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Arduino Project Upgrades With 2 New Boards

Posted by timothy on from the now-with-less-italian dept.

EqualSlash writes "The Arduino Project is releasing two new boards — Arduino Uno to replace Duemilanove and Arduino Mega 2560 to replace the existing Arduino Mega board. With Uno, the board is not just getting a new pronunciation-friendly name but also has a custom-made USB-serial converter to replace the older FTDI chipset, thereby removing the need to install drivers (they now have their own USB Vendor ID). It now has a logo and stylish packaging, and soon will have its own branded web store. A new Ethernet integrated board and a tinkering toolkit will be made available shortly."

2 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. what with the where now by FuckingNickName · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Is this like the controller I'd connect to the BBC Master 128s as a preteen to control stupid lego toys after I'd done all my scholarship exams (when I wasn't causing mischief on the 8086 with the OMG sound card), only infinitely more complicated because some cuntbucket decided computers are for CONSUMING not PRODUCING so we don't need simple, educational things like User Ports or even Serial Ports any more?

    1. Re:what with the where now by FuckingNickName · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You are on nerd site complaining that someone is "raging" that it is harder than it once was to control external homebrew electronics from a home computer. Why don't you propose that we all get iPads?

      I don't know about you, but I have used enough peripherals over the past decade to find that USB is nothing like as reliable as the serial port. It is not just the frustration from a hardware point of view of having to put this huge chunk of complex asymmetrical electronics on any device, but the need to write or supply a complex third-party driver instead of just implementing a simple serial protocol.

      And, guess what, almost any USB dongle which supposedly implements a serial port is going to miss out on all the features of a real serial port, using something other than the native 20-year-old full featured and stable driver in OS-of-your-choice... because goodness knows when you're making life difficult for yourself with a complex-but-rubbish bus (and USB is awful when compared to alternatives with similar aims - it's just that Intel have the uncanny ability to spam the world with crap) it would be a waste of money to fully implement what should be a much simpler serial port on the other end.