Yes, we can agree in that this is an absolute change of direction in terms of programming environment but the latest 1.5-beta of the popular IDE has proven to be very stable. In case you don't know, Arduino 1.5 simplifies the integration with third-party architectures and boards. This means that panStamp NRG and panStamp AVR can co-exist within the same IDE and even share common libraries.  Another nice feature of Arduino 1.5 is that each platform and each core has its own physical space in the IDE so there is no more need to share cores with other microcontrollers and juggle with endless definition blocks. This also means that we will get full control over the cores files, the way they link and also over how the platform is initialized. As an example, we will no longer need to include panstamp.init() in setup() since it will be called in the background, before the setup() call. This new openness to new platforms will let us integrate the basic radio routines (CC1101 class) into the cores and implement the SWAP stack in a separate library, turning panStamps into more adaptable platforms for other SWAP communication schemas and wireless protocols. This does not mean that the current work on Energia is abandoned. On the contrary, we will provide working cores and libraries for Energia as soon as some minor issues get solved. Regarding panStamp NRG, we are finally expecting to do the formal release of our new modules in September along with the necessary code for Arduino 1.5. |
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