Teensy 4.1 Development Board • Hacker News Board

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#21

Post by btashton » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:21 PM UTC

subhobroto wrote: post #10

With the supercheap sub $5 ESP32/STM32 boards (both have Arduino core support) and their equally cheap add onboards for camera, ethernet or USB OTG - who exactly are using the Teensy line today and why? I'm genuinely curious.

These are substantially more powerful than both of those families.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#22

Post by pugworthy » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

mister_hn wrote: post #17

subhobroto wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah - we asked the same question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144432 I can see why the Raspberry might not be a good replacement for Teensy - power hungry (ESP32/STM32 have fantastic ULP/Deep sleep) and/or form factor. > pin count? maybe but there are ultra cheap analog and digital multiplexers available.

Not only that, also a full bloated OS wasting CPU cycles.

Exactly. When you want a powerful processor that is going to basically do one thing very well, use a Teensy. When you don't need the power, use Arduino.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#23

Post by ashtonkem » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

mister_hn wrote: post #17

subhobroto wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah - we asked the same question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144432 I can see why the Raspberry might not be a good replacement for Teensy - power hungry (ESP32/STM32 have fantastic ULP/Deep sleep) and/or form factor. > pin count? maybe but there are ultra cheap analog and digital multiplexers available.

Not only that, also a full bloated OS wasting CPU cycles.

RPI straddles the gap between regular computers and embedded systems. It can perform some of the duties of each, but the drawbacks become clearer the further away from the middle ground your use case gets.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#24

Post by pravda » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

subhobroto wrote: post #10

With the supercheap sub $5 ESP32/STM32 boards (both have Arduino core support) and their equally cheap add onboards for camera, ethernet or USB OTG - who exactly are using the Teensy line today and why? I'm genuinely curious.

Think of it as an ARM prototyping tool.

You would switch to the bare chip for production. [1]

Of course, for low production runs, you could stick the Teensy board in your product.

[1] https://www.nxp.com/part/MIMXRT1062CVL5A#/

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#25

Post by detaro » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

subhobroto wrote: post #11

Youden wrote: post #8

Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi? Is the main advantage the pin count?

Ah - we asked the same question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144432 I can see why the Raspberry might not be a good replacement for Teensy - power hungry (ESP32/STM32 have fantastic ULP/Deep sleep) and/or form factor. > pin count? maybe but there are ultra cheap analog and digital multiplexers available.

multiplexers are fine if you're either doing slow signals or uniform outputs. They're not worth the hassle if you want multiple high-speed connections.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#26

Post by sgillen » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:25 PM UTC

rhmw2b wrote: post #20

Youden wrote: post #8

Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi? Is the main advantage the pin count?

I've used the Teensy 3.1 and it's more or less an Arduino (including uses the Arduino IDE) but lower cost and more powerful processor. There is also a way to build C/C++ code and run it on the Teensy. ESP is similar but has WiFi built in and Raspberry Pi is closer to a full blown general-purpose computer than an embedded platform. Software on the Teensy runs on bare metal, software on the Raspberry Pi usually runs on…

To be fair you can also build C/C++ code on an arduino. Although if you want to move away from the Arduino IDE/language, probably an Arduino is not the best platform for you anyway!

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#27

Post by Etheryte » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

Youden wrote: post #8

Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi? Is the main advantage the pin count?

As an anecdotal example, Teensy is often found in custom built mechanical keyboards and mechanical keyboard kits. Form factor and library support are two primary reasons as far as I've understood in my occasional bouts with hobbyists.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#28

Post by skybrian » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

Youden wrote: post #8

Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi? Is the main advantage the pin count?

Teensy has a nice audio library if you're interested in real-time sound synthesis and stuff like that, as well as MIDI-over-USB support. Along with a fast processor and a tiny footprint, it's pretty useful for making musical instruments.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#29

Post by The_Double » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

Does this one have the JTAG/SWD pins available? I know that the teensy bootloader is one of its USPs, but not being able to connect a debugger is kind of a dealbreaker for any sort of complex project.

Re: Teensy 4.1 Development Board

#30

Post by glitcher » Mon, May 11, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

Youden wrote: post #8

Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi? Is the main advantage the pin count?

Running large scale LED matrices with good animation frame rates was at least at one time WAY more performant on a teensy. Not sure if that's still true today.