Raspberry Pi

Choosing a Development Board for Your Project

Choosing a development board for your projects can be a daunting task. Given the large number of development boards available today, it’s no wonder.

For those who don’t already know this, let’s first come up with a definition for development board.

A development board is a small circuit board containing either a microcontroller, microprocessor (or both) which supplies the necessary components and software for design and programming.

Most of us are familiar with boards like the various incarnations of Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and even BeagleBone. These are some of the most popular options among hobbyists and makers.

Some of us are familiar with other, lesser known boards like Intel’s Galileo or Texas Instrument’s TI LaunchPad. [Read more…] about Choosing a Development Board for Your Project

Arduino vs. Raspberry Pi: Which is Better?

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It’s time to settle the debate. Arduino vs. Raspberry Pi: which is better? Which of the two is the ultimate ecosystem for makers, students, and development? Some swear by the Arduino, others are die-hard RPi fans.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 10 years, you’ve heard of Arduino. The Raspberry Pi, though newer than Arduino, also has a special place in the hearts of many makers and is now mega-popular. Many other single board computers and ecosystems have emerged — such as the BeagleBone, but the RPi and Arduino have funneled their way to the top of the list as far as popularity goes.

Getting Naked: Working With Naked Microcontrollers vs Trainers Like Arduino

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Open source electronics “trainer” boards like the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, the BeagleBone and others have been an enormous boon to introducing more people to electronics and science.

This is because they make working with microcontrollers and programming easier by way of abstraction.

The popularity of these boards has exploded over the past 8-10 years or so.

In the past, using a microcontroller in your projects meant working directly with the micro and supporting hardware, programming in C, and a host of other things.

Be that as it may, there are reasons why the hobbyist should consider learning to work directly with the “naked” or stand-alone microcontroller. We’ll talk about some of those reasons in the words that follow, but first we’ll talk about the difference between a trainer and a microcontroller.