[dorkbotpdx-blabber] another chip-level question ...

[Mykle Hansen]

hi again,

for this new speedvest+plus+weirdness design i'm making, i
plan to have an arduino talking to several different chips.
my arduino only has one UART, and i have two devices that
want to talk to it -- one supertex chip that wants to read
out a bit pattern, and one GPS unit that wants to write
various location data at 4800 baud.  also, i would love to
be able to maintain a serial connection to the computer
for debug output while i develop this thing.

so i'm asking: what do you do when you want your arduino
to have more serial ports?  is there a strategy for sharing
one UART between many devices?  is there a sub-chip that
can MUX several serial conversations into one?  is there
a way to repurpose the SPI or TW units in the ATmega168
into standard serial ports?   what would dorkbot do?

my fallback is to use bit-bashing to send the output,
use the UART for the input, and reduce the debugging
to a vocabulary of "the green LED means it's working."

thanks for your help.  i promise that if i get anything
blinking before i leave town for the Faire, i will bring
it to the meeting or send a picture.

-mykle-
---
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