I, like others wanted access to the Arduino libraries, so I tend to use an AVR 328P with a 16MHz crystal, a resistor, two capacitors and a six pin header that I can plug a USB-serial adapter in to. That makes it easy to program, without wasting hardware on the board itself. I buy a kit of the AVR, socket, crystal and two caps from a certain auction site for pennies. If I stick the thing on a socket, I can always use a 'real' Arduino as a programmer for it.
I'm not much of a software type myself, but the Arduino IDE is a bit primitive even for me, so I have now implemented the Arduino fixes on Code:Blocks so I can use that. I create pin-in-hole board designs in Eagle (stuck on version 6.6 now, thanks to the change of licence), get ten or eleven of those shipped from China for less than 20 bucks for 10cm x 10cm, and I have a development board with the stuff on it I want (like a MIDI interface, an LCD or flourescent interface and a few pushbuttons, rotary encoders and a pot or four. Being a good old fashioned pin-in-hole board means I can still *see* the components without a travelling microscope or surgical loupes. It's fast enough for many uses, especially of the Human Interface Device type since we humans are relatively slow. But I must admit, one of those RasPi Zero W things looks attractive. They do seem to be double the price in the UK to those prices you mention though .. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/30d25e2a-5a03-4f47-abae-b90edafdbbd7%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
