Crystal Board: FPGA - Arduino - ARM SoC

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by DracoLlasa, Dec 9, 2013.

  1. DracoLlasa

    DracoLlasa UDOOer

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    Saw this a couple days ago on Kickstarter, seems to be design that follows loosely with what was done with the UDOO. (combining multiple things on a single board)

    I personally like the UDOO design and better price point but it looks like they have some good stuff going and a nice software side to go along with it.
    The infancy of the software side on the UDOO has been a bit of a hinderance but i know we will be getting through that.

    Anyways for those interested i thought it was worth sharing.
    http://kck.st/1d83nda
     
  2. delba

    delba Administrator Staff Member

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    Yep! I saw it a couple of days ago. Nice hw features but Imho the best thing they have is the Crystal Cloud. We'll follow the KS campaign though.
     
  3. Lifeboat_Jim

    Lifeboat_Jim New Member

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    More powerful on the ARM9 side but less so on the Arduono. Not sure they have the balance right, but would suit many of course.


    The inclusion of a Spartan-6 was of interest (due to that been used in a HDMI solution for overlaying text in the data stream I spotted) but nothing that couldn't be added as a shield or module.
     
  4. DracoLlasa

    DracoLlasa UDOOer

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    This is one of the first things that i thought of as well.

    Im definitely following the campaign, but havent defined if its worth it for me to try and get one.. im really quite content with the UDDO nad my other embedded boards
     
  5. venkatbo

    venkatbo Member

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    With 2 GB RAM, suite of sensors, std JST-jumpers - all for less than say $175 price - we could very well have the next gen :roll: YouDo2 !
     
  6. EBrown

    EBrown New Member

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    I'd much rather have the Udoo. It has what I need and then some, and doesn't have the extra nonsense. And if I want the extra nonsense, I can add it. (In fact, I think the Udoo Ubuntu operating system has more than I need, but we'll leave that be for now.)

    The problem I foresee with this project is that it will likely be more complicated, and from what I understand the GPIO's are dedicated to certain controllers. As well as the fact that it doesn't have as many on the Arduino side. (Which with my projects I need all the GPIO's.)

    Although, this does seem like a good project and many people may in fact find very good use out of it should it release.

    I am, however, quite interested to see how they integrated all the controllers together. I assume it's a serial UART like the Udoo, but I am very curious as to what they actually did. (And better yet, how far the communication can go. Is it full multi-node communication? Or is the RK3188 at the center of communication, and the FPGA goes through it to get to the Atemga328?)

    Thanks,
    EBrown
     
  7. delba

    delba Administrator Staff Member

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    Word!

    Btw if you need a clean Ubuntu OS you can use the Sources (http://www.udoo.org/downloads/#tab3) or the Binaries using the File System Minimal 11.10 (http://www.udoo.org/downloads/#tab2) .
     
  8. EBrown

    EBrown New Member

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    Well I'll just sudo apt-get remove whatever I don't want. (Which I'm sure there is plenty of.) I haven't actually had time to boot up my Udoo and test it all out, due to the fact that this is exam week at my college, and I also have work in the evening, so I've been rather busy. My last exam is tomorrow, however, and I have Thursday and Friday off work, so once I get some cleaning in the house done I'll have some time to experiment with the Udoo and get the Udoo/Arduino communication I want completed done. (Maybe I'll even write a simple library for communicating between the i.MX6 and SAM3X via Serial when I get done, so that others can just plug'n'play and have full bidirectional communication.)

    Thanks,
    EBrown
     
  9. ndzinn

    ndzinn New Member

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    I must say that the GPS + IMU (3 accelerometers + 3 gyros, an inertial measurement unit ) caught my eye. I do navigation professionally. Presuming the GPS and IMU data are readily accessible, this is an autopilot for a toy quadcopter ... or maybe a package delivery device! Having said that, there may be Arduino Due shields with those features, too.

    Anyone have an opinion of whether Arduino Uno or Due compatibility is more desirable?

    Noel
     
  10. Lifeboat_Jim

    Lifeboat_Jim New Member

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    Due all the way for me: 32bit, faster clock, faster ADC of higher accuracy, much more memory, more pins, 3.3v. The only real downside is fewer compatible shields (but I don't plan on using shields, so no problem for me!).
     
  11. EBrown

    EBrown New Member

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    Better send this project idea to Amazon for their drone research. ;)

    I much prefer the Due as well. I actually had the opportunity (through a college near me) to help them with some research using the Raspberry Pi and an Arduino Uno, but I declined when I found the Udoo. I sent them the information on it and they were interested, but didn't need all the power and wanted to teach the students how to build the serial connections themselves. (Alas, I couldn't upsell this product.)

    Thanks,
    EBrown
     
  12. Patola

    Patola New Member

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    Open Source or not?

    The main point of interest to me: it doesn't seem to be open-source hardware, is it? Could not find that information on the project page.
     

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