[TriEmbed] Frying Raspberries - TriEmbed Digest, Vol 22, Issue 25

[Terry King]

I think Arduinos are much more resistant to frying.  This may be because their older technology
has larger features and/or their I/O pins which Atmel assumed would be used for physical computing
(as compared to the Pi's processor-centric SOC) have bigger reverse diodes.

So why  not just use Arduino for the physical I/O and link it to a Pi for the Computer/ Operating
System / Network / Human Interface World part, and accept the fact that they are so different? And
there are so many good software library / device choices out there.

DISCLAIMER: About to mention stuff from my own shop...!! Watch out!

AT $15 for a nice Arduino Derivative that already has 20 I/O pins, 20 ground pins, and 20 Vcc
pins, plus nice 4-pin I2C and Serial connectors, and a 5V 2A switching supply built in, why not
solve a bunch of things that are far from the Linux world.  I have sold about 5000 of these 
(really just selling Atmel 328's and pins) and I think I've got 5 back that were fried "for
unknown reasons". I do know of several that were fried for Known, Oops type reasons. And I have
had a bad batch of the earlier versions that had fake USB chips that the manufacturer later
bricked with a drive update. My board manufacturer replaced them immediately. So we went to the
UNO type USB and that has been trouble-free.
See:http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/YourDuino-RoboRED

I'm looking for a good small HDMI display that costs less than the Raspberry Pi to run it. Anyone
seen good possibilities?  A Pi with that,  a cheap Mouse and and Arduino I/O interface would make
many really nice intelligent, networked devices.

I've been smelling the solder flux smoke for 64 years now (starting with the 1-tube receiver for
my Radio Merit Badge) and it's the only kind I like.

Regards, Terry King
...In the Woods in Vermont USA
terry at terryking.us

-The One who Dies with the most Parts LOSES. What do you need??