Arduino Opta PLC Unboxing: Bit Underwhelmed

Just thought I'd quickly share the new Arduino Opta. I'm a big Arduino fanboy but bummed out by the extra charges so not going to power it up yet. Hopefully in the next video.
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Hi, I'm Hamed, I just graduated in Electronics & Electrical Engineering. I'm now working as a PLC Control Engineer.

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[zacharysturgeon]

I'm currently working through getting this stupid thing online with the PLC IDE, and underwhelming is an understatement. They have misunderstood what a PLC is supposed to be about: not only robust for industrial setting, but the software that programs these also has to be very robust, user-friendly, with a lot of guardrails in place. The targeted demographic of PLC programming does not always come from a software background, but so far I've seen a LOT of software engineering level jargon about using the C++-based IDE to install a base sketch so it can then be detected by the PLC IDE, one guy was giving a run-through on what install files to modify yadda yadda. I would have had a Rockwell PLC in the cabinet and going days ago. I know the price difference warrants this ease of use, but to me this is not worthy of being called a PLC yet.

[montreadormontrez]

I was excited about this, managed to grab one and shat myself when I got hit with the import charge. Should have went with a logo! Especially considering how the Arduino PLC software doesn't yet work with this. I bought this to learn ladder logic, now I'm having to program it with C++

[roysutton]

I just spent 3 days waiting for UPS to get their act together. It's like déjà vu all over again. I had to get irate and tell offshore support to speak English. The issue of £40.77 duty should have been spelled out. Contradictory statements said the driver accept payment, cool! But customer service said cash only and I had my card ready. Day 2, no show. Day 3, finally arrived and driver said they get mugged if they carry cash.
The flimsy box contained the loose device with no packing material, and it was totally open with brown tape, hardly professional.
I expect the usual Arduino IDE BS trying to connect, once I stop shaking.
For devices that became available in 2008, one would expect that Arduino would load all drivers and configuration when plugged in. The Mini LE (of which I had 6 - given away to local students) states 10 million UNO boards sold, so open-source was not detrimental to their success.

[lehelkiraly]

Not impressed with this plc fairly expensive.

[unitedbolts]

Wondering if you can compile it with codesys...

[GIGEO]

Hey, the port on the side is not a usb port, that's a communication port for future modules.

I don't want to state the obvious but as far as the arduino opta vs logo plc goes, it depends on the complexity of your application.

Even though Logo would be perfectly adequate for a garage door or Irrigation system application, the opta offers so much more like wifi or rs485 (protocol agnostic) communication, webserver, webclient capabilities multicore programming, iot/rest api capabilities huge amount of libraries that add additional functionality etc.

I mostly consider logo as an augmented programmable relay than an actual modern plc.

That said, will i be using the opta? Probably not or at least not yet. I would rather try an esp32 based plc due the better and more professional libraries/framework (ESP-IDF) that is written from the ground up with multicore capabilities in mind.