Based around the proven vinciDuino hardware, the evo Proto is a new approach to prototyping. We have built a prototyping area around the vinciDuino making it the best of class AVR prototyping environment.
The board is as versatile as the vinciDuino, you can use it as you main development board for Arduino (using the Leonardo platform) or go native with Atmel's development environment.
The evo Proto has the same ATMega32U4 as the vinciDuino (the same chip that the Arduino Leonardo uses).
The prototyping area and the native USB interface makes the vinciDuino evo Proto an ideal platform to get a head start for your projects. The board maintains the very same header breakouts as the vinciDuino, making it compatible with available Arduino shields. So dive into the Arduino Leonardo and start prototyping with the vinciDuino evo Proto.
We are currently shipping revision B of the board which has a larger prototyping area 20mm more!
We currently have very limited units of the board so hurry while stocks last.
vinciDuino evo Proto Specs
The vinciDuino evo Proto is the ideal AVR and Arduino prototyping board. Based around the vinciDuiono and with the all its Arduino Leonardo pins broken out surrounded by a large prototyping area.
Microcontroller ATmega32U4 Operating Voltage 5V Input Voltage (recommended) 4.5V-5V Input Voltage (limits) 3.5-5.5V Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) Analog Input Pins 6 DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA (200mA with optional voltage regulator) Flash Memory 32 KB (-2KB bootloader) SRAM 2,5 KB EEPROM 1 KB Clock Speed 16 MHz
Board dimensions
Total board dimensions: 100mm x 100mm
Power
The vinciDuino can be powered via the USB connection, through the UART breakout connector or +5V pin. The power source is selected automatically.
External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery at +5V. Leads from a battery can be inserted in the Gnd and Vin pin headers of the POWER connector.
The board can only operate with a regulated external supply of 4.5 to 5.5 volts in all its input voltage pins. If supplied with more there is a good chance that you will break the AVR.
The power pins are as follows:
- VIN. The input voltage to the vinciDuino evo Proto is connected to the +5V rail and it assumes that is a regulated power supply.
- 5V. The regulated power supply used to power the microcontroller and other components on the board. This can come either from VIN via an on-board regulator, or be supplied by USB or another regulated 5V supply.
- 3V3. Are derived from the on chip regulator and accessible through the 3.3V pin. This pin will only supply up to 50mA. (25 mA when the usb is in use). An optional regulator can be fitted to supply up to 200mA.
- GND. Ground pins.
Memory
The ATmega32U4 has 32 KB. It also has 2,5 KB of SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM (which can be read and written with the EEPROM library).
Input and Output
Each of the 14 digital pins on the vinciDuino can be used as an input or output, using pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive a maximum of 40 mA and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-50 kOhms. In addition, some pins have specialized functions:
Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. Broken out on UART header too.
External Interrupts: 2 and 3. These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value. See the attachInterrupt() function for details.
PWM: 3(8bits), 5(8bits), 6(FastPWM), 9(16bits), 10(16bits), and 11(8/16bits). Provide PWM output with the analogWrite() function.
SPI: Dedicated ISP conector: 14 (SS), 16 (MOSI), 17 (MISO), 15 (SCK). These pins support SPI communication using the SPI library.
LED: 13. There is a built-in LED connected to digital pin 13. When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on, when the pin is LOW, it's off.
The vinciDuino has 6 analog inputs, labeled A0 through A5, each of which provide 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of their range using the AREF pin and the analogReference() function. Additionally, some pins have specialized functionality:
TWI: Dedicated pins SDA and SCL. Support TWI communication using the Wire library. Pins are shared with IO 2 and 3.
There are a couple of other pins on the board:
AREF. Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with analogReference().
Reset. Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. Typically used to add a reset button to shields which block the one on the board.
See also the mapping between Vinciduino pins and ATmega32U4 ports.
Communication
The vinciDuino evo Proto has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer, with another Arduino, or other microcontrollers.
The ATmega32U4The provides UART TTL (5V) serial communication, which is available on digital pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX), or through the dedicated header connector.
The built-in USB controller channels this serial communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the computer. The 32U2 firmware uses the standard USB COM drivers, and no external driver is needed.
However, on Windows, a .inf file is required. The Arduino software includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the Arduino board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted via the USB-to-serial chip and USB connection to the computer (but not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).
A SoftwareSerial library allows for serial communication on any of the vinciDuino's digital pins.
The ATmega32U4 also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication. The Arduino software includes a Wire library to simplify use of the I2C bus; see the documentation for details. For SPI communication, use the SPI library.
Programming
The vinciDuino evo Proto can be programmed with the Arduino software (download). Select "Arduino Leonardo from the Tools > Board menu. For details, see the reference and tutorials. You can also use Atmel's development tool chain and FLIP to download the SW.
You can also bypass the bootloader and program the microcontroller through the ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header.
Automatic (Software) Reset
The vinciDuino is designed in a way that allows it to be reset by software running on a connected computer. When one of the hardware flow control lines (DTR) or the connector ISP is asserted (taken low), the reset line drops long enough to reset the chip. This is useful should you wish to connect the vinciDuino using the UART connector and have the board reset when it first connects to the computer. By default this option is disabled.
You may also enable the auto-reset by solder jumping the "auto-reset" jumper on the back of the board.
You may also enable the auto-reset by solder jumping the "auto-reset" jumper on the back of the board.
Overcurrent Protection
The vinciDuino evo Proto has 1 resettable polyfuse that protects your computer's USB ports from over-current. Although most computers today provide their own internal protection, the fuse gives you that extra layer. If more than 500 mA is applied, the fuse will automatically break the connection until the short or overload is removed.
Physical Characteristics
Four screw holes allow the board to be attached to a surface or case. Note that the distance between digital pins 7 and 8 is 160 mil (0.16"), not an even multiple of the 100 mil (0.1") spacing of the other pins. The evo Proto and the vinciDuino both have an additional row of headers to place home made prototypes with a nice even spacing.
Reference documentation, board layout and placement
Board specifications, layout and placement can be found in the board's wiki page.
