How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated item?

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spacewalker0720
 
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How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated item?

Post by spacewalker0720 »

Hi - I've been reading about the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBoneBlack and Arduino for a few years, but I can't seem to find an easy to understand (or even hard to understand) web site / page / article that gives you some examples and recommendations on how to take a prototype from the Pi, BBB, Arduino to become a dedicated project.

For example, if I want to make something like a smart lamp, but I don't want to leave my Arduino in it, what choices do I have and how do I go about putting a dedicated chip in it? Can the chip be overwritten if I improve the prototype later, etc.

Not trying to ask about that specific example, but any thing - if I wanted to give some to friends, etc - how would I go about doing that?

Do you have some resources or can point to some that can help me learn what the "next step" is after mucking about with these microcontrollers?

Thanks for helping us all learn.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

There's no single process for taking an idea from prototype to finished product. Every project has its own set of challenges.

There are all sorts of general strategies, but iteration is a good one: build one, take notes on what worked and what didn't, then build another one. Think about what can be simplified and improved based on what you learned from that, then build another. Take notes on that, think about what to try next, then do it again.

In general, you start with things that make it easy to get a working example running, like an Arduino and breadboard, then peel those away and replace them with pieces that are less general but require more setup.. replacing breadboards with parts soldered onto protoboard, then working up to a custom PCB, replacing an Arduino with a simpler dev board, then with a microcontroller in a breadboard, etc.

The questions of when to stop and what changes you need to make are things you'll answer, piece by piece, as you go.

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spacewalker0720
 
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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by spacewalker0720 »

Thanks Mike - but that's exactly what I'm trying to learn - what are those next options? What are smaller dev boards / chip options? How do some compare to others (like the comparisons you all have on RPi vs BBB etc). Options to making "proto" board (for example, not everyone has the time/desire/ability to learn how to draw up schematics - it'd be cool to see an infographic or flow chart on what things you can do yourself to create an item and at which points you could farm out that stage to another company (like making a PCB), etc.)

Hopefully you have more informative links, such as I asked for, to help point me on the way to learn more.

But thanks for what you've said so far.

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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

If you're using an Arduino Uno now, the microcontroller is an ATmega328P.

We use the same microcontroler in our Pro Trinket (https://www.adafruit.com/products/2000), but the PCB is smaller to make it easier to embed in a project. Depending on how much the Arduino is doing, you might be able to replace it with a Trinket (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1501) which uses a microcontroller with fewer IO pins (and a few less features internally).

Assuming you find one of those works for your purposes, the next question is whether you want to use the complete board, or whether you can just get the microcontroller in chip form and build your project around that.

When it comes to prototyping, there are dozens of styles, and the only important rule is, "if it works, it works". We have Perma-Proto boards which have the same layout as a plug-in breadboard (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1609) so it's easy to move a circuit over to a more permanent form.

Another popular choice is pad-per-hole board, which is bascially just a grid of holes with copper pads where you can solder components. The prototyping areas on some of our shields use those: https://www.adafruit.com/product/801

There's also a style called 'point-to-point construction' where you drive brass nails into a board and solder components to their heads. Most electronics through the 1960s were made that way (or on the same general principle).

Another style is called 'dead bug construction', where you glue chips to a piece of copper-clad with their legs up in the air (like a dead bug) then solder components to those. It's basically another kind of point-to-point construction, but the components themselves give you new connection points:
before.jpg
before.jpg (31.33 KiB) Viewed 801 times
after.jpg
after.jpg (37.46 KiB) Viewed 801 times
(images copied from Linear App Note 47 by the great Jim Williams: http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/applicati ... an47fa.pdf)

And along the way you can use any mishmash of parts and techniques you want:
rc-oscillator.jpg
rc-oscillator.jpg (60.02 KiB) Viewed 801 times
xtal-oscillator.jpg
xtal-oscillator.jpg (63.58 KiB) Viewed 801 times
Most of it is just try-it-and-see-if-it-works experimentation, where you fill your bag of tricks equally with things you've invented on your own and things you've stolen from someone else.

I still haven't built a prototype that didn't teach me something new, and I have a whole box of little circuits I've built just so I could try some new technique.

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spacewalker0720
 
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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by spacewalker0720 »

Thanks Mike for the more detailed response.

Know any other sites I might find more info on this topic?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Here are a couple of good references:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH110yjYZ2g
http://mxh.strefa.pl/pliki/tech/book2006/08.pdf

You can also find a lot with Google image searches for the names of various techniques, like 'point to point circuit' or 'manhattan circuit'.

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spacewalker0720
 
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Re: How to convert RPi, BBB, Arduino project to dedicated it

Post by spacewalker0720 »

Thanks for all the help Mike. I hope to get my first BBB and RPi 2 the early part of this year and it's good to know (to me) what paths I might be able to take a project down.

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