Re: ANN: Cortex GNAT RTS 2018-07-15

[Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>]

Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> writes:
>> I have two Trinket M0's
> Just a little bit too tiny for me! (8K flash, 512b ram). Candidates for
> a ZFP, I think.

8k flash is on the original Trinket with the ATTiny85.  The Trinket M0
has 256k flash and 32k ram and when you plug it into a USB port out of
the box, it's already running CircuitPython and you can type Python code
at it interactively, and you can also drag and drop files onto it since
it also presents a USB flash drive interface.  It's great.

See: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3500

There is a slightly bigger version called the Itsy Bitsy that's
basically the same board with more I/O pins and a 2MB SPI flash added:

  https://www.adafruit.com/product/3727

And a version of the Itsy Bitsy with a Cortex M4, 512k of on-chip
flash and 192k of ram, plus the SPI flash:

  https://www.adafruit.com/product/3800

There's also the even fancier Feather series, with more stuff on the M0
and M4 versions including an RTC crystal and a built-in JST connector
and lipo charger, so you can connect a lipo cell that automatically
charges whenever the board is connected to USB.  A completely no-fuss
way to make a low powered portable gadget.

Unfortunately there's no Trinket M4 in the works because the M4
processor has a bigger package that won't fit on the Trinket board.

These boards are cool as hell and they make it leagues easier to get
started with embedded programming.  You don't need any toolchain on your
PC except a text editor.  It's like an old Forth system but much nicer.