The Arduino Ethernet board
We have received a lot of emails about this board… more than we can handle…
I thought I would update everybody on what’s going to happen with it.
The idea of arduino ethernet started off in december 2005 when me and gianluca were working on an installation that required reading a bunch of touch sensors and send the values to a number of mac mini running flash. We built this prototype:
We were able to send some simple UDP packets but we realised that the design needed to be reviewed more. on top of this the Atmega8 doesn’t have enough space to build complex applications.
So we made this other board and we used it in a couple of client projects
Again even with 16k it’s not easy to make complex apps.
We realised that what people need is the ability to program network applications with the same ease provided by the Arduino language and we spent quite a bit of time working on this aspect but we came to the conclusion that it would be better to launch a community effort around this..
There are good ip stacks out there like uIP that could be integrated in a special version of Arduino and we could have a nice open source way to make simple networked devices.
While we get there we decided to manufacture a number of Arduino Ethernet boards with the Atmega32 processor to give us enough room to develop freely.
The other boards will be available to people who can program using the C language and we’ll provide some examples of usage.
Like the Bluetooth board this is not a beginners tool, it requires a bit of experience.
We expect to be able to make and Arduino Ethernet board that everybody can easily use very soon.
If you have a more commercial project tinker.it can provide you with ethernet boards with custom written firmware.
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very cool. i was talking to tigoe a few weeks ago about such a thing, why not just a shield with a xPort on it? that allows for more development space on a plain ‘168
i designed my own ethernet board a few years ago, based on the cs8900a and really, it just was a total PITA http://www.ladyada.net/techproj/etherwidget :)
Hello limor,
Because the whole board should cost more or less like the whole arduino ethernet board..
we’re using an ENC28J60 from microchip that uses only 4 pins from the board so it’s quite nice…
Tinker will make an ethernet shield for regular arduinos at some point…
with a nice community effort we can make an open source xport… not bad :)
Hi massimo,
what an intriguing way to rapid-bootstrap a project!
I expect the biggest challenge in shoehorning uIP into a ‘32 will be SRAM usage, although this would be mitigated if efforts were made to avoid full-size (1500ish byte) ethernet frames. Sticking to UDP where possible (even omitting TCP and maybe even dynamic ARP at compile-time in ’sensor beacon’ type devices) are some other space-saving tactics that come to mind.
I’m keen to help out.
I have experience in embedded ethernet routers, ethernet and serial device drivers, hardware debugging, IP packet reassembly and protocol analysis, AVR and other assembler, and code professionally in C for Unix & Mac. I use a motley collection of AVR, moto 68k & Z80 gear for hobby robotics. (Location: Brisbane, Australia).
–chris
ooh, random access to packet buffer. Nice chip!
Hi There,
This seems like a great project. I love the ardiuno and the ease of using it to create relatively complex projects rapidly. I would love to see this board evolve into something that can also be easily used for ethernet projects. I’m available to help out. I’m not the best embedded developer, but I love working on projects like this and I believe I have a kind of passion to commit to something like this. Send me mail if I can help with anything and either way, keep up the good work
- Tom
massimo, i cannot argue with the ENC being super cheap, i know lots of people who’ve used it;) sounds like you’ve got a plan.
[...] posted some details about the mysterious Arduino ethernet board… Link. ) digg_url=’http://parthsuthar.com/derive/2007/06/07/arduino-ethernet-board/’; digg_skin = [...]
That’s pretty original idea.
I am available to help — I’ve worked with a few embedded systems, as well as C for over a decade :)
I am also very familiar with the Arduino IDE (having used it for a number of projects with the USB version)
I would love to help out!
The msp430 used on the EasyWeb2 implements TCP/IP fairly easily. There’s plenty of room remaining in the flash to do useful things. For example, I had no trouble linking Dalsemi’s OneWire code into uIP.
People are starting to run into the limits of what the Arduino can do. There are other products. Use them.
Hi Massimo,
I like it. I thought of building that myself but now I will try to get one of these.
Have you thought of going into the i0 or Internet0 direction?
http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.06/11.27/i0.pdf
It’s about combining devices via powerline with a stripped down http over udp if I remember it correct. That could open up a new area for arduino.
Regards,
Alex
Hello Russell
Thanks for the contribution. We know arduino has limits, we designed it with those limits very clearly in mind. This has allowed us to make it cheap and create momentum, bringing these technologies to people who would have never worked with electronics before.
What is important to me is the user experience. To creating a good user experience takes time. Reusing as much as possible is also very important, that’s why we’re going to stick with AVR processors. Although sometimes PICs have more ingenious designs (like the USB processors and the new Ethernet PIC) they dont have good open source development tools .
Briefly we have already made bigger boards, we’ll start selling them at some point when we know that the user experience is right..
It’s not arduino that’s reaching its limits simply the type of user is changing..
Hey Massimo,
We emailed back and forth a couple months ago about a project I’m starting at Columbia University to create a device that basically does what the Arduino ethernet board does. 2 years ago I built a PIC-based device using an RTL8019AS because the ENC28j60 was delayed for so long. I’m just getting started on switching to an AVR setup and using the ENC28j60, and really I’d rather focus my efforts on helping the Arduino project rather than reinventing the work you guys have already done. I’m working on it pretty full time this summer, so I’ve got lots of time to commit to the project, and I’d love to help out.
Hope to talk to you soon,
Spencer
[...] Arduino com interface Ethernet e Atmega32 [...]
Hey Massimo,
Can you help me understand what the difference would be between what you are thinking about and some of the standard atmel products, specifically probably I’m thinking about the NGW100 (Atmel ATNGW100) which is already available in the $70 range in single quantities. I’m guessing that the primary differences would revolve around a better and easier choice of development software as is the case with the Arduino vs. similar 8bit development boards for the AVRs. I’d just be interested in getting your thoughts about what you’re thinking relative to some of these other boards/platforms that are already out there.
thanks,
[...] Massimo posted some details about the mysterious Arduino ethernet board… Link. [...]
hello,
> We’ll have 5 boards that will be shipped for free to 5 people around the world who will
> publicly commit to working with us on the code. This is not the chance to get a free
> board and disappear but you’ll have to work with us on it..
I’m candidate to work with you on this board. Contact me if you are interesting.
Best Regards
Benoit ROUSSEAU
Has there been any progress on this? I would love to buy one.
-Bryan
Dear massimo,
One of our clients asked us whether this new device will be available soon, e.g. via the normal Arduino distributor network. Please let us know, via this posting and email teply, if you have a timetable on this?
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Patrick
I am curious especially with such a resource related issue why you chose the 32 over the 644. Seems like the additional memory would buy a lot in this case.
Hello,
please, do you have any news regarding Arduino with Ethernet?
If the objective is to create an open source XPORT, then ENC28J60 + ATMEGA is a good choice… but what you get is just that, an open source XPORT… If you still want the Arduino + Ethernet + TCP/IP, it is better to offload the networking tasks to a co-processor, like the wiznet, so Arduino can still do a useful job, like reading sensors, controlling I/O ports, etc.
Well the Tinker.it ethernet board that comes out in the next few weeks is based on the latest wiznet chip
and it’s got a beautiful map of italy on it
Massimo, how did you implement the autoreset feature using the wiznet chip?
Hi guys,
any further updates on the ethernet board?