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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : DuinoMite, a Maximite Compat from Olimex
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donmck Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Overnight. A change of individual board names slightly. DuinoMite-Mega for the boxed version. DuinoMite This one is the regular one in Arduino format DuinoMite-IO keyboard etc DuinoMite-Mini for the small one DuinoMite-Shield for the shield of course. http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/duinomite-a-maximite-comp atible-from-olimex/ Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Hi Matthew, I assume the extra pins would be 36 new PIC32 signals, so with a bit of power and ground, this would look like 40-ish extra pins. Perhaps a new 40 pin IDC header somewhere, or extra rows of female headers strips like other PIC32 boards have done it. Are you talking about these extra pins being driven with MM-Basic? I can understand an xxDuino type board with extra pins, but for a Maximite or compatible, it seems a wee bit of an overkill. The DuinoMite-Mega for example has used up all of the signals of the 64 pin PIC32, and some pins are actually dual mapped, and can be selected with jumper re-configuration of the PCB. The way I understand it, this is to allow selection between Pinquino options, and allow other Olimex I/O boards to run from the Maximite PCB, without major surgery. Of course, if it is all about more GPIO, then multiplexers, or chatting to another controller may be a reasonable option. Even if the other board is another Maximite. Having said all of that, what application would you have for the extra 36 pins? Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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Keith @ Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 167 |
Hi Don Wanting the MM or the DM with 100 pins doesn't have to justified. I believe it will be used if you make it available. The small expense in preparation for a contingency and the greater desire to have something better can be a very strong motivation for a buyer looking for value and future proofing. Or to just say they've got a 100pin DM ..... did you say you only have an MM. As an analogy ... why do so many people desire big 4X4 luxury vehicles and yet they never go anywhere other then to drive around suburbia 99% of the time! And in this case they are paying huge amounts of money and not really getting much value! Keith The more we know, the more we know we don't know ! |
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VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Don and others, Looking at the PIC manual and reading the forum, changing pin assignments is not a big deal. Just if we had the extra pins we could have the serial port interface of the PIC32 chip dedicated to just serial! SPI to just SPI bus, I2C to only I2C bus, CAN interface, PWM outputs as just PWM outputs, sound, colour VGA, keyboard, RCA video, USB host as well as USB for power and firmware updates, still maintain the standard 26 pin header for existing add-on boards etc. And have a few new functions like extra switches for maybe reset etc. Full time RTC! not as an add-on or option. With 60+ I/Os to choose from every type of I/O can be represented and still maintain normal Maximite functionality! This way, if all you want is a Maximite to have a play with Basic, simple games whatever, then you can have that. But if you want to play with CAN interfacing, I2C expansion, serial I/O, and have a heap of normal Digital I/O and Analogue I/O and a few PWM outputs etc, you have it all in ONE product. This way anyone can buy the Maximite "Plus" or "Pro" (whatever) and be able to start from scratch and work up to the level of some of you Mega Brains that are out there. Reading some of the thing that some of you are coming up with is AWESOME! And as a lesser experienced electronics/software type person a Maximite with all the fruit will encourage me to be able to start simple and work up without having to pick and choose what functionality I will have to sacrifice to try something different. I hope this helps explain what I’m after. This chip has it all and the kitchen sink! So lets have the option to have it all in one box, one PCB. It would be amazing! Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Hi VK6MRG, With Don's board (and hopefully, with the Maximite Mark II from Geoff) you can have all of them. Because it have the same pinout (for shield) as PinguinoX32 board, But you need to use Pinguino IDE and Arduino language (much better for beginners than using any MPLAB tool) until the Basic interpreter will be able to offer support for all those peripherals. The only disadvantage is that limit of a minimum 1000 erase/write cycles (here only interpreters and retroBSD can help). Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
Thanks for the update on this Don. I've been traveling and just now got to see the full detail. Haven't seen the final schematics yet but it appears by the description that these boards are really universal. The chipKIT IDE (which is Arduino code compatible) can also program any PIC32 board with the chipKIT bootloader (FTDI or Direct USB versions). This means these boards can be programmed in MMBASIC, Arduino/chipKIT C, or any other operating system developed for PIC32. Best part is the compatibility of the both the Maximite I/O and the Arduino shield I/O. Brings all worlds together. www.elproducts.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Thanks for the nice feed back Chuck. An additional big advantage is the UEXT bus on all of the Duinomite Olimex boards. The only reason I haven't expanded on this yet, is because Olimex will be putting together for me, some additional text of the connector operation, plus a listing of all available Olimex UEXT I/O boards. NOTE The UEXT connector presents I2C, SPI, and serial communications, as well as +3.3V power and common ground. The serial communications conform to RS-232 but may require level-shifting to operate with some equipment. Example of UEXT Interfacing: Want RS-485? Just plug this in: http://olimex.com/dev/mod-rs485.html Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
That is a great addition and opens up another world of expansion boards for robotics and other applications. It will be interesting to see the pricing for the various boards. www.elproducts.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
They started using UEXT on their PIC32 Pinquino boards, and have added it to the Duinomite range. Prices? $10-$12 for RS485. That was the first one I looked at, so I must admit, I haven't done a lot of research yet, but I think it is a nice little serial bus for serial I/O, and it is starting to look like a very cost effective price for what should be simple add-ons. On the Duinomite, SPI and I2C use the same set of pins as the xxDuino shield, and serial picks up a fresh UART. The Duinomite-Mega (Boxed) has an internal as well as an external UEXT, so it means you can fit small modules inside the case if you wish. Opens up a new world of possibilities. Example, if you want an I2C battery backed-up clock, you just plug it in to the UEXT bus, and you can still add more I2C devices if you wish. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
The Mega variant is a compact board with a lot of connection possibilities. I understand that the board will be on sale also on Olimex site? Because I see Pinguino on sale only on his web site (not a very good decision but who knows...)... 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 |
All of the DuinoMite boards are Olimex, not Dontronics, so they will be available to everyone. [code]I see Pinguino on sale only on his web site[/code] Sorry, who is His? Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Pinguino shop here. Well, my english... Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
yeah sounds good the doniduniomite rocks technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Just to bring people up to date with the progress of the DuinoMite (Maximite Compatible) boards: I have one of each of the new boards here in Australia. Ken Segler in the US, has the same. As a reminder, the board pictures can be seen at: http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/duinomite-a-maximite-comp atible-from-olimex/ And Olimex has one of each in Bulgaria. These are all prototype boards. So far, Ken has got the new boot loader working, and is working on the firmware updates. We needed a new bootloader.exe file, as the old Silicon Chip one doesn't support the new boards. We have found a few minor schematic problems, but these appear to be easily overcome, and Ken is progressing nicely with testing each of the major components of the build. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
I`LL LET EVERY BODY IN ON A SECRETE I HAVE SEEN AT CLOSE HAND THE NEW EDITION`S TO THE NEW OLIMEX BOARDS AND ...I ..MUST SAY THERE A REAL TREAT WITH SOME VERY GOOD HARD WARE FUNCTIONALITY ... DONS GOT THE GOODS AND DOES HAVE SOME VERY INTICEING GEAR PLANNED ...VERY NICE INDEED ...THE TRUE "MITERS" WILL BE VERY HAPPY ...BUT THIS IS JUST A PEEK...REGARDS ... technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
For the latest pictures: http://olimex.com/dev/duinomite.html Just waiting on the firmware. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Ray B Senior Member Joined: 16/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 219 |
Don this is just mind blowing.... If this does all that I expect including all of the original Andrino capability PLUS MM programming PLUS all of the developed OLIMEX add-ons well that's it. Now if it runs a version of MM Basic that call the Andrino code that is covering all bases. Bulgaria, is that still a country ??? I was involved in doing some development of Almos weather stations for BOM here in Australia 20 years ago & worked with some very talented Hungarian programmers. The is some really smart guys in eastern Europe. RayB from Perth WA |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Sorry Ray, There will not be a version of MM-Basic that will magically run the Arduino code. You will need to write your own basic routines, but I am sure this is all possible with standard MM-Basic. As people tackle new shields, the code will be written to drive them. Just like any other hardware peripheral that users want to interface to Maximite. There is also the option for users that want to write their own MM-Basic routines for shields, to do this, but you will need to be able to program in C using Geoff's source code, which is open source software. Hope I covered what you asked, and didn't misunderstand the question. Just to cover the DuinoMite boards again: They will run standard MM-Basic. The only difference will be that the 20 I/O pins have been re-configured to be a better match for the Arduino shields, which is basically what the Olimex Pinquino boards were designed for. Or to put it another way: DuinoMite is an upgraded Pinquino board that has been designed to run MM-Basic, and has a PS2 keyboard, and VGA connector added to be hardware compatible with a Maxinmite. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Full set of DuinoMite pictures now available: http://olimex.com/dev/index.html then select Duino, then DuinoMite Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
One thing I noticed in the Duinomite schematics is the Duinomite - Mini has a power adapter plug the same as Duinomite - mega and Duinomite but it doesn't have the same regulator circuit. The Duinomite - Mini needs a pure 5v input while Mega and Duinomite accept 9-30v. That's a bit confusing. How many people have a pure 5v input power adapter. You can't even make 5v with a stack of batteries. That looks like a future complaint to me. www.elproducts.com |
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