Another oppurtunity for the Propeller to shine.....
WBA Consulting
Posts: 2,933
So, I ran across the Sparkfun article on the Kickstarter project "MicroView" which is a tiny Arduino board that includes a ~1" OLED screen for $45. Nice little project and the video showcases some really simple examples that immediately gain interest of potential "newbies". So, to further substantiate what I stated in the "Parallax needs an Arduino Killer" thread:
Who is willing to take on the challenge of a Propeller version?
:thumb:
WBA Consulting wrote: »Rather than a Propeller based Arduino killer board, I would like to see people replicate these "awesome" arduino projects being shown on Hackaday, MAKE, Instructables, etc, etc, with Propeller based versions. There are so many projects done that get all sorts of attention and most of them could be done with a Propeller without breaking a sweat. In fact, some recent projects shown on Hackaday as some "new" idea have been done with a Propeller years ago.
One was the M&M sorting machine. That's old news for a Propeller project, but apparently is an eye-opening, jaw-dropping idea for the Hackaday folks. Another are the numerous Reverse Geocache type projects. Several Arduino ones are on Hackaday, many without sharing their code, yet no matter how many times I submit my Propeller based one with all of its code and design, it never makes it to the blog.
So, next time you see some attention-getting Arduino project, embrace it, learn from it, then duplicate it much more beautifully with the Propeller and repost to Instructables, the forums, etc, etc. Then post comments on the Arduino version and link to yours.
Who is willing to take on the challenge of a Propeller version?
:thumb:
Comments
Probably get killed in BOM costs to meet the $45 price point. You'd need to have a Kickstarter campaign so you could drive down costs by setting a funding level that gave you adequate volumes for price breaks on parts and production. Can't build on spec and just see how it goes with 20 units.
I wonder how often price point and an uninformed buyer swings sales from a Propeller proto or dev kit to an Arduino? If you aren't really educated in the differences, you look at the two and and see for example, a through hole kit that I can build for $20 that yields a microcontroller I can play with versus a through hole kit for $40 that yields a microcontroller I can play with. ...and then I need a programming plug on top of the $40? Nobody is educated enough to realized that the $40 gets you much more capability.....
Of course, they know if they buy an Arduino, they can talk with their buddy who also has one and can get some help. But that's another issue!
Cute, but I cannot see any mention if that is Touch-supporting ?
A contrast to this, is the STM32F429I-DISCO - that has a QVGA Touch screen, and is $24 !
To me that is a smarter spec-point, - ie ST should shrink their PCB to the size of the LCD, and tool a simple bezel, and then that STM32F429I-DISCO would fly.
I posted my dismay about the popularity of the MicroView here.
I just ordered a few of the much larger $5 OLEDs.
It just goes to show you, if you're going to launch a Kickstarter make sure your product is shiny.
KiethE, The 4D systems display would actually be something that could deliver the same solution if the user software was made to be more user friendly. I haven't used the 4D software for about 2 years, but I gave up with developing an application directly with the display and used a Propeller instead because the learning curve was ugly. If 4D has improved the software over the past few years, it would definitely help.
mindrobots, yes the price point is a key point and volume leads to ways of narrowing that gap.
Best advice I have heard this week.......