Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

From mouser ... Reordered the same part that I purchaed in 2014, the USB vendor ID doesn't match the old one and it doesn't work with the IDE.

(I know how to use AVRdude and all of the low level stuff, down to the opcodes. Thanks.)

Apprently there is arduino.cc and a doppelganger/faux arduino.org, and mouser has been part of the scam.

I wouldn't have thought mouser was in the business of selling counterfeits but apparently I was wrong. We have a small account, maybe a couple grand a month, but I'll be moving away after this.

I'm not sure you can quite call arduino.org a counterfeit. Also not sure I'd call an Arduino board an ISP but...technicalities.

There is much drama in the Arduino vs Arduino. My understanding is the .org guys are the original manufactures. The .cc guys (Genuino outside the US) are the developers. The .org guys more or less stole the Ardunio brand through some sleaziness. There's some parallel development that took place and a bunch of bent feelings. The .cc guys found new manufactures (Adafruit makes a number of boards for the US market). Now both companies are producing some boards while each also has some new and slightly different boards.

I'd like the .cc guys to come out with a new Arduino Ethernet myself, the .org guys in theory are still producing the original but my go to places to order from either aren't stocking it or have distanced themselves from the .org products.

This is pretty old news and if you're embedding the Arduino board in a product you should research this a bit and choose a path. I'd either build my own boards or probably go with the .cc boards to support the original folks and original community.

I think moving away from Mouser over this is a bit dramatic and overreacting.

japes wrote: I'm not sure you can quite call arduino.org a counterfeit. Also not sure I'd call an Arduino board an ISP but...technicalities.

Not an arduino board like an uno, but the actual ArduinoISP board. It is/was a USBtinyISP clone. I think it's been discontinued now. I purchased one from mouser in 2014, built an assembly/test rig with zif sockets that used it, and any old fogie in the shop could use, and when the USB plug got sheared off, I ordered a new one. Much to my surprise it wasn't recognized, despite having the same manufacturer, part number, and mouser stock number online, it has different firmware on it and is definitely NOT a drop in replacement requiring different software to use.

Anyways, I put the .cc firmware on the new board. Just annoying. I had no idea there was a .org/.cc difference nor do I know or care about the politics behind it**. I've learned from arduino.cc's support and forums about the issue, since I've been using the .cc guys since ~2007 or so, I'll assume they are the originals.

Yes, it is used in a commercial product. 3 chips in each vehicle. Yes, I understand the low level and build our own boards with automotive qualified components.

This is not the first time mouser has pulled a bait-and-switch on us. Order a part, reorder the exact same stock number a year or two later, and it is from a completely different manufacturer. It's more of an issue with their attitude when I call them out on it over the phone.

**: Obviously I care somewhat, or I wouldn't have bothered posting this. I literally had no idea TWO groups existed. The way it was explained to me is, the .org guys were producing boards under license, and basically stopped paying for their license and started making their own products, but with identical artwork and hardware designs. Since they were the contract manufacturer, they were able to keep most of the existing distribution channels. It seems like the .cc guys got the raw end of that deal.

"How dare you steal and take credit for my work (that I stole and took credit from my graduate student) ?"

Huh, I don't think I've seen the ISP, but here it is I guess: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoISP

Likely not being produced with the manufacturing politics they're recovering from.

I have the AVRISP mkII and the Adafruit clone, I wish I had an excuse to try the Evil Mad Science ISP Shield: http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/produc ... itlist/253

guardian452 wrote: The way it was explained to me is, the .org guys were producing boards under license, and basically stopped paying for their license and started making their own products, but with identical artwork and hardware designs.

That's what I heard - I thought I heard one of the original developers was running the manufacturing company or was involved in the company and the arduino.org - thus thus the bent feelings.

uh-oh you gwuys!

are those tiny things able to flash firmware on a router’s chip?

i recall some gadgets that somehow clip on the flash chip and you can flash the firmware directly, no need to desolder/resolder, but i don’t know what they’re called.

http://tinyurl.com/hlcgfcw

I'm sure such a gadget exists, but I know nothing about the inner workings of vxworks and have nothing to complain about with my current router, so I'd do well enough to leave it alone

Sounds intersting, tho. If you muck around with it let me know how you get on.


Back to the OT, Mouser dropped the product in question. I'm not going to get into the politics of which 'arduino' is legitamite, it really doesn't matter now that I've educated myself on the issue, I guess. But it sure does peeve me off that they never changed the MPN or manufacturers code when they switched.

Basically, the manufacturer never changed. They stopped paying for the arduino license, and slightly modified their packaging and T&C's, then changed the firmware so it wouldn't work with the original software. So maybe mouser was right to not change the manfacturer ID, so I could use the same reorder number.

What a wierd situation. We had a similar issue when Deutsch was first bought by TE. Connectors would mate together but not seal, terminal locks would be loose and fall out or too tight and couldn't seat, etc. Our sales rep (the old guy from Ladd) blamed TE, TE blamed the distributor for shipping us counterfeit parts. We made them (TE) replace a couple $K worth of inventory and all was well in the end.

The automotive industry and supply chain, AFAICT, is worms all the way down. If you think a used car lot is scummy, wait until you get some schmuck from Idaho in your office trying to sell miniature relays or IGBTs or windshield wipers. God forbid they get your real phone number "I was in Cincinnati visiting my client <large local company> and <former coworker or friend from university> said you could really use some <part I can get for 1/10 his price on alibaba, or otherwise have zero use for> and I see what you guys are doing here is very interesting and would you like some <product samples, useless swag, catalogs>. If you give me one of your cards I will call you every night at 7:15PM for the next 3 days until you block my number."

God bless Alibaba, and all of the Chinese vendors that live and die in it

Feh. If the counterfeit is functionally identical to the original I wouldn't be complaining.