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The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

jaycarlson.net

111–120 of 199 posts

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#111
I would love to see a comparison of instruction sets for assembly programming. Sure, only a few people are going to program in asm, but a microcontroller is the best way to play with it.

The MSP430 instruction set is somewhat friendly, but I long for the days of the Motorola MC68hc11. That was a beautiful instruction set, especially for teaching.

Does anybody know how these chips fare for raw assembly programming?

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#112

This was well done. As I have mentioned in the past, my discussions with people at Microchip and Motorola have conceded that with modern process technology the cost of the silicon is insignificant compared to the cost of packaging and testing. As a result you get to about $1/chip in singles as the low price cut-off but you can put an 8 bit, 16 bit, or 32 bit processor in there and it doesn't change the cost. It can c…

I guess that makes sense, and it's not a particularly new phenomenon. The MOS 6507 (used in the Atari 2600) was mostly the same silicon as the 6502 (as used in Apple II and many other places), but cheaper because it was in a smaller package.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should have used the geometric mean, that's exactly what it is designed for.

Multiplying four values together and taking their fourth root is the geometric mean.

Aaaand its too late for me to delete my post.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#114
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you have to run power to the blinds to run the motor to move them up and down anyway?

You assume the blinds are power to begin with.

The parent comment is talking about adding motors to their existing blinds.

I'm saying: the power consumtion of an LED seems minimal compared to the power consumption of the motor to move them up and down.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#115
post #47

I feel obligated to mention in every one of these threads the wemos D1. I actually have a tough time explaining just how incredible this board is. You can program it in the Arduino environment, meaning if you are doing any hobby electronics, you're probably already really familiar with the programming modalities. It comes with a programmer, and power regulator. No fussing with anything like you might have to with a b…

I actually prefer the Wemos D1 Mini. The D1 you linked has the same header layout as the Arduino, which might confuse a lot of people that you can use Arduino shields. Some of them might work, but probably not without modifying the libraries for them. The D1 Mini actually has it's own shield format, and several shields are available. Even experienced people will find value in the ability to just plug in a display, or…

I just got into the micro controller world a few days ago and it's overwhelming how many options there are! Between the pi, the Arduino, the ESP8266, Wemos ans so so many more which all come in so many flavors it's really tricky to the "ideal" one for a beginner like myself. The project I have in mind would require to work on batteries as opposed to plugin it into a well. It sounds like you're suggesting that anything ESP8266-based would not be ideal not plugged into a wall. Could you share some pointers to what alternative might be better for very low consumption but still has wifi capabilities? Thanks a lot! I'll keep digging in the meantime, this is a fascinating world I'me happy to explore!

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#116

is it possible to somehow buy this off-line in person in mass quantities? seems like it takes ages to ship from alibaba, also I'm afraid of the Chinese government tapping my phone (as I suspect happened on WeChat I foolishly installed, literally seduced by this Chinese chick who claims she's in Vancouver but then doesn't know where Surrey is???? red flags) potentially , so I want to tinker with these interesting DIY…

Pretty near all of this stuff is available from North American distributors, Adafruit/Sparkfun for more hobbyist-minded stuff, Digikey/Mouser/Newark for industry. Adafruit takes bitcoin if you're that paranoid.

You're going to have a hard time getting along in the current world, especially in electronics, if anything Chinese sets you on edge though. I'm trying to be gentle, and I know you didn't ask for advice, but consider some counseling if you're "freaked out and feel tense when [you] hear Chinese people talking in Mandarin". Sounds like you're dealing with some history that you could afford to talk to somebody about.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#117
post #103
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I give these away to local kids - on aliexpress $5 buys you a baggy containing a D1, a proto board, wires, resistors, LEDs, temp/light sensors, switches .... Great value - program them as if they were an arduino

Same!

If it's useful feel free to steal anything from my support page: http://www.moonbaseotago.com/dunedin-arduino/

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#118
post #23
post #8

My favorite is the ATTINY 85. It's so cheap and yet, it can do almost most of the things you can do an Arduino. And yes, you can program it using the Arduino IDE as well. Last year, I started out to digitalize my entire house with these tiny ATTINY 85 chips and with some nrF wireless chips. It has worked really well for me and I'm able to control and monitor any power port in my house as well as my mains. The overall…

As someone building up some home automation I'd love to know how you are monitoring and controlling power. Remote power strips? Replacement outlets? Something diy?

If your meter broadcasts your household energy usage, you may be able to use a ~$20 SDR dongle hooked up to a Raspberry Pi to read the kWh of the whole house several times per minute.

There are some little tools that make this easy: https://github.com/bemasher/rtlamr

You'll need to do a little detective work to separate yours out from the neighbors' but it's not hard.

For my house, I can also read water usage and natural gas the same way by alternating through the relevant frequencies.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no clue what your project is, but a lot of us like the ESP8266/ESP32 which are ~2$ and ~5 per module, or around double with their dev kits. Get's you lots of GPIO + wifi.

I do like them, I have a supply of Wemos D1 Minis ;). I also like the Robotdyn Blue Pill (STM32, fun for playing with Rust). Regardless, I find the minimalism of the ATtinies interesting too, but haven't made the plunge yet.

> Robotdyn Blue Pill (STM32, fun for playing with Rust).

$3.49 is great, nice find. Hopefully now that Espressif has unveiled their fork of LLVM you (as well as myself :P) will be able to use Rust on the ESP chips soon enough.

Re: The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017)

#120

Having used half the IDE's this person outlined, I really really really really wish every single one had a "write Makefile" option. Maybe 1/4 or the IDEs I use do that successfully. I always end up using GDB for debugging, and then the IDE for asm-level tweaking (well, I don't do the tweaking, someone smarter than me does :), but I can do 90% of my work in GDB). In the "real world" IAR Embedded Workshop is the hands-…

You actually can use make instead of the Arduino IDE many times. For the ESP, check out https://github.com/plerup/makeEspArduino. It works reasonably well.
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