While the plastic injection molds are being verified and the PCB's are being assembled for delivery, I decided to spend a little time in the EZ-B v4 firmware to see what else I could pull out of it for features... You know, to make your wait worth it
While the molds are checked over for quality injections.
Well, I discovered there was just enough RAM left to add another UART/Serial TTL port for expanding modules! That's huge news - with a total of 3 High Speed UARTs on the EZ-B v4! The top speed is 3.75 Mbs per UART! That's 3,750,000 bits per second. And to top it off, each UART has an input (read) buffer of 5,000 bytes!
What does this mean? It means the ability to add additional two way peripherals to the EZ-B v4, including GPS, iRobot Roomba and more!
I'm pretty sure this little 120 MHz ARM CPU is literally running to the max right now - there's nothing else I can get it to do
- Streaming real-time audio
- Super low latency real-time video
- TCP/IP Web Server
- WiFi (ad-hoc & infrastructure with DHCP server)
- 3 x high speed i2c ports
- 3 x high speed UART ports
- 24 x Servo/Digital ports
- 8 x 12 Bit ADC Ports
- 50 x Dynamixel Chainable Connection
- High Efficiency/Low Heat Digital Switching Power Supply
All packed in a little 2 inch by 2 inch form factor... You're welcome, World!
Its a Suresity that EZ-V4 will drop jaws around the world! @DJ I guess you learned the cramming technique from sitting on suitcases for your New York trip! Very awesome! ....There must be something you can do with the 10 bytes of remaining RAM
Looks like the IRoomba will be an increasingly popular platform! There are two applications that have been mentioned to utilize the UARTS....but.....there are three ports! Lets increase the list
Thanks again DJ!
@Rich , Thanks for the personal response. This info and the other input from the guys really helps. What size Sabertooth are you looking to get? I may have a way for you to get this set of boards real cheap. If you don't need a board that will stand up to a lot of amps I found out that the Sabertooth 2x5 (5 amp max) will work OK with the Kangaroo X2. You'll only need to use the DeScribe Software to change the Baud rate to match the Kangaroo. Anyway, This is going way off topic so if interested please e-mail me privately at dschulpius at wi dot rr dot com.
@DJ... A new Roomba control will be awesome... I use mostly use scripts as I want to have as much autonomous as possible in my projects... I will attempt to get a grip on using the UART if that is the only way to receive serial from the Roomba... But if I had only one Christmas wish/present to ask for it would be a $data= ReceiveSerial( digitalPort, baudRate) command in ARC...
I'm looking forward to some Roomba projects using the v4 too, I have a couple that have been waiting for my attention
@Richard I believe a command exists already, UARTRead() (I think, I'm not near ARC and I can't use it yet so not 100% sure)
Awsome DJ, I can't wait to see how my position potentiometers will work with 12 bit analog inputs. Right now with 8 bit I have resolution to about a degree, with 12 bit this could potentially get to a sixteenth of a degree! Of course there will probably be limitations. I will post my results when I get my hands on my v4.
@Purple with robotics and so many other thing in life
, position is everything as in your driverless car staying on its side of the road! and the difference between 1 degree and 1/16 is huge whether the puck goes in the net or not 
Looking forward to any results Purple
@Rich your modesty is apparent 
I am sure you have ARC tatoonine (d) on the inside of your eyelids
@Rich, I hope you didn't try to send me an email as I suggested above. My email crashed the other day and I lost 3 years of letters. I hope I didn't lose yours if you had tried.