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Armstrap Claims to Make ARM Prototyping Easier (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the not-just-easy-but-fun-too dept.

It almost seems too perfect that the originator of the Armstrap 'community of engineers and makers' is named Charles Armstrap. He just introduces himself as 'Charles' on the Armstrap.org website. Names aside, Armstrap.org is 100% open source, including circuit board designs. This is not a 'draw your own circuit boards' bunch, although you certainly could if you wanted to badly enough since they provide schematics and even full CAD drawings of what they make. The reason they do this is laid out on their Core Values page. The boards Armstrap sells are not expensive, but if you are going to be truly open source, you need to supply the means to duplicate and modify or extend your work, as is totally permitted under the MIT License they use.

41 comments

  1. AUTOPLAYING VIDEO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please fix, I am sick of this Dicedot garbage

  2. CHARLES ARMSTRAP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A rising member of the make community! WATCH THE VIDEO, IT'S AMAZING!!! COMMUNITY OF ENGINEERS AND MAKERS

          Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  3. It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "It almost seems too perfect that the originator of the Armstrap 'community of engineers and makers' is named Charles Armstrap."

    I don't get it? What's too perfect about his name?

    1. Re:It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "It almost seems too perfect that the originator of the Armstrap 'community of engineers and makers' is named Charles Armstrap."

      I don't get it? What's too perfect about his name?

      If you can't understand it you aren't worthy to be told.

    2. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A combination of Arm and bootstrap AFAIK mind you it could be strap On, in which case it's quite sad for the gentleman involved.

    3. Re:It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "It almost seems too perfect that the originator of the Armstrap 'community of engineers and makers' is named Charles Armstrap."

      I don't get it? What's too perfect about his name?

      Lol. Isn't is obvious?

    4. Re: It almost seems too perfect by GayLinuxUser · · Score: 0

      Strap on? You know, that's offensive because you're making jokes about the Gay Community of which I am a proud member of. I'm also a Linux developer and in my experience most of the other Linux developers I've met in my life have also been homosexuals. Knock it off with the insults and stick to what matters. Let's talk Arm and let's talk Linux. This site is about technology, not bashing the lifestyle choices of people. Thanks and have a good day.

    5. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what the f do you need a strap on for? you have no peen?
      Calm down trevor.

    6. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would that be Gay as in happy?

    7. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would that explain the name of the photo editor?

      Normally I don't troll but you are obviously an account set up to troll.

    8. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only problem is that you thought the arm was in your ass.

    9. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing about a strap-on is specifically gay, as they are used by straight couples too. And in my experience when I worked at an adult store while in college (it quickly becomes as boring as any other retail clerk job), even though we had a disproportionate number of gay people coming in, more strap-ons were sold to straight people than gays.

    10. Re: It almost seems too perfect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, that's offensive

      Oh, it's you again; the gay San Francisco grievance monger that poasts about his gayness and his vast hoard of guy linux guys.

      I'm pretty sure you're a troll at this point. If not then there is no practical difference between your incessant gay-rage and an actual troll.

    11. Re: It almost seems too perfect by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      A new troll is born, always a beautiful sight.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  4. rpi comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Compared to Raspberry Pi A+, this has...?

    1. Re:rpi comparison by Change · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ARM has two general series of processors, the A series, or application processors, and the M series, or microcontrollers. Microcontrollers (such as the STM32F4 in the Armstrap boards) are designed for low-power embedded device use, you *might* run a specialized RTOS on one, but usually it's just your code, running bare-metal. An application processor, such as what you have in your smartphone or in the Pi, is a more general purpose computing core, running faster, taking more power, and using a full OS for resource management and process scheduling. Also, generally, microcontrollers have their own built-in RAM and Flash, while application processors use external RAM and storage (the Pi looks like the RAM and CPU are one, but in reality they're two separate dies, stacked up within the same package, while micros have everything on the same die).

    2. Re:rpi comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does the RPi have open source board layout files and schematics?

    3. Re:rpi comparison by mirix · · Score: 1

      They're also awesome. Think of them like the AVR or PIC with more.. everything. More RAM. More ROM. More IO. More interfaces, both type and quantity. More Hz. Same price, they work with GCC.

      I've been getting STM32s from china for cheaper than the basic AVRs on an arduino (not sure how, as even qty 1000 is like 4x the price on digikey, but they work like the real thing, so who knows?!).

      I used to love AVRs, but whenever I go back to them now, they seem so limited. the ARM MCUs have a bit of a learning curve, but it's so worth it. With GCC and libopencm3, it's an entirely open source setup. The nucleo boards are dirt cheap arduino-ish things, to get started on, with integrated programmer & debugger.

      There's really no reason to use 8bit MCUs anymore, unless you're making a $0.40 gadget, and need to squeeze out that last nickel.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
  5. This is great by GayLinuxUser · · Score: 1

    I've developed many applications for Arm based systems and anything that gets more people involved is an excellent way to make the platform more well polished and increase the market share not only for the Arm platform but for Linux as well.

    1. Re:This is great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not that there's anything wrong with that...

    2. Re:This is great by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

      And not that he's the only such either...

  6. USB to JTAG firmware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I might have missed it, but I didn't see the firmware for the USB to JTAG STM32F1 device. That would be nice to see.
    I am probably one of the few, but I can't stand Eclipse for embedded development for the usual reasons: slow, flaky, poor
    workflow, ....

    1. Re:USB to JTAG firmware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go ask GayLinuxUser, he might know.

  7. Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Change · · Score: 2

    ST makes several ARM M4F based dev/eval boards with built-in JTAG and a few additional chips thrown in to play with (I think accelerometers and MEMS microphones are common). They cost around $15-$20... go to http://www.st.com/web/catalog/... and check the box for STM32F4 under Supported Devices.
    So, with what I suspect is the benefit of manufacturer loss-leader subsidies on the Discovery boards, why would I spend $40-$60 more on a dev board?

    1. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freescale also: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=FRDM-K22F

    2. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the article said it was to make "ARM Prototyping Easier", I figured they were talking about the high-end ARM processors.
      As soon as I notice the STM32F4 in the image at the top of the page, I decided to continue doing it the old way that I was last night; STM32F4Discovery, Eclipse, GNU ARM Eclipse Plug-ins, ST's CUBE F4 drivers, etc.
      It's easy enough as it is.

    3. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by cjameshuff · · Score: 1

      And TI's LaunchPad boards: http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launch...

      The primary advantages of this thing seem to be a somewhat more compact and breadboard-friendly form factor and less work to set up a development environment and get started with the board (the STM32F4 Discovery Board sample code is neither comprehensive nor particularly suited to being incorporated in other code).

    4. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ST has superseded the Discovery boards with "Nucleo" boards, and they are a big improvement.

      First, they are cheap. All the Nucleo boards are $10. All STM32 MCUs are represented; F0 through F4.

      Nucleo boards have standard Arduino connectors and they also have ST's new, much larger headers called "Morpho." STM32s have a lot more pins than traditional Arduino class parts and the ST Morpho headers expose them all. The new headers surround the Arduino headers on the same board so you may use either.

      Probably the best part of the Nucleo boards is the ST-LINK 2.1 hardware+firmware. The new ST-LINK appears to the host as three devices: a fully integrated OpenOCD 0.8 compatible in-circuit programmer and debugger, a virtual serial device and a mass storage device. You can program a Nucleo by copying your bin image to the mass storage device+file system and ST-LINK will automatically flash the MCU with the new image. No special drivers or programming software needed.

      Discovery was nice and a big step by ST, but Nucleo is a new class of low cost ARM dev/eval boards.

    5. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dont worry, slashvertising is alive and well!
      Dont let realities get in the way, personally I use a lot of chinese clone maple minis, and they work fantastically at $4 each.

    6. Re:Comparison to STM32F4 Discovery boards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I talked with Mr. Armstrap at SXSW last month and it sounds to me like the biggest reason you would use this product is because it gives you free rights to reproduce the hardware design once you've prototyped it. He made it sound like many other dev boards do not, so you have to design your own hardware in order to produce the finished item.

  8. Why not just use MBED? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This board, http://developer.mbed.org/platforms/ST-Nucleo-F401RE/ , based on an STM32F401RET6 costs $10 dollars and has a HUGE community with a great set of libraries, on-line IDE. And if you want you can use the MBED libraries with an offline toolchain.

    I don't understand why one would mess with the Armstrap Eagle. Ok, maybe to build my own board with modifications since they provide the Eagle files.

  9. Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Less power than raspberry Pi,
    more expensive than raspberry Pi,
    why, oh, why?

    1. Re:Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you keep bondering that, fanboy.

  10. What a snide, ignorant end to the write up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the schematics are available, it *is* reproducible. If the source code for the IDE is available, it *is* reproducible. If the board drawings are available, it *is* reproducible. Are you expecting them to hold your hand while you fire up your copy of kicad and do up your own board?

    That is a truly open source project, and you sir are an idiot to suggest otherwise.