It's very similar to the digispark and is riding on the tails of it. The only major difference is in the pinout.
www.digistump.com
Adafruit's Trinket
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Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#12It's very similar to the digispark and is riding on the tails of it. The only major difference is in the pinout. www.digistump.com
I own two digisparks, and I think the main improvements are the 3.3V/5V and mounting holes. I'm still glad to see more devices filling this niche.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#13I love this! The attiny85 has been my go-to chip for the last couple of years. They're great.
They're really cheap, which makes them really easy to just put into things. It's also a great way of getting people to think-outside-the-arduino.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#14Or for $10, you could get the TI MSP430 LaunchPad [1]. You can then pop off the DIP chip and mount it however you want. It is nice since the chips themselves are about $1 or so each (depending on which one you get). [1] http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/msp430_head.html
My experience with the launchpad has been mixed. The chips are definitely aimed at the low power, low requirements side of things; I had a project where the MSP430g2231's inability to clock from an external high-frequency crystal was a dealbreaker. There's also a wider breadth of hobbyist software targeting the AVR. If you're a hobbyist, it's definitely not worth saving a few bucks if you're only making a few of them…
I was under the impression that the newer chips are able to clock from an external crystal. My 2553 certainly came with one, though I have had no need to use it yet.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#15This is probably an ignorant/newbie question but what are the connectivity options available with a board like this? Can it do Zigbee or WiFi?
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#16This is probably an ignorant/newbie question but what are the connectivity options available with a board like this? Can it do Zigbee or WiFi?
This board is pretty minimalistic. It has five general-purpose I/O pins that you can use to read and write logic-level signals (either 0V or your supply voltage, usually either 3.3V or 5V). Three of those also have analog-to-digital converters, so you can use them to measure voltages in that whole range. Two of these pins have hardware for generating PWM signals, making them useful for motor control. Three of these can be used for an SPI or I2C bus.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#17Or for $10, you could get the TI MSP430 LaunchPad [1]. You can then pop off the DIP chip and mount it however you want. It is nice since the chips themselves are about $1 or so each (depending on which one you get). [1] http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/msp430_head.html
I rather like the new board but since we're talking low-cost alternatives one thing to consider is buying Arduino-compatible boards directly from China.
My personal experience with boards roughly the size of the Trinket has been as follows: I have purchased a Pro Micro [1] compatible with an ATmega32U4 chip and an on-board MicroUSB port from a Chinese seller on eBay for under $9 as well as two no-name Arduino Pro Mini variants with ATmega328 chips from two different eBay sellers for around $4 each, all fully working. At their price point the latter can compete with ATtiny85 chips directly despite being noticeably more powerful and more convenient to use in many cases. I can't say much about the long-term reliability of those boards (my guess is that if you buy enough of them you'll notice that on average it isn't that great compared to that of boards with officially sourced MCUs) but the ones I got for myself and acquaintances (different models, six total) work as specified for now. The oldest one is over a year old and has been used in several different projects including one that ran continuously for 160+ hours.
[1] An Arduino-compatible board designed by Sparkfun, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11098
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#18Many people don't find this exciting. But I am excited indeed. You know why? Because to program an Atmel Microcontroller, you need a 'programmer' whose selection itself is fairly confusing for newbies (USB/Serial/etc) and costs as much as $20 for a good one. This one instead is just plug and play, and that's awesome :)
The Arduino platform has already largely solved that, though. Almost all of their products (besides a few "Pro" models which are TTL-serial only) have USB ports on board.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#19Looks somewhat inspired by the teensy 2.0 (mini USB -- not micro!, bootloader button). This has a lower price point and an ATTiny instead of atmega32u4. I have a few teensys and find them to be really practical. Does the ATTiny implement USB or is it bit-banged?
I think it does.
BTW, Teensy 3.0 just recently came out : http://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy3.html
It's only slightly bigger than the 2.0, but you get 3 more PWM pins (10 total) and 34 I/O and 3.3V out.
Re: Adafruit's Trinket
#20It's very similar to the digispark and is riding on the tails of it. The only major difference is in the pinout. www.digistump.com
I own two digisparks, and I think the main improvements are the 3.3V/5V and mounting holes. I'm still glad to see more devices filling this niche.
I designed a very similar board. It's currently on order from OSH park. I'll see how it turns out.