From my Fakebook feed:
https://shop.atmegazero.com/prod...
Not overly enthusiastic about it but thats just me.
JIm
Last Edited: Mon. Nov 23, 2020 - 01:42 PM
The MEGAzero
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Interesting use of the term "Arduino compatible". Usually that would imply a certain pin arrangement so that "shields" could be mounted on it??
Seems to be more an Arduino with a RPi compatible header. RPi add-on boards (hats, etc) tend to have a serial EEPROM that can be interrogated at boot, usually to plumb the correct drivers into the Linux kernel. I don't see that being of much value to the average Arduino user.
Well, the comments being left on the Fake-book feed for it are not very positive. They are downright nasty in some cases.
Jim
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Their logic seems rather flawed:
atmegazero.com wrote:
Why should you get the ATMegaZero?
- Because we are building an ecosystem around the ATMegaZero which will give you many options for your future projects.
- Because we test every single board to ensure that it will work perfectly upon arrival.
- Because some of the Raspberry Pi pHats are compatible with the ATMegaZero.
etc, ...
None of them seems like an actual reason to get an ATMegaZero
Where do ya get the colored headers (or are those add-on "labels")?
avrcandies wrote:
Where do ya get the colored headers (or are those add-on "labels")?
https://shop.pimoroni.com/produc...
Thanks for the link! Never knew you could get these color coded headers..now get out my desoldering station :)
Apparently Digikey has em too
Last Edited: Mon. Nov 23, 2020 - 08:17 PM
I wonder if they solved the very annoying problem of the bootloader issue - being USB it would re-enumerate on the fly which would upset most computers. I think it was only Windows XP that would cope with it. Anything later relied on pure luck if you could load code into it.
I believe this was the reason that the Leonardo was quietly dropped.
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Kartman wrote:
being USB it would re-enumerate on the fly which would upset most computers.
Yes - that can be a problem with using on-chip USB: https://www.avrfreaks.net/commen...
I don't think a 32u4 has enough pins or "oomph" to handle the things they have put on the board...
Nowadays, you can call something "Arduino Compatible" if you provide one of the "board manager" .json files that tells the IDE how to built code for it (and the set of "core" code, but that's already there for a 32u4.)
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The bit that intrigued me the most was:
So "we're making "shields", they are not like anyone else's shields so the choice is limited and if we go out of business there'll be no other alternative, but the great news (for us!) is that we can charge you whatever we like as it's a captive market and you have no choice". Yup, clever business plan.
Who knows, it might get wide adoption? But i think they’re way too late to the party with something is ill conceived. Then again, who would’ve thought facebook and twitter would go viral?
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clawson wrote:
So "we're making "shields", they are not like anyone else's shields so the choice is limited
and that limited choice seems to be just stuff that is already well covered by "normal" Arduino shields ?
And the thing is more expensive than an actual Raspberry Pi Zero!
Kartman wrote:
Who knows, it might get wide adoption? But i think they’re way too late to the party with something is ill conceived. Then again, who would’ve thought facebook and twitter would go viral?
Indeed. Adafruit, Sparkfun and Seeed, to name but a few usual suspects, each have their own 'piggyback' ranges, as well as wired-connector systems. I wonder where the volume market is for these 'ecosystems'. Education maybe.
I can see a market for RaspberryPi which accepts Arduino Shields.
After all, there are a lot of Arduino Shields for a lot of different things. Most Shields will be happy with 3.3V GPIO signals from a RPi.
I am not sure whether all RPis will have enough GPIO pins available. But the RPi will have plenty of CPU power to handle any external Shield electronics.
An Arduino with RPi headers could accept RPi Hats. It would need level-shifting buffers if it wants to protect a 3V Hat from horrible 5V GPIO.
Running the MegaZero at 3V would be much more practical.
Anything simple is probably available in both Hat and Shield format. Probably more expensive as a Hat.
There are some TFT Displays that are sold only in Hat format. I doubt if that is a good enough reason to buy a 32U4 MegaZero.
If they had chosen a Cortex-M4 or Cortex-M7 it would be more attractive but still not a killer product with mass appeal.
Hey-ho. We will wait and see.
David.
I bought a couple of these modules just for the heck of it. They are interesting and they do work as advertised. While not Arduino shield compatible there is little need for that as there is an SD card slot, a display connector, and pins for an ESP8266-based WiFi module on the board. So you can get SD card, WiFi, and display for a lot less money and space than a stack of Arduino shields.
Will this replace the Arduino? I doubt it! But for a project where you want a quick and inexpensive Arduino-like solution in a small package, I think it's a reasonable choice
Seems like there is a lot of animosity both here and on the Facebook posts for it that I just don't get. If you don't like it don't buy it. In my view the developer behind it has done a great job of engineering this and isn't stepping on anyone else to do it.
jwhance wrote:
Seems like there is a lot of animosity both here and on the Facebook posts for it that I just don't get.
As I noted in post #4 yes, the Fakebook notes are downright nasty. Here though, I would say that the posts are not of animosity, but more quizzical. From what I read here, the posts are asking where the developer found the headers, for example.
Keep in mind, that when Arduino was launched it was met with a lot of skepticism. Look what happened 
My only argument with the device is the poor choice of AVR to use. 32k is not much with things like Wifi added on, or displays for example. But hey, they have to start somewhere right?
Cheers,
Jim
I would be more interested if it acted as a bridge for my desktop to get at some pins (UART, I2C...), which the R-Pi would typically access.
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jwhance wrote:
and pins for an ESP8266-based WiFi module
I'm guessing anyone who wants Wi-Fi connectivity will simply buy an ESP32 based Arduino in the first place. (240MHz for $5 is not to be sneezed at! )
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clawson wrote:
Approximately 2USD per ESP32 module.
(240MHz for $5 is not to be sneezed at! )
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