The Sparkfun Blackboard C – Arduino level performance with additional perks.

Sparkfun’s Blackboard C is something that you have always wanted from an Arduino Uno with several additional features. Blackboard C comprises of all the basic required hardware ingredients that you’d expect like- 14 Digital I/O pins with 6 PWM pins, 4 Analog Inputs, UART, and SPI with a bunch of external pins. The Blackboard even has a SMD ISP header to associate SPI pins to shields.

(Image source: Sparkfun)

This time Sparkfun applied each exercise they've found out about improving an Arduino Uno and made the Sparkfun BlackBoard C.
They have mentioned “The USB to serial is now done with a reversible USB C connector with through hole anchoring and the ubiquitous CH340C requiring fewer driver installs. The power portion of the BlackBoard has been reworked: we upgraded the 3.3V regulator to provide up to 600mA, with full thermal and reverse circuit protection, and added extra decoupling capacitance to increase the sensitivity of the ADC readings. We've decreased the brightness of the power LED, pin 13 LED, and the TX/RX LEDs from blinding to just perfect. We've added 3.3V voltage translation and a Qwiic connector to the edge of the board to allow for quick and seamless connection to our ever-growing line of I²C based Qwiic products. We've added solder pads to the bottom of the board for D+/D- so you can embed your BlackBoard into a project and run an external USB connection. And finally, we've increased the PTC from 500mA to 2A so that you can capture the full power of USB C.”

Features:

• ATmega328P microcontroller with Optiboot (UNO) Bootloader
• CH340C USB to Serial IC
• Reinforced and reversible USB C connector
• Built-in Qwiic connection
• Input voltage: 7-15V
• 0-5V outputs with 3.3V compatible inputs
• 14 Digital I/O Pins (6 PWM outputs)
• 6 Analog Inputs
• ISP Header
• 32k Flash Memory
• 16MHz Clock Speed
• Flat bottom, all SMD construction

For the pro users Sparkfun added an I/O voltage switch to the Blackboard C also named as the Red Squirrel switch (because they are the one who petitioned for the mod). Now you can select the GPIO voltage between 3.3V or 5V with just your finger. This is extremely handy if you have a shield or 3.3V sensitive devices, such as an SPI interface that needs protecting.

For more insights on it check the Sparkfun Blog site.