LeafLabs Garden

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1. 

   anand
   Member

   Hello,

   I'm working on a project for embedded use. I come a background of Linux administration and have worked quite a bit of PC-104's. I lack knowledge of electronics and hardware. I'm learning though.

   My pet project involves a standalone system (solar powered) in a remote location that takes a picture (640x480 or higher) every 2 hours (surveillance) in the day and sends it to a server/email via GSM network. There is motion detection or anything involved.

   After research, I figured, Arduino ($30) + UART camera ($50) + GSM/GPRS shield ($80) + microSD storage ($15) would work. I'm not sure on the complexity in programming to get all this to work together.

   I also thought a beagleboard ($149) + USB GPRS modem ($25) + USB webcam ($15) would work. This is simple, straight forward (full linux) and this is the path i'm thinking of. This may be overkill and I may have to spend more on the solar system because of large power consumption of the beagleboard. I may also have it sleep most of the time and wakeup when needed to conserve power.

   I'm also looking at chumby hacker board ($80). Gumstix and others reach is expensive and reaches $300 easily.

   Then I ran into this site and the maple board seems perfect especially the form factor, power usage and cost. However, I do not see any USB host support or GPRS/camera peripheral support yet -- http://leaflabs.com/docs/compatibility.html

   Questions:
   * Is there a way to get a board with maple and 2x USB host support?
   * Is uClinux possible on this board
   * Can I program this board directly using arduino syntax and IDE (with a few exceptions of course?)
   * Are there any other hardware that would be suitable for my project?
   * Has anyone powered this board using solar panel?

   Any additional information is appreciated.

   Thanks!
   Anand

   Posted 4 years ago #
2. 

   gbulmer
   Moderator

   There is currently no Maple product with USB Host.

   I believe there is some uClinux work on Cortex-M3, which is the type of processor within the Maple's STM32F103.

   The IDE and library are deliberately very similar to Arduino, so overall yes (documentation http://leaflabs.com/docs/language.html)

   Have you considered using a mobile phone? In the UK there are several Android phones which are within a similar budget to the beagleboard, and have all the parts integrated.

   I imagine their are quite a lot of companies selling solar-powered hardware to keep a mobile phone charged.

   (full disclosure: I am not a member of the LeafLabs staff)

   Posted 4 years ago #
3. 

   poslathian
   LeafLabs

   uClinux will likely run easily (although we have not done a reference implementation) on Maple Native, possible on Maple RET6 (which meets the minimum requirements). However, stock Maple Rev5 does not meet the requirements for uClinux.

   In terms of host support, several chips in the stm32 (on which the Maple family of boards is based) support USB on the go, which has limited host support. None of the chips on any Maple products use these USB OTG chips, but perhaps in the future...

   If anyone here has fooled with a connectivity line or other usb OTG enabled stm32 I would love to hear about it.

   Posted 4 years ago #

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