chipKit Lenny

Created Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:33:50 +0000 by GastonLagaffe

GastonLagaffe

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:33:50 +0000

Salut,

I recently saw the chipKit Lenny and I have a few questions:

• what is the advantage of the Lenny over the uC32?
• is the Lenny 5V tolerant? (looking at the board I guess no)
• what is the ETA? I am keen to get one to play with. I plan to test with different graphics boards I have from the Arduino times and other Adafruit boards e.g. NeoPixelMatrix and the LoL-Shield

Ciao, Mathias

majenko

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:45:59 +0000

what is the advantage of the Lenny over the uC32?

Direct USB connection (no FT-232), and 99.999% Arduino Leonardo compatibility. PPS functionality. I2S support (REFCLKO).

is the Lenny 5V tolerant? (looking at the board I guess no)

Some pins are, some aren't. I haven't catalogued which are yet, but you can cross-reference with the datasheet.

what is the ETA? I am keen to get one to play with. I plan to test with different graphics boards I have from the Arduino times and other Adafruit boards e.g. NeoPixelMatrix and the LoL-Shield

That's a good question. Last I heard the fab house was shopping around for components, but I think they came in over budget so more quotes and shopping are needed by the sounds of things.

However, since it's you, I'll pop a beta-test board in the post to you so you can have a play.

GastonLagaffe

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:50:30 +0000

Salut Matt,

wow! - Will post a comparison of Leonardo and Lennie in Wiki

Ciao, Mathias

majenko

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:55:38 +0000

Just checked the DS... Pins 0-6, 8, SDA and SCL are all 5V tolerant.

majenko

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 18:04:40 +0000

One of my jobs over the next week is to write a proper datasheet/manual for the Lenny. In the mean time, here's a pinout table I have just knocked together. [attachment=0]LennyPins.png[/attachment]

GastonLagaffe

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 19:38:41 +0000

Salut Matt,

I am not sure I got the pin assignment right - but I think it is good for a first draft... enjoy [attachment=0]chipKIT Lenny.png[/attachment]

Ciao, Mathias

majenko

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:51:50 +0000

Nice one. That's looking good.

I have just been working on a 3D model of Lenny in Blender.

[attachment=0]Render.jpg[/attachment]

EmbeddedMan

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 03:05:19 +0000

Oh, wow Matt. That's an amazing render! How long did that take you to make? Is there an easy way to import a board file into blender?

It almost looks like you've represented the height difference between copper + soldermask vs. soldermask alone properly. Is that the case?

I'm super jealous.

*Brian

majenko

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 09:27:06 +0000

No, there is no easy way to import a board file. I have to go through quite an long winded set of operations:

1. Export the board as postscript
2. Import into Inkscape (page 2 of the postscript)
3. Remove all but the outline and drop holes then convert to a single closed path and subtract the holes.
4. Export as SVG
5. Import as a curve to Blender
6. Extrude and convert to a mesh
7. Painstakingly apply textures to the millions of faces (triangles) on the board.

The texture contains a crude normal map which changes the height of the board depending on the brightness. It's that which makes it look like a real board with the difference between mask and copper plus mask, and even the silk.

From them is a case of taking component models from manufacturers or grabcad and converting them to .stl files in FreeCAD, importing them to Blender, then applying textures to the different bits.

So it takes ages. However I am now gradually building up a library of components in Blender which makes the assembling of the board somewhat faster.

That board took from about 7pm until 2am, so about 7 hours.

Sent from my SM-T555 using Tapatalk

majenko

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 12:12:52 +0000

I have overhauled my LEDs. I wasn't very happy with the models I had. These ones light up now :P

[attachment=0]Render.jpg[/attachment]