I know that a lot of people have used the bit-banging method of the FT232 to burn bootloaders. This requires slight modification to the current Arduino board by soldering a 4 pin male connector to the X3 pinout spot on the PCB.
I am wondering if those X3 pins could be included as default for Arduinos? What was the reason for leaving these pins out at the first place anyway?
What was the reason for leaving these pins out at the first place anyway?
I've been wondering this myself. I don't see how it could be more cost efficient, etc. to leave them off, and it's not like they would extend higher up than the female headers..
Although, maybe it could interfere with some shields?
What was the reason for leaving these pins out at the first place anyway?
I suppose it was cos most people don't use them so it would save a small amount of cash. I think if you are into bit-banging the FT232 then you probably have a header lying around and the means to solder it on.
I think it would just be something that not enough people use. Like the auto-reset jumper (ok that's different as I still see no reason why it was removed)
Mowcius