LGT8F328P Arduino 'clones'
Posted: 28 Jun 2022, 17:21
Received my RF-NANOs today - the ones with the LGT8F328P chips, as recommended by Flynn.
I've not tried the RF part yet, if and when I get that working, I'll post it in the 'Frequency Hopping Experiments...' thread. But I didn't want to derail that thread with irrelevant stuff, so I thought I'd start this fresh thread about the non-nRF24L01+ aspects of the LGT8F328P chip.
Here's Ralph Bacon's excellent video about it. But don't use his method of setting up the Arduino IDE. See below for a more up-to-date method.
So, it's supposed to be 99% compatible with our normal Arduino chips used on the Nano, Uno, and similar, but with the following enhancements:
Don't use the 'copy and paste the hardware folder' method explained in the Ralph Bacon video. Instead go to File->Preferences. Click on the little icon to the right of the Additional Boards Manager URLs: box and add this fresh line (after any that may already be present):
Click OK
Then in Tools->Board>-Board Manger... search for Nulll and install the latest available verson of Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards. At the time of writing, my version was 2.0.0
Now, in Tools->Board->Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards, select Nulllab Nano/Maker-Nano, and select the Port in the usual way.
(Edit: I later found that it's better to select some different options: see the third post in this thread about analogue inputs. But it's fine to select Nano/Maker-Nano to get started.)
Now you can compile and upload programs in the usual way. Try the 'Blink example'
That's enough for my opening post. In my next one, I'll discuss testing the operating speed.
I've not tried the RF part yet, if and when I get that working, I'll post it in the 'Frequency Hopping Experiments...' thread. But I didn't want to derail that thread with irrelevant stuff, so I thought I'd start this fresh thread about the non-nRF24L01+ aspects of the LGT8F328P chip.
Here's Ralph Bacon's excellent video about it. But don't use his method of setting up the Arduino IDE. See below for a more up-to-date method.
So, it's supposed to be 99% compatible with our normal Arduino chips used on the Nano, Uno, and similar, but with the following enhancements:
- Cheaper!
- Can run at 32 MHz (twice as fast as a regular Nano)
- Works at any voltage from 1.8V up to 5.5V, at full speed.
- Has analogue inputs that have four times the resolution (4096 steps instead of 1024).
- Has additional built-in reference voltages (working range) for the analogue inputs: 1.024V, 2.048V, 4.096V
- Has a real analogue output. Ordinary Arduinos can mimic analogue outputs by using PWM (rapidly switching on-off waveform).
- Has six pins that can control a higher current (source or sink) than a regular Arduino - up to 80mA
- Has a differential analogue input mode, for measuring the voltage difference between two pins
Don't use the 'copy and paste the hardware folder' method explained in the Ralph Bacon video. Instead go to File->Preferences. Click on the little icon to the right of the Additional Boards Manager URLs: box and add this fresh line (after any that may already be present):
Code: Select all
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nulllaborg/arduino_nulllab/master/package_nulllab_boards_index.json
Then in Tools->Board>-Board Manger... search for Nulll and install the latest available verson of Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards. At the time of writing, my version was 2.0.0
Now, in Tools->Board->Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards, select Nulllab Nano/Maker-Nano, and select the Port in the usual way.
(Edit: I later found that it's better to select some different options: see the third post in this thread about analogue inputs. But it's fine to select Nano/Maker-Nano to get started.)
Now you can compile and upload programs in the usual way. Try the 'Blink example'
That's enough for my opening post. In my next one, I'll discuss testing the operating speed.