Adding RAM and some kind of flash memory to the Axon microcontroller.

[Hawaii00000]

Can anyone tell me if the axon microcontroller  has any kind of memory for when the device is turned off (e.g. some type of flash memory), and how could I add it (Or if what it has is not enough, how could I upgrade it?)? Could I somehow modify one of those usb flash drives to do the job or would I have to buy something else?

Also Is there any way of upgrading the RAM?

[izua]

any decent AVR can support a ram upgrade. you can access it natively, at the same speed as onboard ram, at the cost of 16+3 pins. maximum size is 64K, iirc.

there's no easy way to hack into a pen drive, except, perhaps, desoldering the storage IC and soldering it on your board. Your best bet is to connect to a SD card, which uses SPI.

[izaktj]

any decent AVR can support a ram upgrade. you can access it natively, at the same speed as onboard ram, at the cost of 16+3 pins. maximum size is 64K, iirc.

there's no easy way to hack into a pen drive, except, perhaps, desoldering the storage IC and soldering it on your board. Your best bet is to connect to a SD card, which uses SPI.

I'm also interested, I have a 1G SD card 

[izua]

well, just google it, it's pretty much everywhere.
when I'll have time, I'll probably finish the SD card interfacing tutorial

[Admin]

The Axon has 4KB of EEPROM that won't erase when you unpower the board. Beyond that, there are many chips you can buy to hook up to any microcontroller.

[Hawaii00000]

Sounds great. I guess I'll just see how I go with the 4GB that comes with it, and if I need more RAM or HD I can buy an SD card and some RAM. Thanks for the help guys!

[paulstreats]

Sounds great. I guess I'll just see how I go with the 4GB that comes with it, and if I need more RAM or HD I can buy an SD card and some RAM. Thanks for the help guys!

it comes with 4KB not 4GB!

[Hawaii00000]

AHHHHHHH I though it was GB. So glad you picked me up on that. I guess I might be buying that sd card after all.

[Hawaii00000]

Is it easy to add the memory to the microcontrollers or is it a lot of soldering and programing to get it to work? How about the RAM is it a simple plug in and go kind of upgrade or is a soldering/programing kind of a deal?

[Admin]

It entirely depends on the external device you purchase. For example, if you just buy a chip, you need to wire up the chip (soldering, etc.). If you buy a full off the shelf board, all you do is just connect three wires (ground and two signal lines) to the Axon and you're done.

[dunk]

Hawaii00000,
what are you planning on using your microcontroller for?
4Kb of EEROM is a large amount of storage on a microcontroller. i have never needed more than 50 bytes in any of my applications.
the EEROM is not used for storing programs. they use the onboard flash memory.

you have to forget some things you think you know about memory when working with microcontrollers.
more memory will not make your microcontroller run faster or better.
your microcontroller will run exactly the same right up until you use all of a particular memory type.

more Flash memory will allow you to write bigger programs.
more EEPROM will allow you to store more data when you power down.
more volatile memory will allow you to assign more variables.

if you are just getting into microcontroller programming the Axon will have enough internal memory to keep you going for several years.

the only application i could see you possibly needing more EEPROM for would be a datalogger.
if for example you wanted to store a 16 bit temperature reading once every second you would only get just over an hour out of 4Kb.


dunk.

[Admin]

4Kb of EEROM is a large amount of storage on a microcontroller. i have never needed more than 50 bytes in any of my applications.
the EEROM is not used for storing programs. they use the onboard flash memory.

I only see a few uses for large amounts of EEPROM:
datalogging (as dunk mentions)
GPS history logging
store robot maps

(hopefully that helps someone!)

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

I found a TON of EEPROMs in some old circuit boards I have. I have lots of old boards from all over the place. One could say its my Dragon Horde

Knowing exactly what EEPROMs are used for helps me GREATLY! Thank you both for that

[Hawaii00000]

I guess I don't really need that much memory right now. It's just that I want to make sure there's room for expantion as I get better at it. Eventually I'm hoping to be able to use it's to identify and remember faces, of coarse right now that's along way off.

[Admin]

I'm hoping to be able to use it's to identify and remember faces

If thats your goal, a laptop would be much better!

[bukowski]

This thread seems about played out, but if anyone is interested...
Microchip has a serial EEPROM (1 to 16k) that uses only one pin off the MCU instead of the two or three pins for I²C. It's called the UNI/O.