Binho
This article was written 23 Dec 2020. It had previously been published as content on my blog.
The Binho host protocol adapter is a convenient tool for driving I2C, SPI, 1-Wire, PWM or GPIO from your PC. It also has ADC and digital inputs available. You might say "That sounds like an Aardvark", and you would be pretty much in the ballpark. I'm not going to do a head to head comparison, but I will say the Binho has advantages in size, cost, adds 1-wire and ease of use, and has the disadvantage at the moment of not having off the shelf software such as Control Center or Flash Center that Total Phase provide. It will be interesting to see how this changes over time.
When I first got my kit I was surprised by how small everything is. Yes, I'd seen one before, but I'd not see the accessory boards. It's all nice and compact, and the carry case holds everything easily.
The early accessory kits need a little bit of soldering. I know the expectation is that if you are buying this adapter you are probably a EE wanting to tickle your hardware, to make sure it's good. If you are a FW engineer, then you are probably no stranger to soldering either. However, my home soldering iron is from Radio Shack of the 80s and has a large clunky tip, great for the through hole, but not the surface mount jumpers.
Under Windows 10 the plug and play drivers immediately saw the product. I use TeraTerm as my terminal, so I quickly fired that up, and pointed at the new com port, typed a couple of character and hit enter to get an NG response, so I knew it was working.
Next thing is to try out the GUI. This is a very lightweight app, that takes care of your basic needs. It covers the GPIO, I2C and SPI use cases, as well as giving you device ID and version information, control of the LEDs and access to the bootloader for re-flashing firmware.
Re-flashing is done in a really neat way, when you enter bootloader the unit boots up and connects as a USB disk drive, and you just drag and drop the image in.
After owing a Binho for several months I finally had a great use for it, that was to program a 1-wire EEPROM. I followed the python example under Linux, and quickly had a usable interface to peek and poke the memory within an hour or so.
I look forward to playing with this device more when I get a bit of breathing space, it looks like it could be a great alternative to the Aardvark, weighing in at half the cost and providing the same if not more functionality.
I see the Binho is available at both binho.io and saleae.com.
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