>> OLIMEXINO - FIXING BASIC FLAWS IN THE ARDUINO

The Arduino has grown up - moving from hobbyists to industrial applications.

The foundation of the Internet of Things was spawned out of the industry specific Machine 2 Machine (M2M) market and very quickly the market was flooded with the low priced micro-controller devices such as the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and the BeagleBone however they have been primarialy focused at hobbyists and makers. The Olimexino device series attempts to address a number of flaws within the Arduino device and bring it to the industrial space.

A quick overview of the changes include:

• fix accidental resets, re-introduce recommended noise suppression
• separate regulator for analog, optional Vref for more precision
• move reset switch for access when shield present
• replace USB with mini USB due to shield shorting connector
• align 0.1mm centered pins as per industry standard
• provide replaceable crystal (alternative frequencies)
• use proper regulator over linear variant
• group PIN assignments logically, not randomly
• add lithium charger/battery component (portable option)
• provide 5V/3.3V switch for alternative voltage options
• fix battery life and add real ULP voltage regulator
• real-time clock support
• and finally... INDUSTRIAL temperature range -25 through +85C

While I haven't run into any of the reset issues or precision issues with the analog readings I have found some problems with shields touching the top of the standard USB connector and hooking up an external battery via the VIN pin (difficult to secure) - a lot of these changes make sense - the best part is that they have made it available at a competitive price!

I just ordered one of them to experiment with to test the feasibility within an industrial grade project a friend of mine is currently involved in - he is using old, out-dated and proprietary hardware and it is time to get with the times and use hardware that can be maintained easily.