I wonder if anyone here has any thoughts on the new Raspberry Pi boards coming soon... I'm planning to get one and the associated "Gert board", which give you some GPIO to play with!

Yes, I am hoping to get one, I have become frustrated with the MBED lack of robust networking ( no robust HTTP, no FTP at all ), no OS and the on-line compiler is a real fag. I understand the MBED is only for prototyping but a simple os and an off line compiler woudl help a lot. Currently I am just trying to simulate what a RasPi solution would look like for my project by installing a linux virtual machine and simulating by using my current MBED to send in sensor values ( Accelerometer, Magnetometer etc) through a socket but even to get MBED to reliably send this data is proving a headache. Overall there is loads of code on the MBED site but when you actually try and use it some of the stuff wont even compile etc. There has been great support but I have run out of patience. Given the Rapsberry Pi has I2C and SPI already it should be easy to transplant the Pi into the space left by the MBED in my own proto board. Biggest problem with the RaspPi will be getting one when they are produced at end of Feb. Best of Luck

Hi,

You may be pleased to know the three main projects we're working on are an RTOS, official Networking stack, and better support for publishing and iterating projects :)

I'll aim to write up some notes next week to give some more details; hopefully will help squish these problems.

Would love to hear if anyone gets a raspberrypi working with mbed; perhaps use the new USB HID libraries to use mbed as an IO board for raspberrypi!

Simon

Simon, thanks for the update, that all sounds like good news. I think the MBED has such good hardware support with GPIO, A2D PWM I2C SPI etc from that perspective it is extremely capable as a prototype tool. RasPi is focussed I think on primarly educating children about programming with much less (AFAIK) hardware support. Cheers

The Mbed is for a totally different purpose than the Raspberry Pi. I plan to use the Raspberry Pi as the user interface unit and the the mbed for the remote sensing/processing work. Only switching the RPi on when needed as it will be a power hog when compared to the mbed!

Comms between the two will probably have to be UART/USB for the time being, but using UDP over the Ethernet would be preferable :)

Really excites about the idea of an official RTOS, I've been using MBOS and it works adequately :)

Hi! Has someone tried to establish a USB communication between a RasPi and a MBED module. This should be the best and simplest way for communication with out the need of hardware or a 26 pin link, but with only a simple USB<->microUSB cable. This would be a great solution. Please give information if you did this and succeded. Thanks. Fablagrenouille from France

I'd love to see this working too! It should be fairly easy, as all the USBDevice libraries seem to work connecting to a linux box:

• http://mbed.org/handbook/USBDevice

So this should not be much different. Just need someone with a Pi to build and test some of the examples to confirm!

Simon

Thanks Simon, What about using a kind of terminal program like putty on the Rasberry Pi and use the microUSB of the MBED instead of adding a USB connector ? I've got a Raspberry Pi and a Mbed module but I'm too busy at the moment for spending time on this. I would prefer a linux expert to try this communication between RasPi and Mbed for I'm not very efficient in the linux word. Fablagrenouille

Move over mbed, rasberry pi coming through :)

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/91-hardware/4833-raspberry-pi-web-ide.html

More like, they took a cue from you guys... Different tools for different goals, still the lower price point should give MBED something to think about.

Aye the mbed works with Raspberry. I used a NGX protoboard with a Cortex M0 LPC11U24 and compiled LCDText example using the Raspberry Pi. The compiler output goes to the user directory 'Pi' and copying to the mounted mbed drive was simple drag and drop. I registered the new LPC11U24 from the mbed html file and that worked as well, adding or enabling the LPC11U24 compiler dropdown selection when I reopened the compiler tab.

Getting back to the original question about MBED V Raspberry Pi. As an University Electrical Engineering department, we have been enthusiastic adopters of MBED with the design of our own motherboard (over 70 built and in use). Students like the product and the programming environment is beginning to develop nicely. Source code control works well.

However, there are a number of issues that cloud the landscape ::

1. The MBED is rather cosly when compared to a RaspPi. I know they are not the same, but nevertheless, cost is an issue. Currently an MBED is £40 on the Farnell website. Add to that some necessary interfacing bits (eg ethernet magnetics, SD card I/O, CAN tranceivers, etc) and the cost begins to climb. A RaspPi (current cost £24.96 on Farnell) has ethernet and SD card I/O built in and much more memory. Additional necessary interfacing should be cheaper than for the MBED, assuming CAN is not needed.

2. I wasn't sure about the RaspPi when it was first announced, but now that I have played with it, I can say that I am impressed. Yes, it has its problems, but for £24.96 it's a bargain and a very powerful embedded component.

3. Maybe more worrying; I'm now unsure where MBED is going. What are the future plans? This is important to me because, in about 1 years time, I will have to decide whether to stay with MBED or move. With the technical resources we have access to, it may not be possible to give our full support to both MBED and RaspPi.

Unlike some, I really like the development environment. In a student focused environmernt, to be released from the constant torment of having to upgrade toolsets is a real benefit.

I would be great to hear from the MBED team about how they see the future developing.

Jim

Hello Jim,

I hope for Cortex M4 version of mbed with LPC4350. Then mbed portfolio will cover Cortex M0, M3 and also M4 micros. M0 for sensors, battery powered and small projects, M3 for more powerfull projects where more peripherals are needed and M4 for projects with LCDs where big computing power is needed.

Maybe before Christmass like mbed with LPC11u24? I hope for it.

Opinion: mbed is more representative of what real engineers work with in embedded systems as in process control and sensors. Raspberry Pi is not quite a PC and not a practical learning basis for embedded systems programming - by university students.

As far as building your own circuits, the LPC1768, and LPC11U24 are very easy to do, I think I am on my fith PCB now.

I think only a few companys would risk attempting the POP BGA,

never mind the BSP (equivilent to bios)

Hats off to the PI, though, with only a few diodes transistors and a splattering of Rs & Cs. Very impressive no other logic !!

Ceri

I agree with Ceri, doing custom mbed designs is easy on a 2-layer PCB which can be hand soldered. Doing any Raspberry Pi design would be pretty hard and would need professional assembly, I would love to see a homebrew attempt at POP BGA!

There is very little conflict or overlap between the MBED and Raspburry Pi, perhaps only in the Hobby arena. Even for Hobby projectsI believe they would often be used together.

Idea - Mbed - Prototype - Hardware with embedded Micro (probably sensor related). A one to five off product, would probably use the MBED board directly. Above five/ten items a pcb would be produced.

On the other hand a Raspberry Pi. idea - RPi - System - beta program - Program. Its very unlikely I would ever use a RPi to produce any sort of commercial hardware product.

Having said that for one off projects and hobby projects either could be used, the choice would depend on the type of 'Output' required. LED or LCD = MBED. Monitor Screen, especially with GUI, I would use a RPi.

Finally cost, I feel the MBED is fantastic value and an excellent development system. Certainly from a speed to completion or a commercial standpoint. I had a MBED board up and working within 1 minute from opening the package. My first project in embedded micros took three months. It was a Motorola 6800 in back in 1976 though.

Automobile analogy

Raspberry Pi: Toyota Camry

Mbed: Jeep Wrangler

Hmm... comparing CPUs to engines, I'm not sure that analogy holds.

Be careful what you wish for :-)

http://www.google.nl/search?sourceid=chrome&client=ubuntu&channel=cs&ie=UTF-8&q=pop+bga+diy

But I agree, it is not easy...