- Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:56 pm
#3986
I've made a few purchases from Spark and have been quite happy with everything I've gotten so far, thought I'd take a moment and kick out some random product ideas. Maybe one will actually be good enough to consider.
I'm about to order the Olimex USB-AVR board, but what I'd really like is a FTDI on a breakout board of some sort. (Kinda like your RS232 Shifter product, maybe something similar to the Ravar USBMOD3 or USBMOD4?). It would be nice to have something I can reuse in different projects.
For that matter, does anyone carry the AVR USB chips in something compatible with thru-hole? Are they worth producing a protoboard or breakout board for them? (I haven't looked in to these myself).
A couple of things that, IMO, would be nice mods to the existing Olimex boards: How about a power switch, or, failing that, a jumper somewhere that could be replaced with a power switch by the buyer? I can modify the existing boards this way, but due to the layout not very conveniently. Second: Would be nice to pull the traces out from the pads one extra hole... I suppose that one is personal preference. Thirdly, on the USB-AVR , it would be nice to have a place for an onboard regulator, and a jumper to switch between it and the USB power. Reason? I'm not really comfortable smoke testing a new circuit using the USB power from my computer ($$$ if something goes wrong).
-OR-, maybe you guys could sell a 5v regulated USB power-only adapter for it, with a Type B plug on the end. Actually, that's sounds better, and I'm sure someone makes these with Type A sockets that you could resell.
Does anyone sell SimmSticks compatible with the larger Atmega chips? (would this require licensing?)
Under the "I like toys" category: How about something that can play MP3's, for example the uMP3 from Rogue Robotics? perhaps for < $100? Making your own MP3 player and sticking it in a Altoid tin seems to be popular these days, but some of us can't easily work with the SMT components required...
Ok, that's enough random thoughts for one night.
Keep up the good work!
I'm about to order the Olimex USB-AVR board, but what I'd really like is a FTDI on a breakout board of some sort. (Kinda like your RS232 Shifter product, maybe something similar to the Ravar USBMOD3 or USBMOD4?). It would be nice to have something I can reuse in different projects.
For that matter, does anyone carry the AVR USB chips in something compatible with thru-hole? Are they worth producing a protoboard or breakout board for them? (I haven't looked in to these myself).
A couple of things that, IMO, would be nice mods to the existing Olimex boards: How about a power switch, or, failing that, a jumper somewhere that could be replaced with a power switch by the buyer? I can modify the existing boards this way, but due to the layout not very conveniently. Second: Would be nice to pull the traces out from the pads one extra hole... I suppose that one is personal preference. Thirdly, on the USB-AVR , it would be nice to have a place for an onboard regulator, and a jumper to switch between it and the USB power. Reason? I'm not really comfortable smoke testing a new circuit using the USB power from my computer ($$$ if something goes wrong).
-OR-, maybe you guys could sell a 5v regulated USB power-only adapter for it, with a Type B plug on the end. Actually, that's sounds better, and I'm sure someone makes these with Type A sockets that you could resell.
Does anyone sell SimmSticks compatible with the larger Atmega chips? (would this require licensing?)
Under the "I like toys" category: How about something that can play MP3's, for example the uMP3 from Rogue Robotics? perhaps for < $100? Making your own MP3 player and sticking it in a Altoid tin seems to be popular these days, but some of us can't easily work with the SMT components required...
Ok, that's enough random thoughts for one night.
Keep up the good work!