On 07/22/2018 02:20 PM, Joe wrote:
...snip...
At the level of the Arduino, and what it is used for, the C required
isn't going to differ too much from Python. You're mostly going to
be bit-banging. If you know one modern procedural language, you can at
least potter around in others quite easily.
Judging by what others are saying plus what you say, it looks like
sticking to C would actually be easier than trying to get it to work
with Python.
...snip...
That's ok. I am getting good enough in Python (and have made my own
libraries at times) that if it's not there, I might be able to create
one. Thing is, Raspberry Pi seems more like a computer, rather than a
way to experiment controlling things (safely) like electronic
circuits on breadboards for the fun of it.
It is indeed. A Pi running a Debian desktop is painfully slow, but it
works. What it's surprisingly good at is running streaming software for
Internet TV, the system is optimised for high-definition HDMI output.
Google raspberry pi tv. You won't do that on an Arduino.
Good thing I don't have a need for running streaming software or
anything like that. So that's not a problem.
...snip...
The kit comes with a LCD display, actually, and tutorials and
examples on using it. That I know I'll find interesting too. Ever
since I saw a video about LCD displays on a "The 8-bit guy" YouTube
video, I been wanting to toy around with those things.
Wait till you've had a bit of practice with them before you try writing
a driver for a new LCD display. The documentation for them is skimpy,
and you may need to guess a bit. I've made a few for the PIC 18F
series, which is comparable to this Atmel series.
I think what I'll be doing is just what is in the tutorials, at first.
And toying around with what they have available. Looks like they already
have a library built for the LCD display (it's a monochrome 20 x 40 or
something like that) and some sample code on how to use it.
I am thinking this is going to be quite an interesting and fun hobby.
Certainly. My only work with the Arduino was using one as a graphics
co-processor for a PIC project to drive a 320x240 touch screen for a
camera control panel. There was a suitable Arduino library but not one
for the PIC, and time was in short supply. One drawback to the Arduino
here is that it doesn't have a lot of memory, so the screen fonts were
a bit chunky.
That's another thing I am noticing but a friend tells me I really won't
need a lot of memory just for tinkering around with things. They do have
a shield with an SD card reader/writer for it but my friend tells me
that doesn't expand how much memory is available to store programs, but
would only come in handy if you do a lot of writing of data or something.
Well, I guess you good folks got me straightened out. It looks like I
won't need anything but what comes with the kit and the downloads to do
the tinkering and will have to do it in C. I'll just forget about Python
I guess. Not too big a problem.
I'm also amazed that Debian doesn't have much for the Arduino in the repo.
