I’m using the Artemis ATP with the ArduinoBLE library for a honors level high school course and the compile times are impractically slow on our school issued laptops (Lenovo 300e 2nd gen w/ Windows 10, 4GB, Celeron N4100) ; 2 minutes for just blink w/o the library and up to 10 minutes when including the ArduinoBLE library for the first time (it is quicker after the first verify/upload but still impractical). I just updated to the latest versions of everything yesterday with no change (IDE 1.8.19, SparkFun Apollo3 Boards 2.2.0, and ArduinoBLE 1.2.1)
Fortunately the project we need BLE for is a simple state machine for robot control (write code to characteristic using Web Bluetooth API in Chrome, make robot move or stop according to code) but I don’t see how we can continue using the Artemis ATP for any future projects when our hardware can’t keep up.
I’ve been looking into cloud alternatives but none seem to support both the new boards and ArduinoBLE yet. Making changes that need admin rights is a pain since we have to log into each computer one at a time (students no longer have admin). I’m willing to try different IDEs but thinking going to the cloud would be best. Any advice before we bust out the good ol’ AVR redBoards?
With 2.x.x the time for the first compile is MUCH longer as well as the time to upload as the binary is much larger. A Celeron N4100 is not the fastest processor.
It is better with V 1.2.3 but whether that is good enough for you??? I don’t know.
I realize you need BLE and some time ago I made a special version of ArduinoBLE ( based on 1.2.1) which can work on V1.x. (https://github.com/paulvha/apollo3/tree … duinoBLE_P) You will need to do some downloading and copying as Sparkfun had removed the BLE driver in the later V1 versions. However it is all described in a file “install_instructions”.
Else I expect it is what it is for now and maybe look at Arduino Nano 33 IOT or BLE.
I think you can give Arduino Nano 33 IOT a thought. It has Bluetooth and wifi support. It is completely compatible with the Arduino IoT cloud. You can use the Arduino IoT cloud for free.
Thanks for the suggestions! We’ve gone all virtual for now but didn’t want to wait too long for a reply; not sure when we’ll get back into the classroom… :roll:
Good to know that this is typical - maybe a good reason to ask for some new laptops next year!
If I try the downgrade software versions or nano 33, I’ll post any improvements. If anyone else has any suggestions, please keep 'em coming. Thanks.
