This post will be kind of short, but I wanted to share my excitement for a recent video I saw on the Maple from Leaflabs, although it is particularly the Itead version of the opensource board, called Iteadmaple.
TKJ Electronics got one of the Iteadleaf boards and ported libraries to control a simple LCD display (2.4" SPI display for $25 is a pretty good deal) with the Iteadmaple.
The video below is the result, scroll to 8:00 minute to see the demo on the Maple.
As you can see it is pretty impressive. The sine wave generation is pretty cool and super fast to update.
Given that the cost of the two components does not exceed $60 it is a pretty good deal to do easy user interfaces for embedded systems.
I am looking forward to getting a hand on the ported libraries (TKJ mentions he is going to release them soon after a few rounds of reviews) to start working on my next little project!!!
I am also interested in getting imaging working on that maple board because it looks like it is much more powerful and as easy to code as the Arduino.
Some notes and after thoughts
a) The only drawback of the maple board is that it outputs 3.3V (good for the screen as it takes that voltage).
b) I know it is kind of ugly that china and Itead are selling LeafLab's boards for cheaper than themselves, but I guess that is something inherent from the OpenSource industry. Kudos for LeafLabs, but unfortunately most of the people will rather pay $15 less and get a clone. Less than $35 for an ARM board is a pretty good deal.
c) Arduino DUE should better hurry. Timing is key (they should know better than anybody else) and maybe by the time Arduino DUE is released and it is stable, most of us are already on board the Maple ship!!
I thought that was worth sharing for all the electronics hobbyists!!!
Let me know your thoughts.
