FEZ Panda - LPC with .NET

07 Oct 2010

For those of you that don't check Sparkfun every day, here's something they just posted on their blog:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=10146

It's called the FEZ Panda, and it's the second generation product that tinyCLR has released. The idea is an Arduino-style board, but with .NET support! (C# .NET micro)

I was looking at it (very cheap - $34 from Sparkfun) and I noticed that it had 6 analog inputs, just like my mbed. And one was a digital output, just like my mbed. Then I looked at their processor - an LPC2387FBD100 !

So here's to the first one to port .NET micro framework to the mbed. I may go that route myself if it looks promising.

08 Oct 2010

Hmm.. Now the mbed seems kind of expensive..

08 Oct 2010

Just took a fast look.

If compared http://www.tinyclr.com/compare/ with a FEZ Domino it's more IO, less money. Strange!

If compared to the mbed1768 it doubles the ram (!), less flash, lower clock, and no ethernet.

ethernet needs a WE5100 shield which about doubles the price. Back home.

WE5100 is usable for a microcontroller. But only 4 sockets. Doesn't have to be a problem.

Of course if you don't need networking it's a nice priced device.

I would expect mbed to expand their range of hardware in the near future having a smaller (cheaper) and bigger (yes)

device. Maybe this is a good time for Simon to lift a shield? mhh?

Of course, I can be very wrong about all this. After all I took only a brief look :-)

 

Grtz,

Art.

12 Oct 2010

The domino has USB support, but indeed the domino is a tad overpriced with the panda for 35 dollars.

i got a domino and a mbed, both work fine, domino has a much better IDE but the mbed is nice, quick and fits in my breadboard.