Simple memory chip for Arduino?

Question

My basic question is: What is a good alternative to EEPROM chips for external memory on the Arduino Unor R3?

I know that there are EEPROM chips when one would like an external memory chip. It, in fact, seems like this is the standard choice. I am wondering if there are any other good ways to work with external memory. Are there, for example, memory chips that work a bis simpler? Like, a chip that doesn't require any specific libraries in the Arduino?

(I do not have extensive experience working with the Arduino.)

Answer 1

There is no DRAM, SRAM nor flash interface in ATmega, so you can't extend your chip memory. You can only connect serial (SPI, I2C) or parallel memory (usind GPIO).

Neither SPI nor I2C require any specific libraries. SPI is much simpler to program than I2C and much faster, but require more wires.

Instead of using rather slow EEPROM, you can try FRAM (non-volatile) or SRAM (volatile, but may be battery-sustained). They are usually available with the same interface as EEPROM, but don't suffer from limited number of erase cycles. FRAM can withstand ridiculous number of erasures, SRAM is virtually indestructible.

Answer 2

No. There is no external memory interface on the ATmega328P, so all external memory requires some sort of library to use.

Answer 3

Personally I like the Amtel 24C256 chip/module. It is I2C enabled and the standard Wire library is all you need to talk to it. It is 256 bits or 32K 8 bit bytes in size. Data is sent and read in byte chunks. Addressing is at the bit level. It can run on 3.3V and 5V. Ebay has a bunch of suppliers for it. There's a number of good How-To's on line.