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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : It’s and ARDUINO - NOT!!
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| Volhout Guru  Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5089 |
 It's and ARDUINO ...... UNO at first sight  Oh wait ... it is infected by a bug ???? NO, it is an MX170 Arduino running MMbasic !! PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Can you elaborate on this a little more? Are you saying you have MMBASIC running on an Arduino?  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2170 |
I suspect it's a "brain-transplant". The arduino been removed from the board and a MX170 soldered to the I/O pins so it fits the footprint and maybe takes advantage of the USB interface for the console. Nice idea. I have toyed in the past with the idea of producing a MM board on the same footprint (shield) outline, but never needed to. Have used arduino shield boards but only singly and was ok with 0.1" rows of connectors. One of my first forays into MM-beyond-the-breadboard was to do a brain-transplant of a PIC16F877 with a MX170 44-pin version mounted on a daughter board with the pins taken to two rows of 20x0.1" headers on 0.6" centers (i.e. the footprint of a 40pin DIP)... bit of programming and job done - still running today in my frequency counter. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Ahhhhhh - gotcha, thanks.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5089 |
It simply rewired the removed ATMEGA28 to the PIC170MX running Micromite basic 5.04.09. Rewired the pins such that PWM pins end up dat PWM pins, I2C at I2C, Analog at analog, SPI at SPI. (some sacrifices have to be made... only 4 analog pins and 4 PWM pins versus 6 of each in Arduino). But in general most Arduino shields should work 1:1. The 3.3V regulator is also on the board and a resistor network for the RESET (5V->3.3V) so it is a direct plug-in for the ATMEG328P. I had Tinybasic running on the Arduino, but became tired of fixing bugs in Tinybasic, and adding features to it, in this minimal RAM space. Decided to replace the hardware.... Geoff and others have done a great job in creating MMbasic. I know from Tinybasic how hard it is (and I even leapfrogged on earlier work). PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5089 |
But in hindsight, it is not a bad idea. The UNO costs something like 6 dollar shipped, the PIC costs 4-5 dollar, so for 11-12 dollar you have a more powerfull platform including USB UART, voltage regulators, reset circuit, headers. Cheaper than the (more powerfull) CircuitGizmo's Arduino outline micromite platform (29.99 dollar ex shipping...and TAX**).. ** I ordered a CGCOLORMAX2 from them, and got a bill from our dutch government that I should pay additional 26 euro's (some 35 dollar) TAX on it. They even taxed the shipping cost. And no way to get past that, they would simply not give you the colormax. That was a bummer... PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1427 |
You pay that much import tax? Ouch. There is also the CGMICROKIT-Micromite-Kit  and CGMICROKIT-Micromite-Kit-Board-only  Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
You taxes should only consist of VAT (BTW in Nederland) There is no import duty for goods costing lower then 150 euro. The Dutch government thus charges you about 6-7 euro. The rest you paid are handling costs (inklarings kosten) by the transport company. These vary a lot and should for small packages be free. I got some conflicts before about those costs, and I just told them I did not accept the cost and refused the package. They would then have to return it to sender which is a large cost to them. If it is the likes of DHL or Fedex then they really do not like it and in my case they waved their handling costs. This obviously will not work all the time, but sometimes you have to set a limit. Now i live in Thailand and again DHL and Fedex charge redicoulous amounts of costs. These are mostly made up costs as there is no special handling at all. From the USA USPS is best as they are part of the worldwide postal system. When the package arrives local postal services do the delivery. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3378 |
Same in Canada. DHL & Fedex charge "import fees" which may be $25 or more. No charge with USPS and it may be more convenient since they will leave it in your post office box instead of leaving a slip if you're not there to come to the door. PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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| MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
From Thailand the shipping fees are still ok. I would not want to have a business in the USA and have international customers. Luckily for them the internal market is probably big enough. For internatiol shipping it many times does not really work as the shipping costs are often higher then the product. And ordering more then you need is also not a good thing. The guys in China though, they have it easy as the Chinese governments subsidizes the transport costs by keeping their postal tariffs very low. so many suppliers in China/Hongkong have free shipping even on cheap parts. It should not be like that as there is no level playing field, but it is what it is. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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| isochronic Guru Joined: 21/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 689 |
From July 1, suppliers to Aus will have to charge GST, ie the $1000 minimum no longer applies. Go figure...the paperwork alone will cost more to Aus than it brings in. [Then again in Aus the so-called "level playing field" seems to be more bonus-managed abandoned quarry  ] |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6283 |
Only if they supply over $75,000 worth of goods per year. (That's my reading of it but I am no tax expert). From the ATO website Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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| isochronic Guru Joined: 21/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 689 |
It seems to disadvantage USA tech companies - who suffer a high $ exchange rate, and bear also the expense of developing the tech in the first place - and assist cheap ripoffs from the third world. |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Hey Stuart, no fair, Trump impersonations don't work well with an Aussie accent! Paul in NY |
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| isochronic Guru Joined: 21/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 689 |
tch, tch, tch.. (skippy noise  )Seriously though it pisses me off. The impetus was from major domestic retail chains - often selling stuff that is dated technology and overpriced because of "added service" (?), who generally don't sell hi tech anyway. The upshot for Aus users, is buying pics/atmels/most ICs/pickit4 etc from the US will cop the GST. I think there should be a exception for R&D tech components, so cutting edge/disruptive tech development and transfer is not disadvantaged. |
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