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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Is the Color Maximite 2 Dead?
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bigmik Guru  Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2867 |
Hi Andreas, That is a better value as it is the original waveshare board. I thought they were out of stock due to chip shortage. Maybe stock is starting to filter into the stream again. If so that is good news. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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andreas Senior Member  Joined: 07/12/2020 Location: GermanyPosts: 187 |
Just found on twitter:  I have the same feelings.  -andreas |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 375 |
It's not dead - someone saw Elvis using one last week  |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5707 |
I suppose that "someone" was Lord Lucan, who happened to be riding by on Shergar at the time? Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| daveculp Newbie  Joined: 02/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 22 |
I actually came to this board specifically to ask the same thing - Will the CMM2 ever return. It looks like the waveshare board and other parts have been in short supply for a long time. I was actually wanting to buy a few (I have one personally) for my middle school students to play around with programming. If those parts never come back, what are the chances of new and improved CMM3 using more available parts? Edited 2022-10-07 23:49 by daveculp |
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hitsware2 Guru Joined: 03/08/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 705 |
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/Duinomite/ my site |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5707 |
Is there a specific reason for wanting the CMM2 rather than the PicoMite VGA for teaching programming to middle school students? The PicoMite VGA is just as capable as a programing platform and is a *much* cheaper option. It's also available. :) You lose out on the more advanced graphic capabilities and it's a bit slower but are those really important? Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3649 |
Could you scrape by with Picomites? Looks to be good supply of Pico chips. For almost anything else CMM2/3/... which chips are and will remain plentiful? John Edited 2022-10-08 00:49 by JohnS |
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Nimue Guru Joined: 06/08/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 367 |
I have moved from the CMM2 to PicoMites almost exclusivley for my 10-15 year olds. And use PicoMite / Arduino for adults. I'd go as far as MMBasic + Pico (without VGA) works more for me as used that way I am just adding the PicoMite to a PC as a USB / Serial device and accessing via terminal -- no need to plug / unplug anything. N Entropy is not what it used to be |
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| daveculp Newbie Joined: 02/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 22 |
Primarily speed and graphics capabilities. The CMM2 is pretty capable machine graphics and speed wise so I thought it might be decent for kids that might want to program games. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5707 |
Agreed, as a gaming platform the CMM2 is probably better, but MMBasic is very similar on both the PicoMite VGA and the CMM2 now. I hadn't realised that they would be graphic game programming. :) Perhaps we need their programming efforts on the PicoMite VGA to boost the games for it. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| daveculp Newbie Joined: 02/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 22 |
I think I might order a couple of PicoMites and give them a try. I really don’t think the Maximite is coming back any time soon . |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8567 |
The CMM2 is 3x faster than a fully overclocked Pico and has much better capabilities for games; sound, video, memory etc.. There is not really any comparison. |
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thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3831 |
I'm trying Mick, I just keep getting distracted by supporting activities. My personal opinion is that the PicoMiteVGA is more than enough "Boot to BASIC" computer for any game that someone learning to program is likely to write. I'm also pretty certain that 90+% of the games I have seen for the CMM2 could be ported to run on it with relative ease, certainly if Peter (or I, or A. N. Other volunteer) implements a proper KEYDOWN function for it. The big problem with uptake in my view is that there is no vendor of either kits or completed devices; I can understand why, I had a not particularly serious think about what would be involved in supplying kits for your PicoMiteVGA GAME and it looked like a completely marginal business. Best wishes, Tom Edited 2022-10-09 09:26 by thwill Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9056 |
Agreed. If it's games programming you're interested in, the CMM2 is the only way to go, but unfortunately, due to the chip shortage...... The PicoMite is still an ideal module for teaching in schools though, provided you are NOT wanting to teach how to code advanced games etc. Simple games can be done on the PicoMite though, as the Silicon Chip article on it shows a copy of Tetris called Blocks, so there are possibilities in that department, just not as advanced as the CMM2 is by any definition as Peter said. Having said that, the PicoMite is ideal for classrooms, as it is readily available, uses the same MMBASIC language, is CHEAP and advanced game programming is probably something that would be a bit beyond a classroom environment anyway - if the kids knew how to program games for the CMM2, they would not need the classroom learning environment, cos you need to be pretty advanced in MMBASIC programming, to make good games using the feature set of the CMM2 if you see what I am getting at.  I personally see the PicoMite as an IDEAL classroom introduction to MMBASIC and programming, with the students then being able to take all they learn there with the cheap PicoMite module, to the more advanced CMM2 once chips are available again, allowing them to hone their programming skills with more advanced games and stuff on the CMM2, rather then STARTING to learn on the CMM2. While you can certainly learn on the CMM2, the chip-shortage requires a bit of a rethink on how things are currently done IMHO. Just my 2c on the matter. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 375 |
I thought schools/students had PC's/laptops and internet access ? There are a lot of teach-programming websites and programs, especially for Basic and Python etc. To be honest, I don't think the DIY microprocessor systems/programming genre is going anywhere except as a niche hobby for old gits like myself. |
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phil99 Guru Joined: 11/02/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1773 |
Geoff's VGA PicoMite design is available as a complete kit SC6417 siliconchip.com.au/Shop/20/6417 $35Au + postage, which may be a bit expensive to UK. If you want a number it might work out less per unit. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5707 |
One of my PCBs (the PicoMite VGA EXperimenter) is targeted at educational use. I'd be interested in any comments from those of you in the education field. It's not, as it stands, suitable as a games platform but the idea is that it can use "hats" for such things as games controllers or sound if required. You could also use a "hat" with, for example, some LEDs and switches or some protection resistors for the I/O. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Nimue Guru Joined: 06/08/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 367 |
The focus of much content for teaching computer science aimed at the 10-16 year olds I teach is gaming orientated. Blocky environments like Scratch and Kodu tend to be exclusively "games". This then spills over into Python - where the students take a dislike to the language as it doesn't "look" as friendly and is not designed for "games". As a result I stay away from Scratch and go with JavaScript/P5.JS or Python as early as I can. The draw of the PicoMite is accessing the I/O from within MMBasic. This allows me to demonstrate the use of all things "coding" without resorting to games. All things "hats" is interesting. What we find is that learners don't have the fine motor skills to plug directly into breadboard -- so some form of breakout with protection resistors is always welcome. That said, I'd keep to 2.54mm Dupont sized connectors, just space them out more. For what its worth, I would also avoid making things "too educational" - there's nothing worse than over sanitized kit that gets pushed on teachers / kids. My original dive into CMM2 was that it was robust enough that when coupled with a breakout was able to be used in class. A final point -- a case of some sort to protect the ICs from shorting is almost a neccessity. Kids drop Dupont cables and generally poke at things and often (almost all the time) short stuff out. N Entropy is not what it used to be |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5707 |
My idea of a "protection" hat was to simply put series resistors on each pin to protect from shorts then bring them out to pads at the edge of the board for crocodile clips. For simple stuff you only need about half a dozen. The series resistors would also allow direct connection of LEDs, which are reverse-protected at 3V3 anyway. Something around 1k would be fine, I think. You could short anything to anything. Maybe 100R in the 3V3 line to prevent supply s/c. If the resistors were SMD on the bottom of the hat then you could happily drop or rest anything on top. :) I didn't want to have too much pre-configured on the board. It's a waste of I/O if it's connected to anything you don't need. Consequently, only the keyboard, VGA and SD card are set up on the basic system. Any case for this particular design would have to be a custom one, I think. Maybe something could be done with a couple of polycarb rectangles? It wasn't designed with a case in mind, merely something like pillars to lift it up from the table. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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