Take a look at the Hammer if you are interested in a complete embedded Linux solution for robotics. The complete Hammer Kit is about 1/3 the cost of the Stargate development system sold by Acroname. It will still be plenty fast enough, at 200 MHz, for any autonomous robot design.
8-Dale
wow… that is tempting. Dunno how much trouble it would be for me to get a working terminal up on it though.
Right now it is between the Hammer and embeddedarm.com/epc/ts7260-spec-h.htm . Think I might have to go with the 7260 as it requires less… busywork to get it up and running. If I were to mass produce things or had more time & experience the Hammer would be an interesting base for a project.
The TS-7260 and other Technologic boards, especially the new TS-7800, are some of my all time favorite Linux capable boards. They are still out of my price range though. 
I’m not sure what you mean by busywork. Could you elaborate? It seems pretty straight forward to get Hammer up and running, but I am only just now starting to really dig into this.
I plan to eventually base several projects on the Hammer if everything works out. 
I couldn’t ask for much more than a complete ARM9 fully Linux capable MCU in a solderless breadboard friendly package.
Oh, well, OK, I have asked for a few things…
8-Dale
the 7260 has built in power regulation, and all the USB, GPIO and serial are ready to use without having to solder components onto a board. That is what I mean by busywork.
Might be a straightforward setup for you, but I need another few months of basic electronics before I feel comfortable with that stuff. I’d like to do that someday, but not yet.
I did like your list on their forums. I2C would make a lot of sense for them. The more I read up on it the more I like the XDIO on the 7260. This board phytec.com/products/sbc/ARM- … XA270.html makes me drool too. 400 pins 
They don’t have very open support so they are off my list for now.
I’m a software developer, not hardware 
Gah! I kept resubmitting my post! I’d hit submit, come back to the thread, see that linuxguy has the last post and thought it didn’t go through… but no, linuxguy just replied that fast.
Ah, OK. The Hammer also has on board power regulation.
I understand now. 
I could wish for the USB to be ready to use on the Hammer, but that is it. The fact that it’s available in a 40 pin DIP module and is a full blown embedded Linux capable MCU is what attracts me to it. I do a lot of prototyping on a solderless breadboard, so the Hammer is perfect for what I want.
The Hammer already supports I2C and SPI, brought out to I/Os.
I very much want to get one of the complete Hammer Kits.
8-Dale
The Hammer board is available with a carrier board which provides basic items such as additional power regulation(the Hammer has it’s own), usb, rs-232, sd/mmc, buzzer, and GPIO connections, as well as a large 0.1" proto area. the carrier board schematics are open to the public and can be used as a reference for doing custom board designs. if you look at the carrier board schematic, you will find that if you do choose to do a custom board to interface with the Hammer, connections for items such as the USB host are pretty easy. for the USB Host the only items require to connect to the Hammer are a USB Host connect and two 15k resistors. that’s it!
the Hammer ships with an open source bootloader, 2.6 based linux kernel , and busybox based root filesystem. basically all you have to do is plug it in and you have a complete linux system. if you need to build a custom kernel or root filesystem, the included buildroot will build all the tools and applications you need including an arm toolchain. the arm toolchain can be used to compile custom applications outside of the buildroot environment.
feel free to join the forum over at the tincantools website , we’d love to hear any questions you might have about the Hammer and its usage with Lynxmotion products.
First of all, WELCOME! I’m glad to see your presence over here.
The SD/MMC card slot is a great addition, and one I would definitely make use of. At some point, I want to experiment with environment mapping, and this data storage capability would definitely come in handy.
This is very important to me. Generally, I dislike closed hardware and software designs. There are always exceptions, of course. The USB host and client port is most welcome!
I have two LPC-2148 ARM7 boards that have USB 2.0, but only client ports. I will likely use my LPC-2148 header board as a slave to the Hammer, when I get a Hammer kit.
I also have an LPC-2148 proto board which has an SD/MMC card slot, a two buttons, two LEDs, and a pot. I want to turn this into a small web and wireless enabled robot controller.
One of the features I like most about the LPC-2148, besides the 512K flash and 42K RAM, is that it has two each I2C and SPI buses.
I don’t think it could get much easier, unless that was all built onto the Hammer module. I like it the way it is now though. I already have some mini-USB connectors I got from SFE to use with my PIC projects.
Open Source are two of my favorite words to see together.
I’ve never used BuildRoot, but am sure it can’t be too difficult. I like the automation you seem to have built into the system, as long as I can get down and dirty with the code if I choose to.
Again, WELCOME, and I hope you will continue visit here occasionally.
8-Dale
I’ve had my Hammer Kit for a few days now and am liking it a lot! I just have to learn the software side of it and how to use the hardware peripherals of the Hammer.
I’ve decided to program two versions of the new software for W.A.L.T.E.R. I will use Squeak (SmallTalk) for one version, and Python for the other version. Tin Can Tools is working on a port of Squeak for the Hammer now. Several of the PARTS members will be using Hammer and Squeak on their robots.
I am converting my Hammer Carrier Board to run on either walwart power OR battery power and will be adding two dsPIC4012’s, an MCP23017 (at least 1, perhaps 2), and my Bluetooth DIL module. The Hammer Carrier Board has a nice sized prototype area.
8-Dale
Great stuff, and an incredible looking controller.
I poked around a bit on it… Is it 5v tolerant on inputs? Are the ADCs 3v3 or 5v?
Any particular reasons for mixing smalltalk and python?
Looking forward to seeing the updates.
To get a working terminal up on Hammer, all you do is connect it and press [ENTER] to get a banner and login prompt. Set the port to 115200, 8N1.
8-Dale
Edit: Added port speed.
I am not sure about this, but will find out. Have you checked the Hammer Wiki? I am doing some work on getting more information up about Hammer.
I am not actually going to be mixing Squeak (SmallTalk) and Python. I am going to create software for W.A.L.T.E.R. in both languages. I already know enough Python to do this, but am a rank newbie to Squeak.
Python is already in Hammer’s Buildroot, and we are working on a port of Squeak.
8-Dale
the i/o on the hammer is not 5v tolerant and the ADC’s are 3v3 based. adding a 74ahc244 or 74ahc245 allows for operations at 5v. we are in the process of testing configurations for a “bot carrier board” for the hammer that will include support for 5v i/o to the hammer. any suggestions or comments are appreciated.
Ah yes, I am very much looking forward to the upcoming Hammer Bot Carrier Board! I am planning to get one of these as soon as they are available, once I know it has the features I need. It will certainly make Hammer easier to use for robotics.
8-Dale
Thanks to some friends on IRC (irc.freenode.net, #edev), I now have WiFi working with Hammer. I have an Edimax EW-7318Ug USB WiFi B/G adapter and an Edimax BR-6204Wg WiFi router. The EW-7318Ug does work under Linux with kernel 2.6.23 or later using the rt73usb module. I also have it working with the older rt73 module on Hammer right now with kernel 2.6.22. I’ve registered the domain thedynaplex.mobi for my mobile robots and next month, walter.thedynaplex.mobi will be officially online, even if I don’t have my Hammer Carrier board on W.A.L.T.E.R. by then.
I will be documenting how to set all this up on the Hammer Wiki sometime next week.
8-Dale
This is exactly what I need. Great price too! I’m going to order one as soon as I get home from class
Good to hear!
Fire up an IRC client and point it to irc.freenode.net, channel #edev, which is the main support line for TinCanTools products. There is also a Wiki, you can get to from the main TinCanTools website - the Documentation link. You will frequently find me there - RobotGuy.
8-Dale
Hi all,
I have read the topic with a great interest…this should be the solution I need
All I need is to get data from a srf08 sonar and a gps module then compute a pwm signal for the vnh2sp30 motor controller.
I have a good linux background but this will be the first time I am planning to use it for robotics.
In order to get a base functional system to test c program for the previus functionalities I need, how many days have I to spend on it?
Thaks, bye.
