My hot air station laughs at the "inability to swap chips". I still don't want one though. ESP32, RP2040/2530 or even good old Arduino Nano (the Elegoo clone ones) are my choice these days.
Okay, fine. But they shouldn't have called it a UNO, it's a completely different beast. It's just going to cause headaches for anyone familiar with the old UNO. Very dumb move.
Good Lord, it is almost as good as ESP32!
Thanks for the overview. In my opinion 32Kb RAM is still too small once you start using various libs that use String objects etc
Sounds awesome until you get to the pin current limits. That means you’ll need external transistors or mosfets to drive even moderately powered chips.
I almost bought it, but in Canada the wifi version is way too expensive. I can get esp32 wroom for 10 cad but r4 is 60 cad
This shouldnt've been an UNO but something else. Using an entierely different chip means many things are going to berak software-wise and especially for newbies. Also in my opinion there's a demand for a board that combines everything about ESP32 and 5V logic, they should make it or market it more if it already exists (because i have no idea if it exists). The ESP32 is an amazing, almost flawless board in my opinion, but many peripherals, ICs ect. want 5V and not 3.3V, which makes circuit design more difficult, especially if you jsut want to quickly throw something onto a breadboard. Even using a level shifter sucks because it doubles all cables on your breadboard.
I regret buying it. Many popular libraries won't run on it. Meanwhile the inexpensive ESP Wroom32, utilising both cores at 240mhz. Or how about the Teensy 4.1? 600mhz overclock? 1ghz Overclock?
Cool. The 14bit ADC could interest me... but wait I'm still using my Duemilanove which I bought when it first came out. DC Current per I/O Pin:40 mA, And on-board FTDI. And a proper big-boy Type B connector. They don't break! And I can even pronounce Duemilanove properly.
The R4 is something that in the past, I would have bought one just to put it in a nice case to display on my shelf. The way the economy is now, I can't really justify the expense for something I probably won't use. Like others have said, I'll just use the ESP32 or a Pico W for 1/4 or less of the cost of the R4.
Ok, DAC and HID we're unexpected. Gotta check these Renesas MCUs, pretty interesting feature set
Honestly, I TA'd for a few semesters in what was basically a sophomore arduino class in college. The buck converter is really nice, but the maximum output current is going to cause headaches for years to come. I don't know how many people I've seen power a tiny 6v DC fan directly off an arduino pin or light up 5 LEDs on the same pin. I mean, they're sophomores, it's hard to fault them (in many cases these were mechanical engineers getting their first exposure to C++ or building a circuit that wasn't provided in a schematic) but these changes are going to have some real knock on effects for schools. I've chased down some funny issues back then, it would get old explaining to a student why they need to buy a new arduino after accidentally shorting a pin to ground.
We made a board using the Renesas RA4M1, Added optocouplers on all 13 IOs so we can input up to 32V. Also added 13 transistors to control mosfets /relays. For the Analog pins, we added some voltage divider circuits so we can read up to 36V. The Can is very easy to use we simply added a Sn65Hvd with choke and capacitors, we manage to read machinery Canbus and activate modules. We are currently trying to add a RF module to the board as well as a Canbus display. We had to change the renesas Buck converter since it is absoulte trash and really hard to solder. We love the ra4m1.
I don't see the sense in continuing this core line. I've retired all my atmel cores over 2 years ago in favor of the ESP line of microcontrollers. Over the years I've accumulated just about every form factor of arduino modules all of which are now rotting in a box. Life is too short for all the devices being spung on us. I now standardize on the esp32C3 for battery based sensors, esp32S3 for hubs and esp32 for bluetooth audio (for the A2DP). For wearables I use the nrf52480 family.
Not replacing my nanos anytime soon considering they screwed us on the output current and some projects are more complex than they need be. But it is pretty cool.
I was curious, started with Arduino originally. I am puzzled why people use Arduino these days. A 16MB single core ESP32-C3 costs less than €2, a dual-core 16MB ESP32 with high density ttf display and liion charger is under €5, with 16 gpios, and about 1/4 of the size of an Arduino. I am honestly just wondering. Btw you can of course run 5v peripherals. Gpios are 5v tolerant.
Good summary thanks. It's a real shame about the current situation and the essential loss of pin 13. Given thr R3 and other older ones are what a lot of new electronics folks, myself included cut their teeth on, having that extra bit of available current probably stopped us killing quite a few chips while learning. I remember someone made something called a ruggeduino... so maybe they'll do a "safe" version of the R4 too that is more resilient for classrooms where shizzle can surely happen.
I picked up one of these only because it is almost alone in being fast + 5v level + Arduino. I am using it to interface with an ancient Casio computer, and level converters + ESP32 did not work with its non-standard I/O. Also of note is that the new chip is a whole other world from STM when you dig below the Arduino libraries.
Without setting my house on fire...decent feature...Very tempting.
@AnonymousResident-l3l