I'm ordering a PS/2 Connector to Breadboard connector. Mouser Part #: 619-28050 I'm going to practice reading from a keyboard as soon as I can. I also bought a 4 line LCD display (standard HD44780 LCD) for my Arduino. I want to display what I'm typing on a screen which shouldn't be too hard. I should be able to use the LCD until I include a different type of display. The Arduino has 14 digital I/O pins and 6 analog inputs so it doesn't have a lot of pins to access a keyboard, an LCD and external memory. I think the Leave Maple or Leaf Native will be better suited in the future as it has 37 pins. One thing that can help is the Arduino can be converted to 3.3 volts down from 5 volts as I read a tutorial on how to modify the Arduino using a 3.3v regulator and power diode because 5 volts can damage SD cards that run on 3.3 volts. Previously, users had to use a level shifter to step down from 5 volts to 3 volts which includes unnecessary parts when you can just hack the Arduino. One of the things I have to learn is how to select an appropriate SRAM for a processor in the future as I probably have to calculate the number of writes to memory speed which is something I haven't done before but the more expensive Maple Native should have enough memory to start with because it is 45 pins, 512KB Flash and 64KB SRAM which means I probably have enough to start playing with.
There is a cost to the Maple and the Native but the STM32 Discovery is only $11.85 at Digikey and it has a slightly different processor. This blog does say that the USB interface is half fixed and the processor in the STM32 Discovery is limited to 32K of code:
http://gostm32.blogspot.com/2010/09/con ... -mode.htmlSo I have some time to learn your tutorials and learn some Arduino tutorials. If I knew more I might have just switched to the Microchip PIC32MX695F512H-80I/PT because the Maximite looks really attractive right now and to quote the article:
Quote:
The Maximite also has also 20 input/output lines which can be independently configured as analog inputs, digital inputs or digital outputs. You can measure voltage, frequencies, detect switch closure, etc and respond by turning on lights, closing relays, etc - all under control of your BASIC program.
It would be a feat for someone to port Swordfish Basic to the Maximite.
http://geoffg.net/maximite.htmlI want to get my joystick finished. I may have to buy a new soldering iron to make things more easy in the future.
I've kind of got the electronics bug and want to do more as I can find the time. I found that watching "Ask An Engineer" made things simple and motivated me that it isn't that hard when there are other people doing it.
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