SparkFun Forums

[Bulma]

I've been using SAM7 board for some time, and I was quite happy. But now... I need more

I was looking at LPC parts this time, like LPC-2378 (I guess that larger number is better, right?) LPC-2888 looks weird, and there are no any LPC-3000 yet from Olimex (anyone knows when or if it will be available? )
So, is LPC-2378 ok? Are there any known problems with it? One thing that bothers me is that it doesn't have any external RAM, so you are stuck with 16k, right?

I am planing to use it like I did with SAM7, IAR compiler and H-JTAG.

[leon_heller]

I'm using the LPC2148 That's got plenty of interesting stuff to keep you busy. I'm using the Embedded Artists boards, they have several advantages over the Olimex ones.

Leon

[bertrik]

I have the LP2148 board (LPC2148header + baseboard) from EA too, but as far as I understand the Olimex boards are pretty similar. For a hobby project I'm thinking of getting an Olimex board because it is physically smaller and has an SD slot connected to the SSP (SPI1) port which can run faster and has a buffer unlike the slower unbuffered SPI (SPI0) port connected to the SD slot on the EA board.

What do you like in particular in the EA board that's not present on the Olimex board?

[leon_heller]

The quality is better, and the proto board is very comprehensive.

Leon

[Bulma]

I looked at EA site, they have some nice boards, but there is no way I am giving them 50 euros for shipping

[OLIMEX]

The quality is better, and the proto board is very comprehensive.

Leon

this is very comprehensive answer, I can't see you in our database to have purchased anything than MSP430-JTAG-TINY, so how do you judge our LPC boards quality?

Best regards
Tsvetan

[leon_heller]

I've also got a couple of your MSP430 boards.

You've made several boards for me, your drill machines have rather loose tolerances. You actually made my first LPC2106 boards for me when the chips first came out. They worked OK but the holes weren't centred in the pads, it can be quite noticeable.

I also use PCB-Pool for more critical stuff, their suppliers have very tight tolerances. EA's boards are similar, they use 0.3 mm hole vias like I can get with PCB-Pool and their hole drilling is quite accurate. I don't often need 6 mil tracks but tiny vias are very useful.

To be fair, EA's boards do have a slight problem with the soldermask registration. They are made in China, BTW.

Perhaps I'm overly fussy, but I like PCBs that look nice.

Leon

[tarun]

I'll put in a vote for the Olimex NXP LPC series boards.

I've used these in the past for evaluating various processors, and for the price, I haven't found anything better...

[smead]

We've purchased quite a few different Olimex products to develop software on, and all of them have worked as expected. This includes MSP-430, AVR, and LPC boards.

We have lpc2013, lpc2148, and lpc2378 boards from Olimex. It's nice to have a common
base for software and hardware, and also get to choose a processor that meets the memory/cost parameters of an application.

I'm sure there are other vendors with good quality development boards, but Olimex has been a reliable supplier, so why look any further?