Open-source hardware platform Arduino

Open-source circuit diagram design and program development interfaces can be downloaded for free and can be modified as needed.

Arduino is not only the world's most popular open source hardware, but also an excellent hardware development platform, but also a trend in hardware development. The simple development method of Arduino allows developers to focus more on creativity and implementation, and quickly complete their own project development, greatly saving learning costs and shortening the development cycle.

 

Android Accessory Development Kit:

Http://developer.android.com/tools/adk/index.html

 

 

Comparison of three major open-source hardware types: Arduino vs beaglebone vs Raspberry Pi:

Arduino Uno is common in maker circles. Arduino has many different sizes and features, but here we choose Arduino uno as the representative. It is a very easy-to-develop platform. Many developers also choose it as the development environment, and its design makes it easy to connect to other devices.

Compared with Arduino uno, Raspberry Pi is a relatively new member. It is actually an embedded computer. It is also a non-expensive full-featured desktop computer. It is a quasi-system, and as a $35 computer, it is a good platform in many projects.

Beaglebone may be the least known among the three platforms, but it has good compatibility and can be used by many projects. It is a powerful Linux computer and can be installed in the Altoid's container.

In addition, aside from the performance similar to the running rate per second, beaglebone runs almost twice as fast as Raspberry Pi in our tests. Maybe it is against common sense. For Beginners, Arduino may have better performance. This is because Raspberry Pi and beaglebone are both based on Linux systems. This system allows them to run multiple programs on small computers and supports multi-language programming. The Design of Arduino is very simple. It can run only one program at a time and only supports low-level C ++ programming.

Another interesting feature of beaglebone and Raspberry Pi is that they can run on flash cards (Raspberry Pi uses SD card and beaglebone uses microSD ). This means that you can replace the memory card to port the system. On Different Storage cards, you can store different set values. If you change the storage card, you can continue with the projects you are developing. Because these two boards are very complicated, it means you can easily change the operating system by switching cards.

For beginners, we recommend Arduino uno. It has a large number of Community users, a large number of sample projects and tutorials, and can easily connect to other external devices. For beginners, there are many ways to learn to use Arduino.

If the size of the developed product is small, we recommend Arduino. The three platforms are similar in size, but the Raspberry Pi's SD storage card will make it look larger. The Arduino style is easy to hide, but what distinguishes Arduino from other platforms is that it has a special microprocessor and some software. It uses a microprocessor embedded system of ATMEL, which is small in size and affordable. For projects that require very small sizes, you can buy these Atmel chips for $1 to $2 and use Arduino bootloader (a program that gives basic functionality to Arduino). After installation, you have another Arduino.

If your project needs to connect to the network, we recommend beaglebone or Raspberry Pi. Both are real Linux computers. They all have built-in Ethernet interfaces and USB, which are easy to connect to the network. Through the USB interface, you can connect to a wireless module so that you can access the network without a network cable. In addition, the Linux system has many built-in components that provide advanced network features.

If your project needs to access external sensor devices, we recommend Arduino and beaglebone. Arduino is easier to connect to external sensors than other devices. Different Versions of Arduino use different voltages (3.3 V or 5 V), so that they can be easily connected to different external devices. Beaglebone can only connect to an external device of 3.3v. In some cases, a resistor or other external circuit must be added to connect to the external device. Both Arduino and beaglebone have Analog Digital Signal interfaces, allowing you to easily connect devices with different voltages. Beaglebone has a higher resolution for analog digital signals, which is the best choice for some projects.

As mentioned above, you must pay attention to the devices you want to connect to, including small sensors, whether they have digital interfaces called I2C or SPI. These three platforms support these external devices, so communication is not a problem.

Arduino is recommended for projects that require battery power supply. Arduino has the lowest power consumption. If we compare the performance per watt, beaglebone consumes the most energy. However, Arduino has a wider range of space because it can work with many devices with different input voltages. In this way, Arduino needs to use different types of batteries, and can continue to run even if the battery is not powered.

To support the user interface, we recommend Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi is unique because it has an HDMI output. This means that you can access the mouse and directly access your TV. In this regard, you have a computer with full-function backup and a user operation interface. In this way, Raspberry Pi can be used to build Web browsing devices at a low cost in projects that require interaction with users. In fact, just for entertainment, we installed the Arduino development tool on the Raspberry Pi and wrote it to the Raspberry Pi as a simple program and downloaded it to the aruduino. It is not a high-performance computer, but it is indeed a computer.

Summary

Arduino is a highly scalable platform for easy interaction with various devices. For beginners, it is a great choice for small projects. Raspberry Pi is suitable for projects that require user interfaces and network support. It is cost-effective.
Beaglebone has excellent Arduino scalability, supports Raspberry Pi fast processor, and Linux flexible development environment. We recommend beaglebone if you want to create a project similar to that of the hydroponics garden. Because of its complete input and output functions and easy access to the network, we can monitor the data it returns through the Web end.
All these three devices are the cornerstone of our digital project. Of course there are other platforms available. For example, if we use sun spots to monitor our tomato garden, these three devices have basically met our needs unless you need more advanced features.

 

Using Raspberry Pi Remote Desktop: if you are using Linux and want to connect to another Linux machine, why use Microsoft protocol? I recommend using xrdp because it is fast, stable, and cross-OS. Of course you can also choose VNC, but for simple consideration, I chose RDP, And it performs well on both Windows and Linux systems.