I am proposing a new project -'Sprintbed'
Sprintbed is to be a Riprap controller similar to Sanguinololu, and Ramps, but based on a mbed CPU module rather than an Arduino module. The mbed LPC1768 module uses a 100MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 CPU, and has a built in USB interface that can be used both to load firmware, and for serial communication. NXP provides free on-line tools for code development that includes libraries similar to those provided by Auduino.
The project will produce the design of a 'sheild' PCB for the mbed module, and a version of the Spriter firmware modified to run on the LPC1768. The hardware will follow the Sanguinololu minimalist format and use the Pololu step motor driver carriers. The firmware will initially be a simple port of the current Sprinter code with the same file structure. As a second step code revisions will be made to take advantage of the speed and 32-bit arithmetic capabilities of the mbed processor. There will be no attempt to make this code usable on both Arduino and mbed based hardware; however other 32-bit processor may be added as alternatives to the LPC1768 once the initial project has been completed.
Comments please
