I see Roger has left a review for one of these that said the reset button needed to be uploaded after an upload for the usb serial to work. I’ve got an Iteadmaple which doesn’t require this extra step — however, it may be an older version of this board, as I bought it few years back (I think I paid ~$30 back then, which seemed cheap compared to the genuine Maple R5. which was ~$50-60, IIRC.) Perhaps the firmware has changed since then.
Anyway, I quite like my old Iteadmaple, and can confirm it works well with the new software, and thought it was worth alerting forum members of the new price, in case there is any interest for a board in this form factor.
So if anyone need it, GRAB it!
(–> STM32F103RC is quiet cheap on ali!) and 64KB of RAM! and 64KB of RAM!The RB doesn’t have the DAC’s etc where as the RC, RE etc have DAC’s and some other nice additional hardware (I think including SDIO)
and 64KB of RAM!So if anyone need it, GRAB it!
This is my first post.
If you feel this is the wrong place for my questions please advise me. I have looked about and thought, perhaps incorrectly, this would be the place to post my questions to enable me decide if I should purchase a lteadmaple board or couple.
I have not used an Arduino before. I wish to try a Nano for project that even 8 ADC pins for a project I need to create will be challenged in terms of not enough ADC pins. One app element I have lots of experience with in Linux and is one of the common things an Arduino is used for. This of course using different code than on Linux! This one app element will use one digital pin of the Arduino and no ADC pins.
I am rather technical. I started in assembler programming fixing and making extensive modifications to OS and Compilers. This also meant dealing with interrupt routines and re-entrant interrupt code. I should readlly get back to assembler, but no time and most of time code I need to write I need portable to different OSs as much as possible. I have looked at the “sketches” Arduino’s use and many that others have written. I will be just fine with such coding, including the usual code fumbles and typos.
I discovered the Iteadmaple over a week ago on the http://www.itead.cc site as a result of searching for Arduino’s with more ADCs, but maybe not as large as the Mega. It seems, but I am still trying to dig through the PDF from the http://www.itead.cc site and other sources, that the Iteadmaple has 16 ADCs. It appears some pins can have one of a few different functions, meaning one chooses the function the pin will be of the choices allowed for that pin. I have not determined what the number of digital pins from the 39 listed the Iteadmaple has left over on assumption I will use all 16 ADC pins.
Application is not robotics, nor in need of PWM. I need ADC for inputs from devices that put out a pure analogue signal. Likewise just a pure digital signal for digital pins for input. I just need alot of sensors to log data to one device. It would be nice if some or many of the digital pins can respond to leading edge signal as an interrupt.
The Nano is small, but sadly once I add a shield for will be about same size as a Uno, Iteadmaple, and similar form factor a few Arduino’s share. I am not sure of the power demand differences between a Nano and Iteadmaple are, but I suspect the number of devices being used may be more of a factor. I have not done the worse case power calculations for prospective Arduino capability vs application demands. I will do that for sure.
I will also be purchasing a DS3231 based RTC and an SD card. This for the Nano to experiment as a datalogger concept and form factor considerations.
Some questions I have about the Iteadmaple in no specific order of importance to me in addition to the above musings I have made are:
1) Can I use this in usual IDE approach using Linux? I do not use Windows, do not have Windows, no thank you if I can avoid. Thoughs on pros and cons for a strickly Linux based development of the Iteadmaple?
2) There is this USB for serial and DFU matter some have experienced and some have not.
3) Are there new/alternative bootloaders that can be used? If so pros and cons. I have read a little about this over past week, but not enough yet to know.
4) I assume the ADCs are 10 bit?
5) It appears shields may be a challenge for the pins G, 23-37 of Iteadmaple.
6) I assume I will have enough pins left over to use some I2C devices if I need to and more than pair in event I have some I2C device address conflicts that cannot be resolved with jumpers (cable or pin headers)?
7) What experiences have you had as a datalogger using an SD card? No coding examples are needed unless you feel there is a need to explain. Just the pros, cons, unexpected, or same as any other Arduino experiences is what I am seeking.
8) Does the UFC and USB serial matter also exist when using Linux? My sense is yes, based on how I understand the reason this is by choice of design of the bootloader. I am assuming even if there is no Windows driver factor when using Linux in the design of the bootloader that this will remain so in Linux as this is how the bootloader was designed. Therefore I am assuming that sets the behaviour no matter what OS one would use?
I suspect I am forgetting some questions. If I have I will post those when they come to mind.
If there are other points or links to suggest as a result of my posting, questions or comments feel free to speak up. Though I am technical, it is just fine to assume I know less than more or even zip! At this point I have some basic concepts about Arduino’s. Arduino’s do seem in some ways like the first computers I worked on, but even the smallest of the Arduino’s memory and RAM are close to the computers I first worked on. Dare to take a guess what hint of me would suggest that possibility?
I like to order some of these Iteadmaple not just for the 16 ADC on board, but the extra memory has some usefullness in some of the coding techniques I use.
John L. Males
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
01 August 2016 23:11
1) Can I use this in usual IDE approach using Linux? I do not use Windows, do not have Windows, no thank you if I can avoid. Thoughs on pros and cons for a strickly Linux based development of the Iteadmaple?
Slammer wrote:keypunch wrote:
1) Can I use this in usual IDE approach using Linux? I do not use Windows, do not have Windows, no thank you if I can avoid. Thoughs on pros and cons for a strickly Linux based development of the Iteadmaple?
In just a few words how would you compare this Iteadmaple/stm32 board to the Arduino Due Board and if same or different ported libraries are needed to ported libraries to Iteadmaple/stm32? No Need to comment about memory, 12 vs 16 ADC and clock speed differences and hope I have not missed noting other obvious differences.
(the DUE was the stepchild in the past, I was really disappointed as I bought one after 1-2 years AFTER release)Keypunch: If you do not need an UNO shield compatibility, just buy a “maple mini clone”. It’s really favorable (on aliexpress or ebay) and is the mostly supported device here. You can read some of the specs here: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/11280 (Sadly the original leaflabs website is down)
Here is a link from the BAITE shop (the “BAITE” mini model and shop is the one we trust/use most): http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product … 82373.html
EDIT: I totally forgotten our wiki entry: http://wiki.stm32duino.com/index.php?ti … Maple_Mini
and here is the list of (some) compatible STM32F103 boards: http://wiki.stm32duino.com/index.php?ti … 103_boards
In just a few words how would you compare this Iteadmaple/stm32 board to the Arduino Due Board and if same or different ported libraries are needed to ported libraries to Iteadmaple/stm32? No Need to comment about memory, 12 vs 16 ADC and clock speed differences and hope I have not missed noting other obvious differences.
I’m not really sure where you are trying to get to, or precisely what your questions mean, but…
When you say STM32, you could be referring to about 1 of 1000 different MCU’s
We have good support for the STM32F103 series (which probably amounts to 20 or more different MCU’s) and the code probably works for most of the STM321xx devices (though with limitations)
However STM make the F1, F2, F3, F4, and F7 series, as well as the L0, …. Lx series
Binaries for the F1 will not run on the F2, etc, as the way the peripherals are controlled is subtly different between each series (and sometimes its completely different)
We also have moderate support in Libmaple for the F4 series, and some old code thats supposed to work with the F3 (but its very limited and untested)
So, a while ago, @sheepdoll started to write a new core that used STM’s own HAL code rather than libmaple (originally written my Leaflabs)
@vassilis did some more work on this and it is at alpha stage and is the closest thing we have to a solution to writing code for the F7 or L0 etc etc (anything thats not an F103)
I’m not really sure where you are trying to get to, or precisely what your questions mean, but…
When you say STM32, you could be referring to about 1 of 1000 different MCU’s
We have good support for the STM32F103 series (which probably amounts to 20 or more different MCU’s) and the code probably works for most of the STM321xx devices (though with limitations)
However STM make the F1, F2, F3, F4, and F7 series, as well as the L0, …. Lx series
Binaries for the F1 will not run on the F2, etc, as the way the peripherals are controlled is subtly different between each series (and sometimes its completely different)
We also have moderate support in Libmaple for the F4 series, and some old code thats supposed to work with the F3 (but its very limited and untested)
So, a while ago, @sheepdoll started to write a new core that used STM’s own HAL code rather than libmaple (originally written my Leaflabs)
@vassilis did some more work on this and it is at alpha stage and is the closest thing we have to a solution to writing code for the F7 or L0 etc etc (anything thats not an F103)
No worries
