FortyTwo Systems MEGA

Today's the day! The FortyTwo MEGA and the FortyTwo UNO are now on sale on Tindie. Check them out here:

MEGA: https://www.tindie.com/products/23539/

UNO: https://www.tindie.com/products/23535/

Shipping time is currently less than 2 weeks. There's a limited number of boards available due to the chip shortage.

Currently, I still need to compile BOSSAC on Linux x86, finish the CAN library documentation, and make sure the core is bug-free. PlatformIO support is also pending. I'm hoping to have all of that done before the first board ships.

I've completed basic windows configurations for PlatformIO and Arduino IDE. In the Arduino IDE, code compilation, upload, and bootloader burning are all working.

I'm now able to debug code from within PlatformIO, which is a lot more streamlined than from within Microchip Studio (you do lose a few small features). See https://github.com/fortytwosystems/platform-atmelsam for the platform files. Currently, the following must be specified in the platformio.ini file:

[env:fortytwo_mega]
platform = https://github.com/fortytwosystems/platform-atmelsam.git
platform_packages = 
    framework-arduino-samc-fortytwo @ https://github.com/fortytwosystems/ArduinoCore-samc
    framework-cmsis-microchip @ https://github.com/fortytwosystems/ArduinoModule-CMSIS-Microchip
    tool-bossac-samc @ https://github.com/fortytwosystems/BOSSA#pio-windows
board = fortytwo_mega
framework = arduino

I'm hoping to clean things up in the following weeks by publishing the packages to the PlatformIO registries. Until I ship a significant number of boards and get support from the official PlatformIO repo, I will have to use the fortytwosystems github link for the platform variable.

I've finished my modifications to BOSSA by adding all chips in the SAMC21 line to the Devices.cpp file. I need to compile bossac for mac and linux systems still.

I'm happy to announce that I've got a working core and bootloader written for the board. Many hours and some tears have been poured into getting the basics set up. I've also created a way to debug the core in Microchip Studio, so you can step through your code. All of the source code is on GitHub, here.

Currently the only peripherals I've tested are UART and the GPIO pins. I'll be working on timers and CAN soon. I'll need to procure some CAN devices first. I'm also excited to test the ADC and DAC.

I ran my first prototype of the MEGA board back in early 2020, and I'm just now getting back to the project. Here it is, the FortyTwo Systems MEGA:

I got pretty excited to see it all built out like this. It has one fatal flaw, which is easily corrected: I accidentally crossed the SWCLK and SWDIO lines on the JTAG SWD header. With some custom cable magic that flaw was easily fixed, and I'll correct the problem in the next revision.

Now it's time to start writing an Arduino core for this board, currently it is only programmable from Microchip START.