New to apm, want to install arducopter but not sure as to which firmware, bootloader and firmware that supports sbus.
Can anyone link me to the correct firmwares?
APM 2.8 is obsolete and unsupported hardware. I would not waste my time building anything with it.
There are many modern and some lowcost FC alternatives listed here:
I bought two of them, are they really that bad?
They were great in their time, but 8bit, 256kb flash and 16MHz just does not cut it anymore. I count it as ripoff, that some sellers advertise the APM as top of the line hardware, thereby misleading new ardupilot users. All just to make a quick buck without an effort.
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Any fc you would recommend? I’m building two drones, one is 860kv 10" props 4s and the other 580kv 14" props 4s both with 6500mah.
I am mostly building rovers now, so I can not really recommend a FC for a copter. I have several clone Pixhawk 1 (2.4.8), but they are also reaching their limits now. The most powerful FC I own is the Mateksys H743-Wing. It uses a STM H7 MCU, which is one of fastest MCUs you can get right now. It has a lot of features, like built in current sensor (132A), OSD, multiple BECs etc. The biggest drawback is that you have to solder the pins and upper/lower board connections yourself. With a lot of copper in the traces (especially ground pins) it takes a good soldering station to cleanly solder everything.
There are other FCs using a H7 MCU, most of them more expensive.
You should make a list of what you want the FC to do (now and in the future perhaps). I do not know how you came to buy the APM2.8, but if you just want to run the latest arducopter version, any FC on the hardware list should do.
What @count74 said but to directly answer your question Sbus is not supported on that old hardware. To use it you would need an Sbus to PPM converter. But it would be foolish to go that route. There are Flight Controllers that support the latest version of Arducopter that don’t cost much, if any, more than those dogs you have.