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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Maximites, How many?
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donmck Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Maximites, How many? Pete in Hyder Alaska asked me a few days ago, "Do you think there are more than a thousand Maximite users yet?" I guess I am as qualified as anybody to have a stab at answering this. To my knowledge, Richard of tctec, has manufactured for Dontronics around 220 units, covering both the SM1 and EV versions. I still have a few left in stock, but I will be running these out, and stocking only the new DuinoMites eventually. I calculate ~10% of these were sent out as free demo units to gain some recognition in the market place. This has had mixed success. For instance, Chuck Hellebuyck of elproducts, has not only promoted it well, he continues to promote it and to be involved in the Forum, and has had very active input into getting the Maximite up to the Arduino shield stage. In fact if it wasn't for Chuck and Capt'n Bill, there wouldn't be a DuinoMite version being manufactured. Others that had made promises to me, didn't utter a single word in a newsgroup, and some didn't even bother to thank me, when I sent them units after they requested them. Still, that is the big bad world as it is today. I won't be sending out as many DuinoMites, as I believe these will be selling themselves. Altronics made 500 kits initially, and I believe had another run of 500 recently, but they may well be sold out again. I have no contacts, or definite information from Altronics. They have many resellers such as Microzed, which no longer have stock. Altronics current web page says: PLEASE NOTE: We are experiencing a significant number of backorders for this product. Unfortunately we cannot offer any assurances of when stocks will be available. The first and second production runs have all been pre-sold. Further production runs are scheduled for July & August delivery. It makes me wonder how these companies deal with customers, if they can't update a simple web page to help explain things. (Yes, I am writing this in October 2011) I also have an Australian friend that was going to do 500+ Maximite kits, but I have heard nothing further on this one. I feel you could also add at least 100 to 200 home built units to these totals. So, my guess. Dontronics 220 Altronics 1000+ DIY 200? So 1500-2000 Maximites? I could be miles out, but welcome any comments on these figures. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
I don't think there are 100 DIY units. I think many started but only few finished the project. Otherwise, there would have been an avalanche of photos... I think many stopped or delayed the project for various reasons (which will be also interesting to know). Vasi 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 |
Stuart Smith had 3 DIY I think it was. He had the cap startup problem, so they may not be units actually doing anything at this stage. But then I know of another user that has sent 3 to heaven. 
Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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sparkey Senior Member  Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
i reackon there would prolly be around 1000 units sold as a estimated guess of all the guys that were suppling them may be even up to 1500 but out of those there is really only prolly a few hundred that actully do stuff with them ..and as another calculated guess from what i can see maybe quite a lot of people that dont know about this site ...regards sparkey....my 2 bob`s worth...///...// technicians do it with least resistance |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
Don, Your numbers make sense to me but is 1000 even worth counting. We're just getting started here. The ground work is just be laid down. I appreciate your board and your kind words about my support but I feel I haven't even gotten started promoting Maximite. I've been trying to finish up some other work with plans to jump in with both feet on Maximite. I've had numerous people tell me they followed my article on converting a Microchip Cap Sense board to a Maximite and now want a real one. Some have bought from you and and some are waiting for DuinoMite. This thing is still not really well known over here in the USA but when it hits it will be big (in my opinion). Point is were just getting started. We're laying the ground work. What Geoff created still amazes me. This open source design can be an Arduino type embedded control module, a stand alone PC, a smart peripheral, we have PC interface GUI screens, custom IDE, custom expansion boards all for Maximite. Who knows what other things creative minds are coming up with. And were just getting started! At the heart of it all though is Geoff's MMBASIC. The common language we all speak. That generations can share. www.elproducts.com |
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ksdesigns Senior Member Joined: 25/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 143 |
elproducts i started with a cap sense board also 
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jman Guru Joined: 12/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 711 |
I have 3 DIY no cap issue 1 Alltronics 1 bare bones PIC on PCB adapter no cap issue (PIC has since been moved to a DIY pcb) John |
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| roleyrev Newbie  Joined: 13/10/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8 |
Hi, So I have a SM1 and an EV from Don. Please - don't stop. I am an AV / domestic automation engineer and this is the best thing to fill the requirement for an easy programmable gap filler. It is my intention to use these from here on out! If that means DuinoMites then thats ok. Im loving the ease and power of these things. Keep up the good work! Cheers roleyrev |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Hi John, just trying to think of the easiest way of explaining this. If you set pin 1 high on either a Maximite, or a DuinoMite, then pin 1 will be set high. Set pin 1 low, it will be low on both units. The actual 20 micro pins used, will be different on these two units, but the re-mapping of the 20 I/O pins will be the same as far as MM-Basic is concerned. And that is the way you look at it, only from an MM-Basic point of view. So programs that run on the Maximite, should run without changes on the DuinoMite. The DuinoMite should offer many advantages such as real UARTs verses bit banged pins on the Maximite, so there will be a speed advantage in some areas. I believe code changes from Maximite to DuinoMite will be either non-existent, or minimal. However code written for the DuinoMite, may need minor surgery before it will run on a Maximite. I see the possibility of two rem lines at the start of Basic programs. You remove the rem statement on the line you wish to be active, that is either selecting the MM, or DM parameters. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| ksdesigns Senior Member Joined: 25/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 143 |
There should be not changes from Maximite code to DuinoMite but cant say the other way around there are COM3: and COM4: now both hardware UARTS and possibly COM5: for the can bus there will be startup code to check for the RTC and auto set the time and date . and some other addons for UEXT boards like the MOD-IO board that will just add more PIN commands. 
MOD-IO Schematic So bottom line there will be changes to the DuinoMite Basic but will be backwards compilable with the Maximite. ken |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Thanks for clarifying Ken. Ken is doing the migration of the code from Maximite to the DuinoMite, so you can take his word for it on this one. I was only making an educated guess.
BTW. Are you having a play with the MOD-IO board? Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| ksdesigns Senior Member Joined: 25/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 143 |
No MOD-IO board yet waiting for fedx to drop then off and the rev-c DuinoMite boards should be next few days 
ken |
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| aargee Senior Member Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
I have - 1 x UBW32 (Sparkfun built) Homebuilt from bare PCBs - 2 x Maximite Originals and 1.5 (1 + one half built) UBW32 boards. All the above boards are running Maximite firmware of one sort or another... Pictures at 9... For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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| roleyrev Newbie Joined: 13/10/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8 |
Aw super cool, So I am to take from this DuinoMite will be Maximite and more! Especially keen to CAN on board - that would be a bounus since I currently use a CAN to SPI bridge. So It looks like this concept will be around for a while Cheers John |
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| cmichaelcouch Newbie Joined: 23/10/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 16 |
Donmck: Any chance I could get one of the samples? I started a yahoo e-group for Maximite... Maximite-MMBasic@yahoogroups.com. Not much traffic yet. But my GreenArray144Apps@yahoogroups.com has mainly been discussing the Maximite so far, go figure. Since my budget is VERY limited, getting a sample would definitely speed my ability to communicate about the Maximite. My projects are to use the Duinomite for control of HHO Electrolyzers and timing for HHO/Cold Fog ICE Gensets. Also, for the control and timing of various "Free Energy" Projects like Bidini Motors, Mueller Motors, Rotoverter/Transverter, Dr. Steven Jones Joule Thief, Rodin Starship Coil Motors, Homemade Outrunner Brushless DC motors, and even possibly to control a Hybrid Electric Stirling Engine. The Hybrid Electric Stirling would use the Duinomite to sense timing and trip a solenoid to move the displacer in sort of a square wave fashion to see if this is an improvement on the sine wave Stirlings. |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
i dont speak for don but i think that he has some sm1 boards in hand and welcome to the group ...regards sparkey...also have a look at don`s site "dontronics" technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Please PM me, Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
don is there going to be a plug in trc that fits into one of the "vext" for the mega mite board i guess that this would be great....regards sparkey...///.../// technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Hi Sparkey, I guess this is "RTC" and "UEXT". As all DuinoMite will boards have the UEXT connector, then it is possible to plug in the Olimex RTC to all version boards. But, there is no Olimex RTC just yet. I'll bet it is only a few weeks away, and I believe Ken Segler will write a driver for it, but we have to wait on this one. Not too long I hope. It will have on board Ram, so we will have a few bytes for settings, etc. However as it is an optional extra, I don't see it as a universal storage spot for PAL/NTSC flags, etc. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
cheers don thanks ...///.../// technicians do it with least resistance |
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