
No, no, it is not a problem. Many flash cards that you buy in the shops have a similar endurance but they use intelligence to distribute writes over the entire memory. To quote from the magazine article: When writing to the internal flash drive A: MMBasic will spread the erase/writes evenly over the free blocks of flash memory. The result is that if the drive was half full you could edit and re save a typical program file every day of every year (including Christmas day!) for 87 years and still not reach the endurance limit. The article goes further into the details but the bottom line is that you do not have to worry on this score. The only issue is if you ran a program that deliberately created and deleted a file very fast (say once a second). In that case you would eventually wear out the memory - just like you would if you were writing to an SD card. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
OK thanks Geoff, to be fair, best I read the article before jumping to conclusions. Re the 256K Drive A: I, like many users on the forum, wrote basic programs for many years, and I just wonder what the largest basic program was that I came up with. Of course, I can't remember now, but I doubt it was over 50K. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
I thought about this in detail. Firstly, as an embedded controller the mini Maximite would rarely be plugged into USB, so you could not rely on 5V being present. Secondly, the circuit that the Maximite was being plugged into would probably have a variety of voltages available and 3.3V is easy to generate, even if it is not there. Remember that you are supposed to use the full Maximite if you are just playing around and that can be powered from USB. I did not think of making the regulator optional and that would have been a good idea. The main issue is that kit manufacturers like Altronics tend to add optional features into their kits anyway and with their 4.5 cost multiplier adding a few parts that cost a few dollars will inflate the final cost of the kit by a lot. Something like this is a tradeoff and I guess that my take on it will not always suit everyone. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
geoff have you released the firm 2.7 yet ..will it be today and would it be possible that you make it a new post... regards ..sparkey...///.../// technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Went to my P.O. Box, nothing there. Went to the local newsagent, heaps of last months copies only. The one that Sparkey mentioned the speakers on fire.
Perhaps tomorrow. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| johnbig Newbie  Joined: 23/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 21 |
I just received my Silicon Chip magazine in the post. I will be off the air for a while. John Leate |
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Keith @ Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 167 |
It's 13:38 EST and nothing on Geoff's web site yet ... He's probably waiting for a Silicon Chip magazine???!! I can hardly wait for both ... this is great. The more we know, the more we know we don't know ! |
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| Buchan Newbie Joined: 25/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 12 |
G'Day Folks, Geoff, the MMV2 seems to satisfy a number of my requirements, and would be really useful for the projects I am undertaking, which are rural agricultural. Several of the projects I am working on use other very small PCB's, the largest object being the display module 16x2 and the GPS antenna. My SC mag has not arrived yet but will be looking for it. Regards, Doug. The Farmer Tractors and stuff, may need electronic solutions for things. |
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