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On Mon, 26 Feb 2024, rds_met wrote:
Hi there. Was *shown* an "Arduino" - and example programs in C/C++ Looked online next day - says "Arduino" device has advantages when dealing with analog inputs. eg. voltage from a thermocouple? I have programmed in "C" before. Was mainly in later 1990's - somewhat credible programs I'd like to be able to say I have tried an "Arduino". Anyone in the vicinity have "Arduino"s?
I have many Arduinos, use then, build systems with them (commercial and hobby), but I live in another country so can't directly help.
However... What you need to know now is that Arduino is more than one thing.
Now; it's a common software platform with an IDE and a means to compile your code (usually C or C++) with libraries of common code and download that to your hardware "Arduino" target.
The target... Well, once upon a time it was "an Arduino" with a common board size/layout/pin format and the same CPU (Typically ATmega 328p on a Uno or Uno compatible, or 168 on the older Duemilanove (2009) board, although a lot of these were upgraded to the 328p.
This is a small RISC style 8-bit CPU with typically 2KB of RAM, 32KB of Flash for code storage and 256 bytes of Flash/EEPROM. It also features a number of GPIO pins, some can be used for serial, SPI, I2C, analog in and so on.
Today it's a multitude of physical hardware boards incluing the original ATmega CPUs and many other such as the RP 2040 and other ARM based microcontrollers as well as platforms like the ESP32 SoC - both the Xtensa and RISC-V cores.
You get a common IDE written in Java which is mostly cross plaform. (Win/Mac/Linux) A common(ish) set of libraries to do things like access the GPIO pins, serial, I2C, SPI, analog read/write and so on. There are libraries to do other stuff like drive TVs via composite video, VGA on some systems, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB and so on.
There are also millions of web sites with examples out there too which is a handy resource.
FWIW: I don't use the Arduino software at all. Almost 15 years back, I had a job where they wanted no open source software so I obliged and wrote my own micro task scheduller, wiring lirary and librarys for the hardware we needed, all in pure C. I was allowed to keep and re-use that code so I've used it ever since, adding, tweaking, etc. So you don't need to use the Arduino IDE and libraries if you don't want to, but it's often a bit of a struggle and some devices have "binary blobs" with an interface for your own code to call, but no idea what the code you're calling is doing.
I tend to use Arduno hardware for prototyping then build it into dedicated hardware - or sometimes just design a "shield" to go on-top if that fits the bill.
Enjoy "Arduino" ... Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG FAQ: https://www.dcglug.org.uk/faq/