Which Platform?
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Which board to consider when there are so many available?
To put things into perspective, today's boards are 4~16 times more powerful than the original IBM PC, and 16~64 times more powerful than the Apollo 11 computer! The board itself is only part of a larger system, the platform, which includes the extensions boards and the associated software, but other elements as the users' community, the support and the services. Since the first release in October 2012, many things has happened. The market has matured; manufacturers have consolidated. |
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Looking for... |
the reference with a wide choice of add-ons and libraries |
a cost effective introduction to micro-controllers |
an IoT-capable micro-controller |
more power with a programmer-debugger |
Go for... |
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Or try... |
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Comment |
Albeit based on antiquated 8-bit MCUs and slightly over-priced, those boards remain extremely popular. |
The Grove system offers a large assortment of sensors and actuators with a fool-proof plug. |
The Feather boards are very versatile, while ESP32 has become the low-cost reference for IoT. |
The Raspberry Pi Pico brings unrivalled value at USD4. Add a second board for a full-fledged debugger. |
Extensions
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Depending on the platform, the extensions boards are called shields, BoosterPacks, capes, of Wings. They plug in directly on the main board, making installation easy.
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Software
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All the boards mentioned below run on the Wiring / Arduino framework. A new generation of IDEs brings advanced features like debugging.
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Posted: 23 Nov 2021
