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What Are Your Most Popular Dev Kits or Reference Design Kits?

rscasny

I was asked this question the other day. What Are Your Most Popular Dev Kits or Reference Design Kits? On impulse, I would venture to say the Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone. I'm sure there are others. Sensor kits, FPGA kits, Motor Contr0ol kits, Power kits, come to mind, but I'm not sure which ones element14 would consider "popular."

So, I figured I would ask you.  What are your most popular kits?  If you have the time, please leave a comment below. 

Thanks

Randall Scasny

-element14 Community

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  • For me, the best dev kits are generally three types:

    1) smallest possible with all GPIOs on headers or just soldering holes (or maybe even castelated edges, which, however, require to design own PCB) and with integrated programmer / debugger. Example: Microchip Curiosity Nano boards.

    2) larger boards like STM32 Nucleo, which have some standard form factor. Easy access to all pins, no connectors from unobtainium. I don't particularly like Arduino shields, because I usually need a different connection from the main board to the daughter board. I also don't like building 4 layer bricks to get 4 small sensors connected to an MCU. But Arduino layout is popular and if I can get a one daughter board that fits my needs, this type of board is the way to go.

    3) application specific boards with integrated electronics, like display, CAN drivers and PHY, WiFi / BT connection, depending on the use. I don't want to pay for a devkit with electronics I will never use in that application and also hate boards with connectors that have no use, since there is nothing to connect to them, as  mentioned.

    My estimate of how much boards of each type I have:

    1) 10

    2) 15

    3) 1

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  • For me, the best dev kits are generally three types:

    1) smallest possible with all GPIOs on headers or just soldering holes (or maybe even castelated edges, which, however, require to design own PCB) and with integrated programmer / debugger. Example: Microchip Curiosity Nano boards.

    2) larger boards like STM32 Nucleo, which have some standard form factor. Easy access to all pins, no connectors from unobtainium. I don't particularly like Arduino shields, because I usually need a different connection from the main board to the daughter board. I also don't like building 4 layer bricks to get 4 small sensors connected to an MCU. But Arduino layout is popular and if I can get a one daughter board that fits my needs, this type of board is the way to go.

    3) application specific boards with integrated electronics, like display, CAN drivers and PHY, WiFi / BT connection, depending on the use. I don't want to pay for a devkit with electronics I will never use in that application and also hate boards with connectors that have no use, since there is nothing to connect to them, as  mentioned.

    My estimate of how much boards of each type I have:

    1) 10

    2) 15

    3) 1

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