Beyond the Arduino, Programmable System on Chip

--- Late-Breaking News Updates! ---

Cypress is going to be providing pizza at 11:30! Come 1/2 hour early to partake, enjoy and chat.

Please remember to bring your Pioneer Kits (http://www.cypress.com/cy8ckit-042) (if bringing your own) and Windows-based laptop with PSoC Creator (http://www.cypress.com/Creator) installed.

PSoC kits were anticipated to be $30 after tax and shipping, however we were able to mail-order without getting taxed, and shipping fees were minimal, so the price is $25 after all.

After the workshop, there will be time for show-n-tell. Please bring your latest project!

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Our very own local Cypress Semiconductor has done something very interesting. They took their PSoC 4 part and put it on a board that is Arduino Shield compatible.

You might ask, why not just use an Arduino? Well the Arduino is somewhat limited in a number of ways. For example, most Arduinos are limited to 8 bit architecture and a 16 MHz clock. That's fine if you want to blink LEDs and read a temperature sensor. But as we push into more demanding things, speed and resolution start to matter a lot more.

For our more resource-hungry Makers, you may salivate at:
32 bit ARM Cortex M0
48 MHz clock
36 GPIOs
2 Serial communication blocks (I2C, SPI, UART, USB)
4 Universal digital blocks (counter, CRC, debouncer, filter, PWM, quad decode, shift reg, timers, etc)
For very low power applications (when you want the battery to last a year)

For me, the most exciting part are the 6 serial/digital custom blocks. These blocks sometimes eliminate a massive amount of code and complexity. Instead of busting your brains against wheels which have already been invented, you can focus on what's really important... your current make!

Cypress has a useful project going on, 100 projects in 100 days. As of this writing, there are 73 / 100 posted. There is likely to be something relevant to your project if you consider using this dev kit.

http://www.element14.com/community/thread/23736#Projects Released (http://www.element14.com/community/thread/23736#Projects%20Released)

The folks at Cypress have generously offered to teach KingMakers how to use this little dev platform. The kits are only $30 (that's cheaper than an Uno).

This will be a class-room style meet-up, and will be hands-on with your laptop and the dev kit. We will place a bulk order on Sept 9 for kits. Please prepay $30 using Dwolla.com (and email AuricConsultingLLC@gmail.com), or bring cash.

Come join us, you'll be chomping at the bit to use it in a new project!

-Dan