New Pandauino Wide Boards Bring Expanded Capabilities to the Uno Form Factor

Pandauino's latest boards, the 644/1284 Wide and Wide Power, pack new functionality into an Uno form factor. There is a matrix of six boards with two microcontroller options, two I/O configurations, and two supply voltages. Let's break down what each of these options means for you.

Previously, we wrote about the 644/1284 Narrow, which was also first offered on Crowd Supply. You might consider these boards a compliment to that project.

ATmega644 vs. ATmega1284

The ATmega644 vs. ATmega1284 from Microchip are 8-bit MCUs with similar core capabilities to the ATmega328p found in an Arduino Uno (or Nano). In general, the ATmegaxx4 offers more I/O flexibility and more memory than the 328p.

The abbreviated chart above highlights the key differences between the 644 and 1284 microcontrollers. Pandauino's documentation contains a more comprehensive look at the two.

I/O Configurations

There are two I/O configurations: Wide and Wide Power.

The 644/1284 Wide offers more GPIO pins than an Uno, even though the form factor is mostly pin compatible. New pin headers add functionality but should not impact most, if any, existing projects.

There are two additional Analog Input pins. The Nano has eight analog inputs, but two are not broken out to standard headers. The 644/1284 Wide adds square pin headers for those two additional inputs.

On the Wide boards, there are 24 digital I/O pins available. The Wide Power boards replace seven of the I/O pins with open-drain outputs. These open-drain outputs can sink up to 600 milliamps, making them ideal for driving high current loads without an additional transistor driver.

3v3 vs. 5v

The Wide variants come in a version that runs at either 3.3 volts or 5 volts as VCC. Since the rest of a circuit's hardware maybe rely on I/O at 3v3 or 5V, having either board available makes it easier to choose one for a project.

In total there are the six new options:

• Wide 644 @ 3.3 V
• Wide 644 @ 5.0 V
• Wide Power 644
• Wide 1284 @ 3.3 V
• Wide 1284 @ 5.0 V
• Wide Power 1284

Arduino compatibility

As mentioned, the board layout is similar to an Arduino Uno. Except for the additional pins, the hardware is a (near) drop-in replacement.

On the software side, MightyCore adds support for the six boards to the Arduino IDE. While we did not have a chance to test that core, Pandauino says that code using the Arduino library should work fine on the 644/1284 Wide and Wide Power.

Prices have not been released yet. The 644/1284 is a Crowd Supply campaign that is in pre-launch status at the time of writing. Sign up on its product page to get a notification when it launches.