PIC32 based Arduino Compatible Dev Board

Earlier this week SXRguyinMA and Myself were contacted by Microchip PR asking if we would like to check out a new Arduino compatible board based around the PIC32. We of course replied with a yes. We should have our sample in our hands within a week. Microchip teamed up with Digilent Inc. to design and distribute the board, and today Digilent Inc released the chipKIT Max32™ Arduino-Compatible Prototyping Platform.

We plan on posting a ton of info and photos once our testing sample arrives but until then the official specs from Digilent’s site will have to do.

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Originally Posted by Digilent

The chipKIT™ Max32™ combines compatibility with the popular Arduino open source hardware prototyping platform with the performance of the Microchip PIC32 microcontroller. The Max32 is the same form factor as the Arduino Mega board and is compatible with standard Arduino shields as well as larger shields for use with the Mega boards. It features a USB serial port interface for connection to the Arduino IDE and can be powered via USB or an external power supply.

The Max32 board takes advantage of the powerful PIC32MX795F512 microcontroller. This microcontroller features a 32-bit MIPS processor core running at 80Mhz, 512K of flash program memory and 128K of SRAM data memory. In addition, the processor provides a USB 2 OTG controller, 10/100 Ethernet MAC and dual CAN controllers that can be accessed via add-on I/O shields.

In addition to operation within the Arduino development environment, the Max32 is fully compatible with the advanced Microchip MPLAB development environment and the PICKit3 in-system programmer/debugger.

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• Microchip® PIC32MX795F512 processor
  
  • 80 Mhz 32-bit MIPS
  • 512K Flash, 128K RAM
  • USB 2.0 OTG controller
  • 10/100 Ethernet MAC
  • Dual CAN controllers
• Provides additional memory and advanced communications peripherals
• Compatible with Arduino IDE and libraries
• Can also be programmed using Microchip's MPLAB (along with a PICkit 3 or 6-pin header)
• Arduino Mega form factor
• Compatible with Arduino shields
• 83 available I/O
• User LED

Yes you read that right. It is compatible with the Arduino IDE as well as the Arduino Library. What does this mean for the future of Arduino? We foresee a lot of more powerful projects in the future.

they're got an uno-sized version as well :D

http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/...=CHIPKIT-UNO32

I attended the press conference this morning and finished up my article on the new boards. Check it out here http://themakersworkbench.com/?q=node/421

Here are a few photos.

Testing Samples from Microchip!

chipKIT Uno32

chipKIT MAX32

Artsy shot of the Max32

All of my MCU boards.

I just got pff the phone with everyone, they're all very friendly and said if we need anything in the way of support to feel free to email them and they'll do whatever they can to help us out!

Also CJ - since my Arduino was 99% maxed out for the MS project AND we still have your setup to integrate, I think this one Max32 board will do EVERYTHING and then some. This should be fun :D

If my Seeeduino Stalker v2 can't handle my project, this looks like an attractive proposition. However, I'd still need an RTC and SD support...

Looks good though. It never hurts to have new and more powerful options.

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Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA

Also CJ - since my Arduino was 99% maxed out for the MS project AND we still have your setup to integrate, I think this one Max32 board will do EVERYTHING and then some. This should be fun

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I'm not surprised about hearing that, although remember that resource management is key to any program running on limited resources. Throwing more resources at the problem isn't always a solution, but sometimes it's unavoidable. The problem you're most likely experiencing is most likely due to delays in the LCD code. But it's also why you can get away with only 6 pins.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kayin

If my Seeeduino Stalker v2 can't handle my project, this looks like an attractive proposition. However, I'd still need an RTC and SD support...

Looks good though. It never hurts to have new and more powerful options.

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For basic SD card interfacing, you need an SPI port, although if the option is available, SDIO is the best option. As for RTC, depending on your microcontroller (The ATMEGA328 and ATMEGA1280 does not have this features) and the power requirements of the system, you might need an external RTC, but the majority of microcontrollers on the market do have an integrated RTC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crenn

I'm not surprised about hearing that, although remember that resource management is key to any program running on limited resources. Throwing more resources at the problem isn't always a solution, but sometimes it's unavoidable. The problem you're most likely experiencing is most likely due to delays in the LCD code. But it's also why you can get away with only 6 pins.

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No worries on the LCD delay, the worries lie with not having enough general I/O to plug stuff into :facepalm:

Hehe, are you using a ATMEGA1280 or just an ATMEGA328?

I was using the standard Dueleminove (sp?) with the 328, now I'll be blowing PAST the 1280 into this Max32 (Arduno Mega-sized board), which has 83 available I/O AND runs @ 80MHz :banana:

It will be like when I moved from using an Arduino to the Maple (AVR to ARM). Funny thing is, the ARM is too slow currently.