Itt: micro-controllers and shit

is there anything actually useful you can do with a micro-controller e.g. a atmega328p?
I mean sure I get that you can control leds and take measurements with sensors and stuff and theire decent for learning to program etc..
but is there anything USEFUL you can do with them?

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Interface with other hardware

>controlling LEDs and using sensors isn't "useful stuff"

could you for example interface with a ram stick and install a gnu/linux? is there a distro that supports 8-bit arm?

nvm someone did that, but still not useful desu, only useful to learn i guess

Micro-controllers in general.
Control the 100 to 2200 KVA inverters and auxiliary equipment used in commercial PV installations.

there are some like Cortex M that can play videos and shit, but they are just low memory rehashes of their cortex A's I guess

only memetic stuff, get something like mips instead

Data and signal processing,encryption,remote control shit and a lot more fun stuffs.

>encryption
how are they used for that? what data would you even encrypt with a $1 micro-controller from ali

You could use a series of sensors to say level a platform. Then use input from a file to drive stepper motors to extrude heated material on the said platform.

I guess you could use one to analyze sensors to give instant feedback to a computer system that can guide a vehicle autonomously.

Maybe even run an entire power plant by taking in various inputs and deciding the most efficient air flow rate, fuel flow rate, and other variables to get the lowest pollution output while getting the maximum power.

But yeah they're pretty much useless hobbyist shit that nobody does anything with.

does creating a remote bomb count?

sure thats one of the first actually useful things mentioned in this thread that you could do with a cheap micro-controller

I built a fan controller for my PC using a microcontroller. I've got way more flexibility in terms of setting up automated fan control just the way I like it than any mobo solution I've ever seen. Connects via USB too, so there are no compatibility issues like with SpeedFan and shit.

Got a simple setup in my greenhouse that uses a 12f1822 to open and close (with a servo) the extractor covers, turn the extractor on and off and turn the sprinklers on and off. All according to the humidity and time of day.

A single fucking 12F1822.

If YOU don't have a use for them that's not their fault.

This guy gets it.

Just because you're limited in your knowledge and imagination doesn't mean others are.

To the OP "Useful" means can you play quake on it.

It doesn't mean "Serves a purpose".

OP probably doesn't see any problem with the idea of replacing all microcontrollers with entire arduino systems, much like the "hobby" movement is trying to do.

I fucking hate arduinos.

I hate that all those SoCs are what now passes for DIY kits.

>I fucking hate arduinos.
get a load of this faggot

>STOP HAVING FUN THE WRONG WAY
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

i'm not the one sperging out over arduinos here

I was doing an impression of someone who hates others having fun because they are not doing it the way they perceive fun.

Is it possible to install a tiny kernel like stripped down linux, bsd, plan9, etc. on the ATMega 328P and I/O with an old terminal?

I doubt it

You'd be lucky to get BASIC.

I read it as: lots of engineers now think they need an Arduino or raspberry pi to control some LEDs or read off a temp sensor... I don't mind maker culture or whatever. I do mind when those people come in my shop and go "oh that's easy, I did it on my Arduino" when we're trying to do it on a very small lithium battery and have it last over a year...

it's not 1980 anymore grampa
SoCs are cheap enough that you can write your entire project in software and just wire it up.
Only bitter EEfags who still cling to their ancient analog relay logic will actually complain about this.

A raspberry pi will get you farther for less. Fucking around with I2C and SPI and UART configurations is a colossal waste of time because it has zero value outside of that one specific processor. The method to do them in other processors will be 100% different and nothing you write will ever be portable or transferable. And god fucking forbid you try to do anything IoT with it. It's bad enough trying to get one of those little fucks to hold a stable TCP socket without shitting itself.

This. I also hate people who enjoy model trains. Why build a giant display for your track when a video game can do it all for you?

I've never used an Arduino myself, but what exactly is so terrible about them? Isn't an Arduino just an Atmel MCU with some minimal electronics around it to get it to actually function? Like some voltage regulation, some sort of USB-RS232 chip and whatever crystal is required?

That's basically boilerplate you need for almost every project, what's the point of rebuilding it yourself every single time if you're going to end up with roughly the same circuit as an Arduino anyway?

>ignorant people exist

Well color me surprised. In all the fields I have worked in I have never encountered this!

Funny, I know a lot of EEs who love SoCs and Arduinos. They're great for learning, playing around, or doing home automation. The Atmel 328 isn't designed to solve every type of problem, but it works well for a lot of things.

That's exactly what they are. You can even buy your own chips, caps, and oscillators and have a fully working "arduino". It's basically just a breakout board with some added features like 5V out.

>That's exactly what they are.
Why do they get such hate then? You'd think an Arduino is some sort of abomination that runs a node.js server to blink a single LED or some shit.

>Why do they get such hate then?

Because autists hate when people are having fun in a way they don't have fun.

I work in robotics company. Literally everyone in our business uses Arduinos and rPis in first stage/proof of concept/demo stage.

It's just not worth the engineering time to come up with hardware when you have no idea if the concept is shit or not.
Our custom dev board is not much more than the Mega, except that it has sane connectors (paired 5V/GND/analog and full I2C/SPI connectors instead of pin shit) and even with Chinese manufacturing it's 5-10x as expensive.

Nobody is that stupid, as soon as your project gets actually serious (need 50+, low power requirements, integrate with other chips) you let the EE guys design you a purpose-built PCB and have it manufactered.

Makes sense I suppose.

>for less
A raspberry pi doesn't cost 50c

> I2C
> Different for each device

What do you mean? It's pretty standard shit, if you have the right wrappers a single #define can be used compile the same I2C code for either Pi or microcontroller.
They're for different purposes and complement eachother rather than replace. I remember a situation where our microcontrollers prepared 90% of the API call data and the SBC was just there for logging, monitoring and stable WiFi to relay the calls (and the crypto layer iirc).

Most useful thing ive ever used a microcontroller for was as a usb device that I could customize. I used an mspf5529 to build a DIY mechanical keyboard. If i was more creative i couldve done a lot more cool stuff.

>10mW durring operation
>10uW on idle

Its good for literally everything you dont plug into a wall.

>your keyboard
has a microcontroller
>your microwave
has a microcontroller
>your girlfriend
has your microdick

etc.etc.

You can do Forth which is an OS into itself.

The difference is the people who make model trains dont claim "to be the real conductors"

the micro is just an atmen chip on a breakout board. It might have some smoothing caps for the usbs power incase you use a shady power supply.
couple of resistors for the onboard status leds for rx/tx and power.
You could literally cut chungs out of the board and Id wager money that it would still work.

there was a port of BSD2 to PIC at least

It's exactly their ubiquity, combined with the low quality of the product for what you're getting, plus the nonsense of the Arduino being the most mis-managed brand on the planet.

Let me give you an example. I stream embedded development on Twitch, usually MSP430 when I'm not using an SBC like a Beagle or Pi, and "Why don't you use Arduino?" is a regular question in my chat.

What's Arduino, though?
Is it the hardware? If so, what hardware? An ATMega328p sat next to an FT232? If so, I'd rather not pay upwards of $30 for two chips on a poorly arranged breakout board, and also not risk getting some gimped up clone from China that has about a 20% chance of being a busted piece of shit.
Is it the bootloader? If so, I don't need no damn bootloader taking up space on my chip and auto-defining all the crystals and using up timers.
Is it the IDE? Nigga please. Fuck outta here with that shit.
Is it the libraries? I could make a whole other post on why the libraries are awful.

And yet, "Why don't you use Arduino?" is one of the most commonly repeated questions I need to answer in my chat. I'm tempted to auto-purge that question.

i looked up "embedded development stream" on google and the first result is "Node.js Embedded Development on the Raspberry Pi"

fucking sad

I'm not live now, you dingus.

no i was just curious to see if there was any other

On that note though, I went around among the livecoders on Twitch trying to do some community-building, a few were receptive to "Hey have you done any embedded?"

They immediately dug out an Arduino and a pre-built robotics kit they got from Adafruit, that they never touched after they bought.

I could only sigh.

Excuse me.

Sparkfun, not Adafruit. My mistake. Adafruit is all about the wearables.

>Nixies

Arent they dangerous?
I really dig the Aesthetic aspect of it but i dont want to burn my house down

Look carefully at pic related. It's a coffee maker. It has a microcontroller with fewer pins than the ATMEGA in your pic. I set the time of day with the multi-function buttons. I can fill it with water at 9:30pm, and put ground coffee in the filter. With same buttons I used to set the time of day, I can program it to start a brewing cycle at 6am. I press another button, and it beeps to acknowledge the settings. Lo and behold, at 6am, and without any further intervention from me, at 6:30am the microcontroller activates a relay connected to a heating element that both boils the water and keeps the pot hot. After the brew is finished, the machine beeps to let me know that my coffee is ready for me to enjoy.

I don't know about you, but I'd call that pretty damned useful.

...AND by replacing the piezo element with few electronic parts and adding this specialized microcontroller, I can record 10 seconds of this audio and play it back IN A LOOP to INSURE I get up out of bed.

youtube.com/watch?v=UCKrBWMBB-Q

Now, tell me OP, are microcontrollers useful?

You can do litterally anything with a pile of sensors, leds, and motors.

You just arnt creative.

Automatic house windows and blinds, voice activated bartender, voice activated lights or locks. You lack imagination.

I have the same speakers from ali, they were 50c each. Put 2 into an Altoids radio, together with a 1500mAh Li-Ion I got screwed over on in Bankok. Looks like a small bomb and sounds terrible except for 60s and 70s music, but I like it regardless.

On topic:
You can do almost anything with microcontrollers, you just have to know what you want to do.

you're better off asking /diy/, too many plebposters on Sup Forums

I run my cnc with one, instead of buying a 200€+ cnc specific board.you have no creativity if you cant find a use for one.

>2017
>arduino
*unzips 3x3x3 led cube*

Your existence is a colossal waste of time and matter.

>applies smooth 12V DC
>teleports behind you
>turns on the 3x3x3 cube
>nothing personal, kid

I built a USB controller for a model M using the exact same uC.

Nice.

>and also not risk getting some gimped up clone from China that has about a 20% chance of being a busted piece of shit.
The chink clones are the exact same. I wouldn't be surprised if it were manufactured in the exact same factory.

Once I read about a fun project that implemented ARM emulation on an atmega and ran linux on it. It span up to the shell in hours though.

the modern world is practically built on microcontrollers you fucking retard, there's more uses for computers than wasting away in front of shitty streaming media all day

Are you retarded? There are hundreds if not thousands of microcontrollers in you PC right now. There are numerous functions that are best handled by a dedicated controller in any given application, things the cpu either can't do or would be absolutely shit at.

For example, the audio circuitry is nearly completely isolated from the rest of the system, with the cpu more or less just fetching the data from storage for dedicated microcontrollers to make use of. Analog to digital, dsp decode, amplification, etc are all handled by individual IC's.
Alternatively you can adapt a basic programmable controller/SOC where commissioning a custom chip wouldn't be cost effecive. Nearly everything these days uses at least a handful of microcontrollers performing variants functions.

Unless of course you're talking about single board computers like the arduino, in which case those are prototyping/hobbyist devices. Their inteded purpose is to test and refine a basic idea before moving on to more serious design stages or just banging out a personal project.

Asking why people would bother is like asking why people bother to make their own furniture or clothing or even art. It's something to do for fun or to create something not commercially available, not an attempt at outdoing the industry.

...

No more dangerous than any other electronic, tube, whatever you have in your house.

The plate voltages do get rather high and it's not exactly healthy to go poking around the live circuit, but they aren't that hazardous.

create a printer that works using a pencil