Espruino Javascript STM ARM Microcontoller Board

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t3andy

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The instant editing feature looks pretty interesting. But yeah, the devil might be in the details.

I guess we'll find out eventually. Update #20 seems to suggest they're behind schedule, like most Kickstarter projects.
 
needs an ethernet NIC.
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They are depending on using the TI WiFi CC3000 as the network internet interface.

The Tessel, another Kickstarter JavaScript microcontroller, is also using the same TI CC3000 wifi chip built-in
and has 32 mb Flash and 32 mb SDRAM. (yea, their using megabytes not kilobytes of flash and ram)

So now we have the Sparkcore, Espruino, Tessel and Teensy 3 all using the TI CC3000 wifi chip for internet connection.

On another note ... The Espruino "deep sleeps" after each JavaScript command for battery operation.
One quote they say 1 mA current consumption, another quote 120 uA and the spec sheet for the ARM says otherwise.
The devil is in the details.
 
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It depends on how youdefine "have" ;-)
To me that would means the presence.

As such, the Sparkcore project started very time near to Teensy3 and delivered many month (almost 6 IIRC) after thier projected time line.
Tessel and Espruino we may or even will have, but don't have yet.

While these are still in development, Teensy3 already delivers solid performance and an with teesnyduino an ever growing amount of libraries.
Not to speak about the stellar customer and cummunity support. I don't see the other guys discussing intricacies of the Arduino 1.5.x library structure with rather reluctant Adruino core developers. It all forms a certain picture!

The CC3000 is certainly nice but does not work with a number of libraries that were initially written for the Arduino Etherent Shiled. The Arduino Forum is full of users that buy hardware based on Feature descriptions just to figure out that there is njo library around to actualy make it useful. The CC3000 does not support IP V6 or being run as an AP. Which limits its use and is somewhat surprising that it is a relatively recent development.
 
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Headroom said:
As such, the Sparkcore project started very time near to Teensy3 and delivered many month (almost 6 IIRC) after thier projected time line.
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Has Sparkcore delivered anything yet? I backed the project, for only a single board without anything extra. So far, nothing shipped. Recently it seems they're actually making stuff, but with all Kickstarter campaigns, I wouldn't call it done until the reward actually arrives.

It terms of history, Teensy 3.0 was funded Sept 16, 2012. Sparkcore was funded June 1, 2013, about 8.5 months later.

We shipped all Teensy 3.0 rewards by Oct 12 (less than 1 month), except ones missing payment, incomplete info or other logistical problems outside our control. It actually took about 3 months to resolve such issues for several dozen backers. In the first week of January, we refunded money to 3 backers who never replied with any shipping address.

At the time Teensy 3.0 was on Kickstarter, two other dev boards started: Galago and Smartduino. I backed Galago. Kuy did eventually ship all or most rewards. I'm actually pretty impressed by Galago, at least by the very ambitious goals. However, at the time, Smartduino generated FAR more hype and raised as much money as both our projects put together. I was never very impressed, since it's merely repackaging Arduino and existing shields in a small form factor, and it did nothing to address 5V vs 3V issues. It looks like Smartduino *still* hasn't shipped of its rewards. For a taste of how badly a Kickstarter campaign can go, just take a look at the angry comments from Smartduino's backers:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...n-system-by-former-arduinos-manufact/comments
 
The Arduino Forum is full of users that buy hardware based on Feature descriptions just to figure out that there is njo library around to actualy make it useful.
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Most resourceful Arduino users would search using Google to see if a library is made before buying the hardware. Most vendors like Adafruit and Sparkfun provide libraries for the hardware they designed.
 
On another note ... The Espruino "deep sleeps" after each JavaScript command for battery operation.
One quote they say 1 mA current consumption, another quote 120 uA and the spec sheet for the ARM says otherwise.
The devil is in the details.
Click to expand...

There was a Kickstarter video in which the designer was quoted as saying "the Espruino sleeps at 1.2 mA for low power battery operation" :(

The Teensy 3 sleeps at < 250 uA. :D:D:D
 
PaulStoffregen said:
At the time Teensy 3.0 was on Kickstarter, two other dev boards started: Galago and Smartduino. I backed Galago. Kuy did eventually ship all or most rewards. I'm actually pretty impressed by Galago, at least by the very ambitious goals. However, at the time, Smartduino generated FAR more hype and raised as much money as both our projects put together. I was never very impressed, since it's merely repackaging Arduino and existing shields in a small form factor, and it did nothing to address 5V vs 3V issues. It looks like Smartduino *still* hasn't shipped of its rewards. For a taste of how badly a Kickstarter campaign can go, just take a look at the angry comments from Smartduino's backers:
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Well there was also Digispark from digistump (digispark is an ATtiny85 microprocessor) that closed on September 10th, 2012 a few days before Teensy 3.0 closed on September 16th, 2012. According to the KS updates, you shipped the Teensy's by October 23rd, and they started shipping in mid December. I can't tell when I received mine, but it was probably mid-January. I was thinking about Galago, but I didn't have the funds at the time.

After Teensy exited the funding stage, the whole racket came up about Kickstarter is not a store, and that they didn't want rewards to be multiple of things (like Digisparks and Teensys). I decided that kickstarter was no longer interesting, and I would not fund projects like I had before. I still back an occasional project, but it has to be special to get over my distaste for KS.
 
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Looks interesting. I'm a big fan of Javascript, it makes event driven coding so easy. Personally, I don't think compatibility with Arduino is that important as long as they have equivalent well documented libraries and APIs that are easy to use. The Arduino "IDE" drives me nuts, so anything is better than that! If you can connect a decent debugger to it then it will make developing much easier as well. The only concern I'd have is speed. It's running on an M3 (the same chip as the teensy?) so with the added overhead of the JS interpreter I wonder how fast it will be. Also C puts you close the metal, so you are more aware of how much memory is being used. I hope it works, but wonder if it will really need a faster chip/more RAM.
 
The Arduino "IDE" drives me nuts, so anything is better than that!
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Its an interactive JavaScript interpreter ... all you need is a terminal program like putty - no IDE required.

If you can connect a decent debugger to it then it will make developing much easier as well
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No option for a debugger? The 60K pre-programmed JavaScript interpreter is WYSWYG.

This Espruino board makes it easy to extend GPIO for boards like the PI.

The only concern I'd have is speed. It's running on an M3 (the same chip as the teensy?) so with the added overhead of the JS interpreter I wonder how fast it will be.
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The designer said the Espruino ARM speed will not support audio or video but its OK for everything else.
Hmmmm - the Teensy 3 will be supporting audio?
 
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update ...

There was a Kickstarter video in which the designer was quoted as saying "the Espruino sleeps at 1.2 mA for low power battery operation"
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I've done a bit of work on the Low Power modes too, and with Deep Sleep enabled Espruino now draws just 110uA. It's such a small amount of power that just putting a damp finger over the power header doubles the power consumption! It means that Espruino can run for 2 years on a standard 2000mAh mobile phone battery.
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Goes to show that with little effort all ARM chips are capable of low power if programmed correctly.
 
t3andy said:
Hmmmm - the Teensy 3 will be supporting audio?
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Yes. We had a delay with the audio shield PCBs, due to issues with the quality of the solder mask. They're in production now.

It is coming. Everything seems to take longer than originally anticipated....
 
maybe this question has been asked before - sorry if it has but I couldn't find w/ a quick search - anyway - is there any reason the espruino js engine couldn't run on the teensy? has anyone tried to make it work yet?
 
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