mbed lab board coming soon - Samples up for grabs!


After a busy year at mbed HQ, I've picked up again on an earlier plan to make a lab board for the mbed NXP LPC1768. Read more about the original concept the blog post entitled On the mbed Whiteboard

Meanwhile, this is the before and after...

552/media/uploads/chris/_scaled_lab-board-new.jpg

We're expecting this to retail at something around $50.

Write a driver, get one free!

The first samples are currently being manufactured so its time to have a little fun. We are offering 3 lab boards free in return for writing one of the 3 peripheral driver libraries required.

These are the 3 peripherals need a good cookbook page

  • 128x32 Graphics LCD, Backlit, SPI Interface, Newhaven C12832
  • 3 Axis Accelerometer, +/- 1.5g, I2C Interface, Freescale MMA7660
  • Temperature sensor, NXP LM75B, I2C Interface

A good cookbook page includes (among other things) :

  • Peripheral driver library (Documented with Doxygen, published under default MIT License)
  • Hello world program (written by the user, published under default MIT licence)

An example of a good cookbook page is Nokia-LCD.

The other features of the board are :

  • Socket for Xbee (Zigbee) or RN-XV (Wifi)
  • 5 way navigation switch
  • 2 x Potentiometers
  • 2 x 3.5mm Audio jack (Analog In/Out)
  • 2 x Servo motor headers
  • RGB LED, PWM connected
  • Speaker, PWM connected
  • USB-B connector (keyboard, mouse, MIDI)
  • USB-A connector (Flash drive, Bluetooth, GSM Modem(UK Only))
  • RJ45 Ethernet connector
  • 1.3mm DC Jack input (Powering USB-A and Servo headers)

So, if you are interested in getting one of the 3 first lab boards, email us at support@mbed.org. Tell us which part you want to write a library for, and send link(s) to examples of your work that's already published.

Good luck!

Chris

19 comments on mbed lab board coming soon - Samples up for grabs!:

19 Sep 2012

I would definatly be interested :)

Cheers

Ceri

19 Sep 2012

Sure I am interested in it :)

Greetings

Helmut

19 Sep 2012

That looks damn awesome!

Please continue ;)

19 Sep 2012

I'm interested too!

19 Sep 2012

I am interested in it. When can I buy one? I live in Brazil but next month I will be in Amsterdam. Is possible to get somes between Oct 5 and Oct 20? It will let me avoid very expensive charges for freight and custom.

Where is the XBee socket? In the picture do not appear.

Cheers

HMarioD

19 Sep 2012

I have a RN-XV which I am writing a object for anyway, if you have a spare board it would save me a step.

19 Sep 2012

This looks amazing guys! I love that it has a 120Hz accelerometer, temp sensor and speaker - I didn't think of including these in my design (thanks for the mention on the previous page!).

I should have some time after exams in November to play around with one - I might add a similarly sized relay/IO board. Are the schematics going to be released?

19 Sep 2012

The Xbee/RN-XV sockets are not on the photo I've posted here (as pointed out!)

On the version that has gone to pre-production prototype, there is a header horizontally under the RJ45 connector, and another one where it says "http://mbed.org" on the silkscreen, so the temperature sensor and USB B socket are under the Xbee/RN-XV when its plugged in.

Samuel has recently added a Wifly implementation to the cookbook, and I have to say it works a treat!

The schematics will go open source at some point when we go to proper production.

Thanks, Chris

19 Sep 2012

I want in too! I am very happy to contribute a driver.

19 Sep 2012

It will be no problem to make a fork of my TFT lib :

http://mbed.org/cookbook/SPI-driven-QVGA-TFT I have to change the way of painting the fonts.

Peter

19 Sep 2012

Looks promising!

Just wondering though: would CAN bus and EEPROM (I2C) be considered in a future version?

Best Regards,

Benoît.

19 Sep 2012

I saw a photo of a prototype some time ago and realised immediately that it's a winner: credit-card size, round corners and white. Nowadays white seems to be the new green for PCBs. Engineers will buy one just to sit and look at it. I suggest a hole at one end for a lanyard to enable it to be worn around the neck - not so daft, it could be an active delegate badge. If Raspberry Pi is designed to inspire future programmers, then this could do the same for embedded hardware engineers! On second thoughts, forget the hole, swap the RJ45 into the middle and use an Ethernet cable as a lanyard. I really must get out more.

20 Sep 2012

Kinda looks like one of the prototype boards I made..........hmmm

20 Sep 2012

1. Please post a nice block schematic of the board instead of a messy whiteboard picture 2. Very helpfull: add a few mountingholes M3 to the final board 3. Maybe nice to have: UART to USB (VCP) for easy debugging

20 Sep 2012

You should seriously consider hiring a women If you don't have one already. I love that it has a 120Hz accelerometer, temp sensor and speaker I am very happy to contribute a driver.

21 Sep 2012

I'm interested in that :) I can make driver's for acc and temp but i have to work on LCD screen.

24 Sep 2012

Awesome! I can not wait until this available for purchase. Question: I noticed one of the available features of this board is: Socket for Xbee (Zigbee) or RN-XV (Wifi). I do not see that mentioned socket. Where is this socket located?

28 Dec 2012

Chris,

Is there anything left that needs to be done? Count me in! I just wrote a simplified MODBUS RTU RS-232 interface that I will be posting shortly to the code library. I would have loved to have a eval board similar to the lab board during this last prototype. When are these available for purchase?

Daniel Penny "Infinity"

02 Oct 2013

Just had my first today..

Impressed... Keep up the Good Work .. Thanks Chris..

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