What I’m really missing right now are some dead simple boards for testing each mode. Swapping pins on breadboards is becoming a task.
2 Wire (sle4442), HDUART (sim), Infrared (IR toy) and SPI (flash) are covered. That leaves:
1wire, I2c, UART, dio and LEDs.
There is a less expensive 1 wire temperature sensor I’ve seen.
Probably an I2C eeprom, maybe a small collection of stuff
UART - GPS? Another RP2040?
Dio - 8 LEDs and switches?
LEDs - two types supported with a switch
have you considered an automated test rig?
like a rack with a bunch of bus pirates in shelves, each connected to some demo peripherals. Then some small server that controls everything.
Ideally I would hook this test rig into test runners that can automatically be started by git commits. So each git commit automatically triggers a rebuild of the firmware and a test with the test rig.
I would consider this the end goal. You probably don’t want to work full time on something like this right now, but instead start small. But having the end goal in mind might guide you now, like considering fully automatic feedback for such test boards, also making automatic state-reset on power cycle a requirement and similar things.
Good suggestion. I did in fact have at one point a 6 tier test rig with 595s controlling analog mux to 8 or 16 chips per tier/board. An automated test section of the build process would be absolutely killer. With regression reports in the firmware zip. So professional.
I’ve been working on a similar setup, but it is using the buspirate to test equipment out of the scope of this thread. Its working out well and I hope to continue to expand on it. The versatility of the bus pirate fit my needs and budget perfectly.
I tested my BP5 with this little test board that I got with a couple of Total Phase analyzers I bought well over ten years ago. The analyzers rarely leave the shelf anymore, having been replaced by Analog Explorer and a Salae (on semi-permanent loan from a client), but the little test board is great to pull out as a sanity check when you’re trying something new.
I’m not suggesting you go get one of these, not even sure if they’re sold anymore. But perhaps for inspiration.
Oh. They do fill sell it. But $60 seems a little steep. Insee they also make something called a CAN activity board looks more interesting, but goes for $150.
As I think back, what was nice about that I2C/SOI board at the time was I didn’t have to fiddle with jumper wires. I addition to individual pin headers, it had connectors that could just plug directly into the standard probe connector of the Total Phase devices I had. That’s clearly (IMHO) what you’d want in such a BP5 test board originally discussed
Could you provide the link to the particular CAN activity board if you still have it?
Also, I have an original gertboard setup for cross reference and validation on a project the BusPirate is being used in. I assume a varient is still made. Not comparing apples to apples in this instance.
Although, as you stated, your reference was for inspiration. Ian can spin a board so quickly it makes my head spin. Im limited on my current resources to spin a proto-board expecting to have to revise and spin another.
This page shows the smaller one that I have and also the CAN activity one. A few others as well.
Thank you! I did not anticipate a response so quickly, so I modified my last message that I had prematurely sent instead of creating a new one.
But your prompt reply is much appreciated!
I hadn’t heard the term “gertboard” before, and when I did a search on it, I was reminded of a very similar board from an even longer time back (~2005?). It wasn’t made by Microchip, but was intended to aid in developing / learning on PICs. I’ll dig that out of a box in the morning and send a picture. It’s almost midnight here and I’m nodding off.
Do you mean Analog Discovery? p.s. If you sign up for alerts you can get awesome Black Friday sales. I got an AD3 for 40% off.
You’re correct. Brain fart. I have the AD2 (with one fried I/O channel).
Here’s the PIC board I mentioned (you’ll see a few wire wrapped connections if you look closely!) and also an NXP ARM dev platform that was in the same box. Man, I really gotta get rid of some of this old stuff.
And here’s one I made that was kind of a mash between a development tester and a production tester (low volumes). Don’t be shy to just socket a MCU dev board, like the socketed Pico here or others like a Nucleo, to make the base PCB simpler.
Not the exact same concept, but this was the gertboard that came to mind. The dust on it shows you how much I utilized it.
And I have a garage full of things to get rid of. Did you say you needed to add to your collection? 
If you do decidd to offliad some things, I would ptentially be interested in hearimg what you have available. Depending on what you are looking to get out of the items, I may have intetest for educational pupises. I’m interested in some assets to help teach kids how to use the bus pirate and other test equipment on tech may not be as well documented or plug and play.
I have plety of development equipment, especially in robotics and automotive. Most of which only go back as far as ~2018. Much of my equipment is also comprosed of indistrial/ entrrprose grade or higher end equipment. For example, I dont have a jetson nano laying around, I have new Xavier AGXs or IPCs well in the 5 figure digits. All great equipment, if I were training higher level developers.
These are all cool boards. They would be great for education. The closest I have seen is the Maker Pi Pico board.
Anyone else know of similar (and currently purchasable) boards?
As the crickets chirp, BusPirateV5 waits patiently in silence.
I hear that in my head as though im watching the narrator on a safari observing animals in the wild.
Idk why.
“While I’m reclining comfortably beside this cool brook here sipping ice cold lemonade, let’s catch up with Jim who is downstream wrestling a 12-foot anaconda … how’s it going down there, Jim?
Poor Jim. He was undoubtedly loyal to Marlin.
