![\"ATMega32](\"https:\/\/techmoz.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ATMega32-microcontroller-1024x459.png\")
<\/p>\nThere is not a single person on earth that can question the success of Arduino. They really did something there. They made electronics accessible to ordinary people seeking to create things without going through the hustle of understanding electronics, building boards and only God knows what else. It’s definitely a great prototyping tool. They nailed it.<\/p>\n
When you get an Arduino board, you are probably already rushing to make the on-board LED blink and once you are done with that you are probably trying to write to an LCD Display and you just keep going. When you realize, you are already deep into the Arduino sea, working with sensors and all.<\/p>\n
And then comes the day you cross ways with that colleague of yours that is passionate about these Arduino things and you just want to let him know you have been poking the beast as well. Your fellow colleague looks surprised and excited and then you both jump into an eloquent and endless conversion about these Arduino things.<\/p>\n
At some point in that endless conversation, he asks if you have heard about “Raspberry Pi” and you clearly have no idea of what that is and then he goes on “It’s different from Arduino. It’s more powerful. Arduino is just a microcontroller. Look it up”. And this is how we ended up here. Because your colleague said that Arduino is a microcontroller and mostly because I’m done hearing that blasphemy and I can’t let you spread it around. So what should your colleague have said?<\/p>\n
I figured it would be better to define a microcontroller so that we are all clear on why Arduino is not one.<\/p>\n
A microcontroller is an IC (Integrated Chip) that contains a processor core, RAM, ROM and I\/O Pins. Microcontrollers are mostly used when building the so called embedded systems. Things like Washing machines, Toasters and others. Some vey well known microcontrollers: ATMega32, ATMega128, PIC16. Image below brings the visual representation of the ATMega32 microcontroller, only for reference.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You probably now understand why Arduino cant be confused with a Microcontroller. Arduino really isn’t one. Arduino is a Development board. Whats interesting is that an Arduino board is equipped with a Microcontroller. Most Arduino boards are equipped with an AVR Microcontroller, more specifically the ATMegaX serie.<\/p>\n
Take the Arduino Micro as an example. It is equipped with an ATmega32UA Microcontroller:<\/p>\n
![\"ATmega32UA](\"https:\/\/techmoz.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Tmega32UA-Microcontroller-1024x890.png\")
<\/p>\n
So your colleague should have defined Arduino as a Microcontroller based development board. There are other development boards like Arduino and some even use the same Microcontrollers as Arduino.<\/p>\n
And just so you know, the magic is on the microcontroller and not on the board itself. The board is just exposing the features of the microcontroller in a more approachable way so that you can quickly prototype.<\/p>\n
Don’t forget to correct your friend next time you guys catch up.<\/p>\n
It’s always a pleasure to share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction There is not a single person on earth that can question the success of Arduino. They really did something there. They made electronics accessible to ordinary people seeking to create things without going through the hustle of understanding electronics, building boards and only God knows what else. It’s definitely a great prototyping tool. They<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_dcms_eufi_img":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[963,977,952,1019,995,997],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-2","category-hardware-2","category-highlights-2","category-internet-en","category-security","category-software-2"],"yoast_head":"\n