New Mega-IO head unit

Request new hardware or ideas for the controller
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rygh
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:07 pm

New Mega-IO head unit

Post by rygh »

In reading the forums, it appears a new Atmega2560 based unit might be in the works.
Great. But I think that is just a start.
Does it also have a ton of I/O, connectors, and expandability?
After all, a big part of your customer base is tinkerers.

My big problem:
The open source reef controller concept is fantastic.
But the lack of IO and cpu/mem resources make it rather hard to do much with it.

I ended up building a second Arduino Mega box off of the RA.
But having two sets of software communicating on different boards is a major pain.
Plus all that soldering and mess gets old.

So a series of thoughts:

1) Upgrade to Atmega2560.
Obvious.

2) Bring ALL the spare I/O out to connectors.
There a are a whole lot more with the Mega256.
Maybe have some buffered outputs.
Maybe an extra BNC or two.
Definitely bring out 5V and 12V power.
And maybe even a breadboard or extra space inside the box.
For any IO not brought out, make sure there are easily accessed headers inside the box.

3) Open the design to the forum.
You have received lots of good ideas on the expansion modules.
Use the same for the head unit.

** As a bonus, many of those add-on modules will become a whole lot simpler.
Pyroburn
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Northridge, CA

Re: New Mega-IO head unit

Post by Pyroburn »

Ditto, :D
CAD MAN
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