PSA: Networking on microcontrollers is a giant pain in the ass.<p>Don't get me wrong, boards like this (and ESP/Realtek boards with WiFi) are great for hacky prototypes. But if you're building an embedded device that will be deployed in any sort of volume, a small application processor running Linux will make your life <i>dramatically</i> easier. You can keep it asleep most of the time if your power budget is tight.<p>The hard part is not cramming in an Ethernet PHY or a 2.4 GHz radio, it's the mountain of software that you need to run on top of it to get the kind of reliable, secure communications channels that we've come to expect. Bare metal networking stacks like LwIP have a reputation for being buggy, and are nowhere near as battle-tested as the Linux/BSD networking stacks security-wise. Some of the more memory constrained devices can barely fit a complete certificate chain. Are you really prepared to roll out updates on a system like this when the next Heartbleed comes along?<p>Also, the layers tend to pile on, so while you might get away with a bare-bones wire protocol initially, you'll be starting your project close to the limits of what is practical. Somebody will eventually ask you if you can connect to a websocket. I know buildroot and yocto look a little scary at first, but they're better than designing yourself into a corner before you even get off the ground.
The Teensy line is great for folks like me, who are doing one-off projects and who know more about software than hardware. There are good libraries, a helpful developer, and a supportive community.
I've used Teensies to make millisecond-accurate camera controllers, radar-triggered music/light-show devices, and burning-man style LED hats.
If I were doing production, they'd probably be overkill (and too expensive), but they save me time and effort and are easy to use.
Genuinely curious, what kinds of projects are better suited to a Teensy than an Arduino, ESP32 or some form of Raspberry Pi?<p>Is the main advantage the pin count?
I've worked with all the various Arduino and other MCU boards as well as Pis. My preferred chip is still an Arduino Nano in a screw terminal carrier (just today I wired up one to make a rotating stepper that rotated in sync with a camera trigger, to do 3D scanning for Meshroom).<p>I love the old Uno, it's solid as a rock but of course has very limited CPU and memory. I would only use an Uno if I had a specific shield that fit the Uno and needed 100% compatibility. The dupont connectors are too loose for permanent projets that get shaken around... it's 5V, which makes working with some hardware easier (although most things "kinda work" with 3.3v MCUs, some stuff doesn't).<p>The Nano is like the UNO but smaller, although you can get nice little screw terminal carriers that make permanent connections more reliable.<p>The Teensy is a faster arduino with some very good support libraries. It Just Works, most of the time. But I haven't ended up using it for anything; I've replaced it with Nanos or ESP8266 or ESP32.<p>The ESP2866 and ESP32 are great systems, truly amazing what they can do even if they're just emulating an Arduino. however, there is a fair amount of compatibility problems with the 32 (for example, I have a sketch for a self-balancing robot, it works fine on Nano and ESP2866, but hangs on the '32). But the 32 has a special trick up its sleeve: the arduino functionality is really just an emulator that runs inside an RTOS. I started to play with FreeRTOS on ESP32 (<a href="https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/api-reference/system/freertos.html" rel="nofollow">https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/...</a>) and was really impressed. It feels a lot like my days using a 286- no virtual memory, a few megs of RAM, and basic networking.
With the supercheap sub $5 ESP32/STM32 boards (both have Arduino core support) and their equally cheap add onboards for camera, ethernet or USB OTG - who exactly are using the Teensy line today and why?<p>I'm genuinely curious.
Generally a very nice addition to the lineup. I'm personally fascinated by the support for soldering on an additional RAM chip; depending on how painful it is to actually access that memory, the extra 8MB could finally be enough to run uclinux.
Does this one have the JTAG/SWD pins available? I know that the teensy bootloader is one of its USPs, but not being able to connect a debugger is kind of a dealbreaker for any sort of complex project.
These are great little boards, and they already have support in the latest beta of CircuitPython! <a href="https://circuitpython.org" rel="nofollow">https://circuitpython.org</a>
If you're interested in this and based in the UK then we have stock coming shortly and you can sign up for notification here: <a href="https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/teensy-4-1" rel="nofollow">https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/teensy-4-1</a>
If you want to see a cool project done with Teensy check this custom midi controller/sequencer interface with motorized sliders<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH-grgRmClY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH-grgRmClY</a><p><a href="https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/54995-Zeus-Commander-SPS-16-MIDI-step-amp-pattern-sequencer?p=196699#post196699" rel="nofollow">https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/54995-Zeus-Commander-SPS-16-M...</a>
I remember using Teensy based on AT90USB1286 microcontroller for 4 quadrant 3phase AC motor torque control. Worked like a charm. Glad to hear they're stilll in business.
I've been playing around with boards like this that keep getting smaller and smaller. Do people generally prototype something using these boards and then go directly to manufacturing? I imagine you'd want to have a smaller package than use these types of components as part of you larger product right?
Taking a look at this. It looks like it only supports ICMP and UDP?
<a href="https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/60532-Teensy-4-1-Beta-Test?p=237096&viewfull=1#post237096" rel="nofollow">https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/60532-Teensy-4-1-Beta-Test?p=...</a>
What would it take to make CAN work with this? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus</a>
Every time I ran across these boards, I always think of "Apollo Guidance Computer"[1] which is used on Apollo spacecrafts.<p>They have 16KB ram 2000MHz cpu freq so I feel like I can build a spaceship witha couple of teensies :D<p>[1] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer</a>
This is fantastic, especially with functional wired ethernet at such a price point. This is a lot of customizable horsepower in a small form factor with great peripheral support!
I've been playing around embedded stuff and hardware design recently and mostly started with arduino's and esp8266/32's, but have wanted to play around with both FPGA's and ARM boards for designing more complex things.<p>I'm kinda lost on what ARM board to get though. This thing seems pretty cool, and others have recommended an STM32 board, but theres dozens of those in various form factors and chip features and I'm just not sure.<p>Anyone know a good comparison of ARM based dev boards that gives a good description of the differences and maybe recommended applications?