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Adafruit's Trinket

learn.adafruit.com

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Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#21

Post by ricardobeat »

eksith wrote: post #19
phunge wrote: post #5

Looks 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.

Plus a 32-bit ARM processor @ 48mhz, and 128k flash.

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#22

Post by snom380 »

outside1234 wrote: post #15

This is probably an ignorant/newbie question but what are the connectivity options available with a board like this? Can it do Zigbee or WiFi?

By itself at can't do those. If you connect it to a WiFi or Zigbee module using SPI it can, but for WiFi you'll probably want to buy a more powerful microcontroller board anyway.

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#23

Post by snom380 »

phunge wrote: post #5

Looks 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?

It looks even more inspired by the DigiSpark: http://digistump.com/products/1

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#24

Post by snoonan »

kken wrote: post #11

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

Limor (and the company she built) has been producing microcontroller and Arduino kits & boards like this for a long time. Digispark reflects a lot of her original work. This is a good thing!

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#25

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

the-kenny wrote: post #2

While I like the Arduino movement very much, I don't see what's so special about this. It's a breakout board for an ATTiny, with some vreg and an usb port on board. So what?

It's a relatively huge amount of power in a tiny package, ready to roll. Many digital logic tasks that used to take a number of TTL/CMOS logic chips, or other devices can now be done in one inexpensive package.

A simple example: every week it seems, on the electronics forums, someone will ask how to do a simple, or a complex timing task and they will be pointed at various logic, or 555 timer chip designs.

Using something like this not only makes those projects simple, it provides a common frame of reference. If I can say to someone "go buy a Trinket from Adafruit and load this code into it and it will work cause I already tested it on my workbench" that provides a tremendous value because both I and the person I'm talking to online are working from a common platform.

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#26

Post by codehero »

IgorPartola wrote: post #4

Or 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

This has 8 more pins than the LaunchPad and is a bit cheaper: https://analog10.com/store/BOB-G2553-28.html You can drive motors from those pins while keeping your P1 free for comm peripherals.

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#27

Post by chad_oliver »

duskwuff wrote: post #18
slowdown wrote: post #7

Many 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.

Yes, but (at least in New Zealand) they're more than the $20 threshold mentioned above. So you're effectively buying a microcontroller plus a programmer.

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#28

Post by codehero »

phunge wrote: post #10
IgorPartola wrote: post #4

Or 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…

The g2231 etc certainly are not specced to work from high frequency crystals or oscillators, but in actual use it works:

http://forum.43oh.com/topic/594-use-a-12mhz-external-square-...

Re: Adafruit's Trinket

#29

Post by sliverstorm »

phunge wrote: post #10
IgorPartola wrote: post #4

Or 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…

The launchpad works with any MSP430 that fits in the socket, including smaller chips.
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