Why Arduino? Instead of an AVR microcontroller system.

What is the need to use an Arduino instead of a microcontroller system with AVR controller.. which will make the system more compact.

The project began in Ivrea, Italy (the site of the computer company Olivetti), in 2005 to make a device for controlling student-built interaction design projects less expensive than other prototyping systems available at the time. As of May 2011, more than 300,000 Arduino units are "in the wild." Founders Massimo Banzi and David Cuartielles named the project after Arduin of Ivrea, the main historical character of the town. "Arduino" is an Italian masculine first name, meaning "strong friend". The English version of the name is "Hardwin".

Arduino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Its open code, open development,... Its like development platform for all kinds of thing and situations. I prefer project to be indipendent, without Arduino, Pinguino, Gremlino... and other such things. ;-)

I personally don't use arduino , I was used in working with native C code (codevision, winavr) before I learned about arduino and once you get used to one way of coding I don't think there s a reason to learn the other.

Arduino has the advantage of many libraries ready to use without requiring too much knowledge from the user (of low level settings) and I suppose that the hardware may be more convenient too with the shields you can use etc.
On the other hand native C if far more powerful becasue every single register is manipulated in the code (instead of the function layer used in arduino) and this is at the same time the disadvantage of using a native C ide, it is more powerful but more complicated to use.

An additional disadvantage of getting used to arduino is that you will have a very hard time if you try to jump to another platform in order to use a device like PIC or ARM based mcu, you will then need to learn everything from scratch since there are not any "arduino" for these.

I suppose that if you provide both arduino and winavr to a user who is not experienced we will have a much easier task with arduino but I'm afraid that the time he gains in the first steps he will have to fill in afterwards when he finds out that there is a limit to what can be done with arduino.

Alex

more compact ?


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Does Arduino support AVR C.

As far as I'm aware the code is written in C but many things are done with an added layer so for example when you set a pin to input or output instead of using PINA=0xff you use the pinMode() function ( Arduino - PinMode ).

I suppose the registers of the mcu are still defined with the same names so you can write directly to them but may prevent some libraries from working correctly and in addition if someone wants to write native low level C then why use arduino?

Alex

mahesXtremeEngineering said:

Does Arduino support AVR C.

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you can program the avr on the arduino board using the icsp connector
but you cannot program using the usb (and fdti chip) that the arduino ide uses

Like Kripton2035 has mentioned, you can program the AVR using the ICSP connector.

This means that you can write a program for the AVR in AVR-GCC, mikroC, CodeVision, etc and burn the AVR with a programmer via the ICSP connector.

Hope this helps.
Tahmid.

another small one ...
Demiduino a(nother) tiny Arduino compatible | DorkbotPDX
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I don't see any relation of the physical size of the dev board with the actual compiler being used so I don't understand why the board size is mentioned.
I'm nor sure what the OP meant by "more compact", was it the code size or some other parameter.

mahesXtremeEngineering said:

What is the need to use an Arduino instead of a microcontroller system with AVR controller.. which will make the system more compact.

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I thought I should mention that the Arduino coding environment is no longer just for AVR devices. The Microchip PIC32 and other devices are now being supported:





I have coded a fair amount using the Arduino environment, as Alex mentioned it offers a layer of abstraction from lower level details, such as register settings, interrupt handling, etc.

Individuals who have coded in either Assembly or C Languages will usually find this "abstraction" somewhat restraining or cumbersome. The Arduino environment also offers a degree of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) above that of Standard C, however greatly limited compared to C++.

The code derived from Assembly followed by C Language is almost always more compact and efficient than a High Level Language (HLL) with more layers of abstraction.

BigDog

One Chip Arduino

One chip (sized) Arduino « adafruit industries blog

One Chip Arduino at Arduino Praxis

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alexan_e said:

I'm nor sure what the OP meant by "more compact", was it the code size or some other parameter.

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I meant the physical size of the system.

Other than size, in Arduino definite ports of the AVR is already set for input or output. In a simple AVR we can adjust this and make the uC perfect to the particular application.
Hence an AVR alone is more flexible.

mahesXtremeEngineering said:

I meant the physical size of the system.

Other than size, in Arduino definite ports of the AVR is already set for input or output. In a simple AVR we can adjust this and make the uC perfect to the particular application.
Hence an AVR alone is more flexible.

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As mentioned, the Arduino is meant as an education tool and device; many others, like myself (I am well versed in Zilog Z80 ASM - assembly language - doing real-time signal acquisition yrs back) find the utility of the Arduino product line a great addition to the toolset to get things done and get projects accomplished a lot faster without the need to 'spin a board' or two to support the task.

In past years I have also used the Tern SBC (single board computers) products like the the TD40 and MD40 but they are expensive and must use the Tern development tools (at the time; they are not cheap either).

Regards,

Jim (not just an RF head)

mahesXtremeEngineering said:

I meant the physical size of the system.

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Yes, nothing more compact than a stand alone MCU. Nothing more flexible than pure old fashioned C (we are not talking about assembly right?). Also cheaper constructions are made with stand alone MCUs.
Quicker solutions using Arduino? Not always. Once the peripheral routines are gathered, then you just add files to the project even with low level C.
The positive aspects of Arduino, is that first of all when you face the challenge of a new board peripheral (memory, clock, GSM etc), you will spare time than write the file from the scratch, this is true. But even in that case, you don't change memories, clocks and modems every day. Furthermore the PCB layout with Arduino is simpler if someone uses SMD MCUs, as well as soldering. Finally Arduino gives the chance to fresh engineers of writing simple programs quickly. But after school, construction cost matters. Most propably they will be hired by a company that makes projects on simple C. Unfortunately there is no such thing as "Arduino code portability"...

As happened to me, when going deeper/further in complexity, every arduino feature becomes a con instead of a pro. Like code size, or the need of in-circuit debugging.
With Arduino, sooner or later you'll need jump to the next level. From my point of view, the sooner the better.

I bought the Chipkit Max 32 from digilent

as seen in this link



I am just starting to learn using it only as an arduino board

can I program it using the normal AVR tools?

In other words, did they modify it so that it only works with arduino stuff now?

sorry if I am not clear

eladin said:

can I program it using the normal AVR tools?

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No, due to the fact it is a PIC32 and not an AVR.

However, you can write code and program the chipKIT MAX32 using any PIC32 compatible compiler, including:

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MikroC Pro for PIC32

And using the ICSP interface available on the board.

eladin said:

In other words, did they modify it so that it only works with arduino stuff now?

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No, you can use the ICSP interface available on the board, which allows you to circumvent the Arduino IDE.

BigDog

Thank you very much, I appreciate your help

Keep in mind if you program the PIC32 directly using the ICSP interface, you may have to reinstall the Arduino Bootloader if you decide to use the Arduino IDE in the future.

Unless, of course, you prevent the entire flash from being erased which is the default and you map your code to be programmed in the appropriate flash sectors uninhabited by the bootloader.

BigDog