The Cloud from Seeeduino is a microcontroller based around the Dragino WiFi IoT module HE and the classic ATmega32u4. This board is Arduino compatible with built-in ethernet and WiFi support. There’s also a USB-A port that makes it good for designing prototypes that need network connection. You can use this as a compatible board the now-discontinued Arduino Yun.
The HE – which means “core” in Chinese – is a minimal system that’s compatible with 802.11 b/g/n. The chip has a rich interface such as Ethernet, USB, UART, and lots of GPIO pins.
A Linux machine is embedded directly on the PCB of the Arduino Leonardo. They are connected so that from the Arduino side it’s very easy to run commands on the Linux side and use it as an Ethernet and Wifi interface.
Historically, interfacing Arduino with complex web services has been quite a challenge due to the limited memory available. Web services tend to use verbose text based formats like XML that require quite a lot or ram to parse. On the Cloud, you can use the Yun Bridge library which delegates all network connections and processing of HTTP transactions to the Linux machine.
The board can be programmed with an USB cable to the Arduino IDE or through the Wifi connection without the need to physically access the board. The new Arduino 1.5.4 IDE has the ability to detect the Cloud connected to the local network.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
