A few months ago we covered Microchip and Digilent's first entry into the Arduino community: The chipKIT line of Arduino compatible PIC32 MCU boards. News spread fast and it seems like anyone who is serious about Arduino dev has picked up at least one of the chipKIT boards. Shortly after the launch of the UNO32 and Max32 board, Digilent announced the existance of 2 shields slated for release in June: The chipKIT Networking shield and chipKIT General I/O shield. June quickly passed and July came and went with no word on the release date for either shield. Well today Microchip and Digilent have officially released both the Networking shield and the General I/O shield. We received our evaluation samples about 3 weeks ago and are planning full writeups on both shields in the next few days. In the mean time we have some exciting photos as well as the full press release after the jump.
Microchip and Digilent Create Network and Basic I/O Shields, Support Resources for the chipKIT™ and Arduino™ Community
Shields and Support Resources Enable Hobbyists and Academics to Add More Features and Functionality to Projects, Even If They Are Not Engineers
CHANDLER, Ariz., Aug. 22, 2011 [NASDAQ: MCHP] — Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions, and Digilent, Inc. today announced expanded capabilities for the 32-bit PIC32 microcontroller-based chipKIT™ Development Platform for the Arduino™ community. First, the companies unveiled two shields for the chipKIT platform—the chipKIT Basic I/O and Network Shields. Secondly, new online support resources for the community are now available, including software library support for Ethernet, CAN and USB, as well as an online chipKIT forum (http://www.microchip.com/get/TGRC) and wiki (http://www.microchip.com/get/6ST7). The shields and online support resources enable users to take advantage of the high-performance, 32-bit PIC® microcontroller-based chipKIT development platform to add more features and functionality to their projects, even if they are not engineers.
The chipKIT development platform is a 32-bit Arduino solution that enables hobbyists and academics to easily and inexpensively integrate electronics into their projects, even if they do not have an electronic-engineering background. The platform consists of two PIC32-based development boards and open-source software that is compatible with the Arduino programming language and development environment. The chipKIT hardware is compatible with existing 3.3V Arduino shields and applications, and can be developed using a modified version of the Arduino IDE and existing Arduino resources, such as code examples, libraries, references and tutorials. The chipKIT Basic I/O Shield (part # TDGL005) announced today is compatible with the chipKIT Uno32™ and Max32™ boards, and offers users simple push buttons, switches, LEDs, I2C™ EEPROM, I2C temperature sensor, and a 128 x 32 pixel organic LED graphic display. The chipKIT Network Shield (part # TDGL006) enables users to use the chipKIT Max32™ development board to implement 10/100 Ethernet, USB OTG and CAN communications.
“The introduction of these two new shields for the chipKIT platform demonstrates Microchip’s and Digilent’s commitment to the Arduino community,” said Fred Eady, hobbyist and editor with Nuts & Volts and SERVO Magazines. “Not only will users have additional I/O functionality with the chipKIT Basic I/O Shield, they will be able to integrate advanced communications such as Ethernet, CAN and USB into their projects with the Network Shield.”
“We’re excited to continue supporting the academic and hobbyist communities with the expanded capabilities of and support for the chipKIT development platform,” said Derek Carlson, Microchip’s vice president of development tools.
Clint Cole, president of Digilent, Inc., said, “These new shields and online support resources open new opportunities for industry, hobbyists and academics to do more with their chipKIT-based projects, as well as collaborate and share ideas.”
Digilent chipKIT Basic I/O Shield
The Basic I/O Shield is designed to provide a range of input/output devices suitable for beginners learning about microcontrollers and various types of I/O devices, or for use by more advanced user to provide inputs or outputs for their own projects.
The Basic I/O Shield provides simple digital input devices such as switches and buttons, and digital output devices such as discrete LEDs and high current open FET drivers. It provides more advanced devices such as an I2C EEPROM, an I2C temperature sensor, and organic LED graphic display. A potentiometer is also provided for use as an analog input device.
The Basic I/O Shield is designed to the same form factor as the Uno32 board, but is also usable with the Max32 board.
Source Files, Librarys, Code Examples, and user manuals can be downloaded for free on the Basic I/O Shield product page on Digilentinc.com
Digilent chipKIT Network Shield
The chipKIT Network Shield is an input/output expansion board designed for use with the chipKIT Max32™. It provides the additional circuitry and connectors to allow the advanced communications features of the PIC32MX795F512L on the Max32 to be utilized.
The Network Shield provides a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PHY to allow connection to an Ethernet network. It provides the connectors and load switch to support use of the USB 2.0 OTG controller to implement USB device, USB host or OTG operation. It also provides two CAN transceivers and connectors to allow connection to two independent CAN networks. Connectors are provided to allow connection to two of the I2C busses supported by the Max32.
In addition to the communications features, the Network Shield also adds a 256Kbit I2C EEPROM for non-volatile data storage and a 32.768Khz oscillator to allow use of the Real Time Clock/Calendar (RTCC) peripheral in the PIC32 microcontroller.
The Network Shield is designed to the same form factor as the Max32 board.
Source Files, Librarys, Code Examples, and user manuals can be downloaded for free on the Network Shield product page on Digilentinc.com
The chipKIT Basic I/O Shield (part # TDGL005, $37.99) and chipKIT Network Shield (part # TDGL006, $54.99) can be purchased today, at http://www.microchip.com/get/0DLG and http://www.microchip.com/get/9LQX. For more information, please visit the Digilent Web site (http://www.microchip.com/get/0DLG), or contact Joe Harris at [email protected], or (509) 334-6306. More information is also available on Microchip's Web site, at http://www.microchip.com/get/9LQX.
Note: The Microchip name and logo, and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. chipKIT is a trademark of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.
RSS Feed for Microchip Product News: http://www.microchip.com/get/XQ7M
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