CAN bus, chips and usb adapter

I got my CAN bus chip, a couple of MCP2515 controllers and and MCP2551 transceivers and also the required boilerplate components or whatever you call them in the hardware world :)

MCP2515 and MCP2551

Also I'm waiting for a USB2CAN dongle by 8devices (ordered from EXP Tech), it should arrive today if DHL does its thing on time.

The MCP2515 and MCP2551 seem to be the most common chips used by DYI/Arduino/etc users, not that surprising as there aren't that many breadboard friendly CAN chips available. For example the is a new controller available by Microchip, the MCP25625 with integrated CAN bus tranceiver, but it is not trough hole friendly as it is only available in SSOP-28L and 6x6 QFN-28L. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone will offer breakoutboards soon.

But one new chip is quite nice for users of 3.3V systems, for example the Arduino Due that has 2 CAN busses included in the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU but no transceiver. The MCP2562 transceiver, it has separate voltages for the IO and CAN bus part, so you can plug it directly into any low-voltage device without the need of any level converters. I need to get myself some of those for my Due as I would prefer as little extra components as possible.