A Development Board is an amalgamation of hardware and software. It is nothing but a printed circuit board containing a microcontroller or microprocessor with other peripherals as hardware and support packages in the form of toolchains , operating system to make up the software part.

Here I introduce you various Development Boards. So decide your needs, choose appropriate system and start making some good stuff and become “Electronic Geek“. Most important thing for final year engineering student, if you are planning to do project on embedded system, micro controllers , microprocessors this things are very helpful to you. It is also useful when some other project is needed microprocessor or micro controller. If you have any suggestion or query comment below the post. 

1. Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

The hardware consists of a simple open hardware design for the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board input/output support. The software consists of a standard programming language compiler and the boot loader that runs on the board.  The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).

The boards can be built by hand or purchased pre assembled; the software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs. The Arduino project received an honorary mention in the Digital Communities category at the 2006 Prix Ars Electronica. 

2. Teensy

The Teensy is a complete USB-based microcontoller development system, in a very small footprint! All programming is done via the USB port. No special programmer is needed, only a standard “Mini-B” USB cable and a PC or Macintosh with a USB port. This is the latest version, 2.0.

• USB can be any type of device
• AVR processor, 16 MHz
• Single pushbutton programming
• Easy to use Teensy Loader application
• Free software development tools
• Works with Mac OS X, Linux & Windows
• Tiny size, perfect for many projects
• Available with pins for solder less breadboard

3. MSP430 Launchpad

TI’s Launchpad board is definitely a bargain. For your money, you get a set of 16-bit MSP430 processors, a mini-USB debugger and programming interface, and a set of Windows IDEs to choose from  and cost just $ 4.30.

The LaunchPad is an easy-to-use, affordable, and scalable introduction to the world of microcontrollers and the MSP430 family.

• Easy-to-use – LaunchPad includes all of the hardware and software needed to get started. Open source projects and code examples help users get up and running quickly.
• Affordable – For $4.30, the LaunchPad includes a development board, 2 programmable MSP430 microcontrollers, mini-USB cable, PCB connectors for expandability, external crystal for increased clock accuracy, and free & downloadable software integrated development environments (IDEs) – everything you need to get started today.
• Scalable – The LaunchPad is a simple introduction to the MSP430 microcontroller family. As application requirements change, programs developed on the LaunchPad can be migrated to higher end MSP430 devices.

4. STM32

The STMicroelectronics STM32 Value line Discovery Kit is a quick and inexpensive way to discover STM32 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs). The STMicroelectronics STM32 Value Line Discovery Kit is based on the STM32 Value line and includes a quick-start evaluation board with ST-LINK debugger / programmer that is delivered with IDE from Keil, IAR, and Atollic. The debugger can debug Discovery kit applications or other _target board applications. This low-cost STMicroelectronics evaluation kit will satisfy hobbyists, first-time developers, and students.  This is even capable of running an RTOS if you’re trying to do a lot of things at once. Cost of this board is just $ 12.

The unparalleled and large range of STM32 devices, based on an industry-standard core and accompanied by a vast choice of tools and software, makes this family of products the ideal choice, both for small projects and for entire platform decisions.

5. Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.

The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The design is based on a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHzprocessor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 256 megabytes of RAM. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card for booting and long-term storage. The Foundation’s goal is to offer two versions, priced at US$ 25 and US$ 35 (plus local taxes). The Foundation started accepting orders for the higher priced model on 29 February 2012.

6. BeagleBoard

The BeagleBoard is a low-power open source hardware single-board computer produced by Texas Instruments in association with Digi-Key. The BeagleBoard was also designed with open source software development in mind, and as a way of demonstrating the Texas Instrument’s OMAP3530 system-on-a-chip. The board was developed by a small team of engineers as an educational board that could be used in colleges around the world to teach open source hardware and open source software capabilities. It is also sold to the public under the Creative Commons share-alike license.

The OMAP3530 includes an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, a TMS320C64x+ DSP for accelerated video and audio decoding, and an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX530 GPU to provide accelerated 2D and 3D rendering that supports OpenGL ES 2.0.

A single SD/MMC card slot supporting SDIO, a USB On-The-Go port, an RS-232 serial connection, a JTAG connection, and two stereo 3.5 mm jacks for audio in/out are provided. Android, Ubuntu, Symbion capability, 256 Mb Flash Memory and 256 Mb RAM.

7. PandaBoard

The PandaBoard is a low-power, low-cost single-board computer development platform based on the Texas Instruments OMAP4430 system on a chip (SoC). The board has been available to the public at the subsidized price of US $174 since 27 October 2010. It is a community supported development platform.

The PandaBoard ES is a newer version based on the OMAP4460 SoC, with the CPU and GPU running at higher clock rates. The board has been available to the public at the subsidized price of US $182 since 16 November 2011. Like its predecessor, it is a community supported development platform.

The OMAP4430 SoC on the PandaBoard features a dual-core 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU, a 304 MHz PowerVR SGX540 GPU, a C64x DSP, and 1 GB of DDR2 SDRAM. The PandaBoard ES uses a newer SoC, with a dual-core 1.2 GHz CPU and 384 MHz GPU. Primary persistent storage is via an SD Card slot allowing SDHC cards up to 32 GB to be used. Linux kernel , Android, Ubuntu compatibility, integrated SGX540 graphics processor and provides 1080p HDMI output are features of this PandaBoard.

Conclusion

This are amazing things to work on. It also saves time. No need for tedious soldering work and also come with guarantee warrantee features. Very easy to implement and very easy to make some cool stuff and projects. So start using it and don’t forget to do comment.