Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

The official pyboard running MicroPython.
This is the reference design and main target board for MicroPython.
You can buy one at the store.
Target audience: Users with a pyboard.
Jonas
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by Jonas » Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:48 am

I would like a board as small and cheap as possible.
Maby just 8 I/O's, capable of PWM, UART and atleast two of them is ADC.
No onboard sd-card reader, a built in memory instead.
No header pins or even holes for header pins, wires can be soldered to the board or it can fit in some socket.
No onboard LED's.

Just a simple device that can read sensor values and do some math and sending results via UART.

That's what I would like to have, the most basic and simplest pyboard possible.

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dhylands
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by dhylands » Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:53 am

The Netduino Plus 2, the olimex E407 and H407, and the ghi electronics fez lemur and fez panda iii all have arduino footprints.

blmorris
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by blmorris » Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:24 pm

One argument against the Arduino footprint is that it is much larger than the current pyboard; one of the nice things about the pyboard is the amount of IO contained in a compact size, and many suggestions here have been for pyboards that are even smaller. Arduino compatible footprints bring us in the opposite direction.

One simple way to offer compatibility with existing Arduino / RaspPi boards would be an adapter board; I need to look into the details, but I think it's possible to make a pyboard skin that provides both an Arduino and a RaspPi footprint. This could be entirely passive as well, but it might be better if it provided its own User and Reset buttons and buffered LED's; access to these gets blocked when when a pyboard has a skin in the "Y" position.

-Bryan

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dhylands
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by dhylands » Sun Dec 06, 2015 10:05 pm

blmorris wrote:One argument against the Arduino footprint is that it is much larger than the current pyboard; one of the nice things about the pyboard is the amount of IO contained in a compact size, and many suggestions here have been for pyboards that are even smaller. Arduino compatible footprints bring us in the opposite direction.

One simple way to offer compatibility with existing Arduino / RaspPi boards would be an adapter board; I need to look into the details, but I think it's possible to make a pyboard skin that provides both an Arduino and a RaspPi footprint. This could be entirely passive as well, but it might be better if it provided its own User and Reset buttons and buffered LED's; access to these gets blocked when when a pyboard has a skin in the "Y" position.

-Bryan
It turns out the LED, USR button, and RESET signals are all available on the pyboard skin connectors, so you could replicate that functionality on a larger skin like one used for Arduino/RPi

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dhylands
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by dhylands » Sun Dec 06, 2015 10:08 pm

Jonas wrote:I would like a board as small and cheap as possible.
Maby just 8 I/O's, capable of PWM, UART and atleast two of them is ADC.
No onboard sd-card reader, a built in memory instead.
No header pins or even holes for header pins, wires can be soldered to the board or it can fit in some socket.
No onboard LED's.

Just a simple device that can read sensor values and do some math and sending results via UART.

That's what I would like to have, the most basic and simplest pyboard possible.
Something close to this would be to use the Espruino Pico:
http://www.espruino.com/Pico

MicroPython has already been ported to that. https://github.com/micropython/micropyt ... ruino-Pico

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bmarkus
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by bmarkus » Mon Dec 07, 2015 7:18 am

Regarding shields, concentrate on core business, I mean MicroPython and Pyboard development and do not waste time for extension board, use a 3rd-party existing solution. One possibility is Click Boards from MikroElektronika. They are small, plenty of different modules, widely available at main distributors and they have a common interface specification. I think these fits well to Pyboard:

http://www.mikroe.com/click/

BTW, Imagination's new Ci40 IoT platform also using MikroElektronika Click Modules:

https://community.imgtec.com/platforms/creator-ci40/
Tiny Core Linux (piCore) developer
HAM radio call: HA5DI (Béla)

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bmarkus
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by bmarkus » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:19 am

I would appreciate a breadboard friendly board. Sure it would be bigger than current one but would make its use much more easier.
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pythoncoder
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by pythoncoder » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:32 am

Breadboard friendly is not necessarily large: cf the Arduino Nano. I think sockets have wider application than pins, because they lend themselves to third party shields. But as others have pointed out, the gap could be bridged with an adaptor board.
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pagano.paganino
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by pagano.paganino » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:36 am

What do you think you have a pyboard with encryption?
With the MCU STMF415 that with the same pinout and get so we can enable the encryption in hardware and have the ability to write a file to the SD format .pye(ncrypted) ...

A pyboard 1.1 enc? :D :D :D

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dhylands
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Re: Ideas for next evolution of pyboard

Post by dhylands » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:18 pm

These 2 boards should be good for solderless breadboards:
https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/551
https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/552

I have both, but I haven't gotten around to creating board definitions yet.

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