The Grande Arduino

Hi Christopher  cstanton ,

I pre-ordered the Ventuno Q from Arduino in mid-August, and it arrived today.
Visually, it’s a great-looking piece of kit.
Its size matches the Eurocard standard (160x100mm), with a height of 50mm including the supplied standoffs.

Unboxing:
All parts are well packaged.

First impression: the PCB is neatly assembled, and the components are securely mounted.

A small detail:
You can mount a standoff above the LED matrix, behind the "User" button.
You have to be careful here to orient the hex nut so that it doesn't push against adjacent components; otherwise, they could get torn off.

"Bughopper" module:
Behind this standoff, there is a pin header for the Bughopper, in case you need to debug the Ventuno Q.

Audio module:
Various modules can be attached to the underside; I bought the audio module. There is also currently a prototype board available for custom circuits.

Plugin careful such modules. Such modules you cannot connect on/off many times.

Power supply:
Similar to the RPi 5, it’s a 65W USB-C wall adapter.

Well then... That covers the unboxing.

Then, I also have RPi compatible cameras and 7" displays; so, I'll see how I can connect them to the Arduino Ventuno Q.

Now..., I'm as excited as a guitar string to see what "melodies" the Arduino Ventuno Q will play.

I would be very happy to post my experiences with the Ventuno Q (I also have the Uno Q) here, or in a dedicated forum.

Best Regards

Gerald

Hi Christopher  cstanton ,

I pre-ordered the Ventuno Q from Arduino in mid-August, and it arrived today.
Visually, it’s a great-looking piece of kit.
Its size matches the Eurocard standard (160x100mm), with a height of 50mm including the supplied standoffs.

Unboxing:
All parts are well packaged.

First impression: the PCB is neatly assembled, and the components are securely mounted.

A small detail:
You can mount a standoff above the LED matrix, behind the "User" button.
You have to be careful here to orient the hex nut so that it doesn't push against adjacent components; otherwise, they could get torn off.

"Bughopper" module:
Behind this standoff, there is a pin header for the Bughopper, in case you need to debug the Ventuno Q.

Audio module:
Various modules can be attached to the underside; I bought the audio module. There is also currently a prototype board available for custom circuits.

Plugin careful such modules. Such modules you cannot connect on/off many times.

Power supply:
Similar to the RPi 5, it’s a 65W USB-C wall adapter.

Well then... That covers the unboxing.

Then, I also have RPi compatible cameras and 7" displays; so, I'll see how I can connect them to the Arduino Ventuno Q.

Now..., I'm as excited as a guitar string to see what "melodies" the Arduino Ventuno Q will play.

I would be very happy to post my experiences with the Ventuno Q (I also have the Uno Q) here, or in a dedicated forum.

Best Regards

Gerald

Nice looking board.  Not sure why Arduino likes that LED matrix so much.

ralphjy said:

Not sure why Arduino likes that LED matrix so much.

I think this comes from Microchip, not as the first (I think), but also from the Intel 8048, 8049 controllers.
Look for that, the PIC now the Atmel's as well as use this (LED-matrix).

The ideas are saving numbers of port pins because small µC's haven't many pins.
Multi usage the ports is a very old method.

In this kind you can combine keyboards together with LEDs.

The very old method was printing graphic images in the MSDOS aera using dot matrix printers. 
-> Snoopy and Charlie Brown, the peanuts.

I was more complaining about the use of the space and the fact that once you put a shield on it is not visible.

yep. this is a good argument.

ralphjy said:

once you put a shield on it is not visible

I'm guessing they might argue that there is a Modulino LED Matrix for that

Right, that’s where it should be.  It was probably an okay fit for the Uno R4 (although still has the shield issue).  I just don’t see why you would put something like that on a Ventuno Q.  I’ve found an 8x13 matrix isn’t that useful although it would be fun for kids.

I thought it might have been to improve on the single LED blinky experience you got with the UNO, to allow new users to do something a bit more visually appealing straight out of the box.

If you look at the micro:bit, then quite often the first coding projects are to get something to display on the LED matrix before reaching for the breadboard. I find the single character scrolling text a bit painful though.

However if that was the case, then I am surprised that they didn't include the LED matrix on the R4 Minima.

I think something like a 128x64 OLED display would be more useful these days though. I guess if it was removable, then you could get the best of both worlds.

beacon_dave said:

I thought it might have been to improve on the single LED blinky experience you got with the UNO, to allow new users to do something a bit more visually appealing straight out of the box

The single LED blinky is ingenious. It's clear to the newbie that they did something "real electronic".

And it's easy to go from there and understand the few lines of blinky code.

That is: if you don't use the Raspberry Pico blinky's recent version. That 's almost an antipattern on how to get someone started...
They have a simpler version, but that doesn't work on pico-w ...

Great unboxing write-up, geralds  The Eurocard form factor 160x100mm is a really interesting design choice for the Ventuno Q. Good callout on the user button standoff and hex nut placement that’s a helpful tip to save people from accidentally damaging adjacent components. Looking forward to seeing how your testing goes with the audio module and RPi displays!

 geralds do you want to write up a review for it since you already have it? We can add you to the RoadTesters list.

maybe OwainM can send you a few accessories.