AMICUS 18 Section

[lester]

re question 3

How do YOU get paid from that ?

Essentially we don't !

Its like running this forum, and all the other resources we make available to PBP users, we do it because we can, we do it to give something back to the community.

[lester]

Amicus18 is available in the USA from NEWARK

http://www.newark.com/amicus/amicus1...ard/dp/79R5806

In the UK and Europe from Farnell

http://uk.farnell.com/amicus/amicus1...s18/dp/1818281

Amicus18 was presented at the Microchip Masters last fall.

[lester]

Before Amicus18, PIC users would look at the Arduino and typically post on forums:

I have recently ventured over to the dark side and experimented with the Atmel AVR micro-controllers, via the easy to use Arduino platform. It has some good points and a wide range of plug-in modules called shields, that provide a wide range of I/O. Seewww.arduino.cc for more details on Arduino and the Arduino shield list, http://shieldlist.org/

and now the same people are saying things like:

As a PIC micro developer for 15 years (yikes) I started to see if there was a project to use the wide range of Arduino shields. The most promising is the Amicus18 from Crownhill, see http://www.myamicus.co.uk/.

The hardware design is open and based on the Arduino Duemilanove design but with a PIC device.

Google Arduino and see just how much is going on in that community. Its massive. PBP users can take advantage of the low cost development boards and the plethora of projects and ideas, without having to build from scratch. Simply use the AMICUS18 hardware, and the low cost Arduino shields that plug right in.

Amicus18 is NOT some wonderful new design, it is NOT special, It is NOT even the best design.

Amicus18 is beautiful because it enables PBP users to take advantage of low cost Arduino hardware, thats all.

Its true that if you were to develop a platform from scratch you would probably NOT have developed the Amicus18, but when you consider the advantages of making something thats compatible with Arduino, you see that there is a good reason behind the AMICUS18 development platform....think about it!

[Demon]

I saw someone using Arduino to interface with online racing software, I haven't checked sim-flight hardware forums recently so I can't talk about that..

I first thought the Arduino was something like the Basic Stamp. I'm not interested in "that style" of architecture, especially when it's expensive.
Now if Amicus brings simplicity along with low cost, then it's a whole different ball game.

[lester]

Robert, do some research, Ardunio is NOTHING like a Basic Stamp.

Arduino is to Atmel as the 16F84 was to MCHP in the mid 90's....Arduino has put Atmel on the map and top of the list.

By their own admission - and i spent a lot of time talking to them about it, MCHP lost ground because of this simple little development board Arduino.

Arduino is by far the most popular ucontroller development platform in the world today, because its open, low cost and takes leverage from the free tools in the Atmel community.

MCHP have lost a lot of developers to Atmel because of Arduino, thats fact, Marketeers in both camps agree on that.

Amicus18 and its clones, simply give PBP and other MCHP users an easy route to take advantage of the mass of development boards - called 'shields' - that support the Arduino. They are abundant and cheap.

Amicus18 was touted as the Arduino killer by some, its NOT. But is is a vaibale alternative for those PIC users that see whats available to the Atmel community and want the same for themselves.

[lester]

why-the-arduino-won <- read this

Conservative estimates suggest that Arduino shipped 150K + units last year NOT including the clones that originate form the far east !!

Then there's the estimated 4 or 5 shields used per Arduino, so there are maybe close to 1M sheilds out there in developers tool boxes.

With volumes like that prices are LOW LOW LOW, so all you need is a open low cost platform onto which you can attach your Arduino shield and then PBP users can take advantage of the "competitors" baby.

Shields are boards that can be plugged on top of the Arduino PCB extending its capabilities. The different shields follow the same philosophy as the original toolkit: they are easy to mount, and cheap to produce.And they fit directly onto the AMICUS18 board which uses a 3.3V or 5V PIC which you can write code for with PBP !


Example: http://www.myamicus.co.uk/content.ph...Remote-Control

Bruce Reynolds shows just how easy it is to use PBP on an Arduino compatible platform

and here are some shields that you could use with PBP and an Amicus18 board http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?ma...ex&cPath=17_21

Dont forget the Amicus18 board is open, so you dont have to buy it form Farnell or Newark, or Crownhill, you can build your own - as many people have done. Google microchip 1818281+1818282 to find many more suppliers

[lester]

Sorry, i forgot to mention, you can get hold of the hardware from Microchip direct too

http://www.microchipdirect.com/Produ...ywords=TAES001