I have a bunch of small modules, I2C, the microSD, venus, etc.
I found it frustrating to find “hello world” type programs. When I have to write 300 lines ex nihilo just to verify the module is alive it can be very difficult.
Right now, I have a lot of code (which can be returned to fragments if needed) for an Arudino - any 328, mainly 3.3v working with the FTDI breakout that talks to each module. I just got done finding a sample for MicroSD.
I would like a forum so that for each product, I can just say “start with X”, which for me would typically be an arduino, but could also be a PIC, connect these wires (I use the sparkfun jumpers after soldering .25 square posts), do this (e.g. for the microsd I needed to create “hola.txt”), and if you see this, everything is working.
This would help things which aren’t obvious from the datasheets. For example, the AD345XL I2C accelerometer needs pullups - simply enabling the arduino’s isn’t sufficient, but you do need to enable the arduino’s pullups or the arduino won’t work. Once I could read the device ID, the rest fell into place (after a couple of rereads of the datasheet).
Having a place for minimal turn-key setups would help.
There are forums in the product page, but I can’t really post code there, and it tends to be brief Q/A unlike the longer posts and discussions which occur here. (maybe link the product page to a sticky forum topic?).
You might need to have a way to attach files.
For products, I’m looking at some mill-max pins. I need something better than the 0.025 square post headers. If the holes were just a bit larger, they have a push-in hole-to-socket receptacle. Some of the pins I have on order should result in a low-profile female header, but it would be nice if the holes themselves were or could be made into stackable sockets or there could be a header/clip that would seat into the holes from the side - something like the way computer PCI boards go into motherboards.
That way if some BreakoutBoard is not working, I can pop it out of the circuit and pop it into something which attaches to my FTDI serial and talk directly, or the SPI to USB, or something else.
The hardest part is often the packaging. I don’t want to do a new circuit board each time, I could wire-wrap directly to the pins (best so far), and I’ve tried soldering to sockets which didn’t work out as well as I would hope. The current “solutions” are big (the arduino mega has a USB B connector, but if it was micro-B the sockets on the top seem a bit tall). Inserting an arduino pro with the square posts into a (lower profile) IC socket is hard. And the “breakaway” female headers aren’t really break-away, you lose one socket and have to trim them.
Also the sena.com / parani bluetooth modules - the esd200 series are smaller than the current BoB offerings.