Very Small Arduino

To me the side-uino DIP is much more interesting than the smaller unit.
(very similar to the sippino: Sippino)
The reason that I like it better is few a few reasons, but mainly because the larger unit
can be talked to by using standard things & connectors. i.e. you can hook up an 6 pin ISP
connector, a 6 pin FTDI cable, or even plug it directly into a bread board.

With the smaller unit, you will always have to wire up something to use it & program it.
I think it would helpful on the smaller unit if it had say a 6 pin serial port, or an ISP port,
or perhaps another set of 2 holes along the edge where the digital or analog pins are so
that you could plug in sensors or servos directly. Then it would start to hit my hot buttons.
It would make the board bigger but would it really be bigger by the time you make the board
usable in its current form?

Just my thoughts...
---- bill

That's where that is! Iknew I had seen the sippono somewhere, but couldn't find it and didn'tknow what it was called.

Did a little rearranging while watching football ...
1.35" x 1.35"

Any one have any comments? I'm gonna order a batch of boards from itead studio.

How many are you planning on ordering? And how much would you sell them for? These could come in handy. Oh yeah and do you happen to know off the top of your head how much the external programmer would cost?

Well, I was thinking 20 or so, then sell for like a buck each plus postage. Bare board only.

Programmers are not very much, check MDFLY.com, nkcelectronics.com, adafruit.com, are in the $12-14 range.

http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_6&products_id=415 (really slow website tonight)
http://www.nkcelectronics.com/pocket-avr-programmer.html
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9825
https://www.adafruit.com/products/46&zenid=471bca9a9f0f59244738dbc14744a388

I wasn't paying attention and ended up with one from each of them, and maybe two from nkcelectronics.
Have only used the mdfly.com unit so far, installed drivers & added 2 lines to programmers.txt, has been orking great with my Bobuino boards.

Ok thanks for the info. I don't have that much in my paypal right now having just bought a HTC evo 3D and 20 dollar case but I might see if you have any more of those in the future. A 6ish dollar arduino would be epic

I started out with the Adafruit USBTinyISP; the kit's $22 USD. Works like a charm with avrdude, but forget using it directly from AVR Studio under Windows 7 - I had to unbox my STK500 for that.

I recently got my hands on a Bus Pirate (Bus Pirate - DP), which is an excellent little multi-purpose debugging/troubleshooting tool. It also works quite nicely as an AVR ISP programmer and is directly supported by avrdude. Check out the link for more information. Quite possibly the most useful tool I've ever purchased, and has paid for itself many times over IMHO. Definite bonus points for NOT being a single-purpose device.

Bus Pirate is about $30 at SparkFun: Bus Pirate - v3.6a - TOL-12942 - SparkFun Electronics ; synthetos makes a wicked little laser-cut acrylic case for it, available here: http://goo.gl/NH6eO

That bus pirate looks pretty cool. Its a bit weird for me looking at all of these programmers because I've never even had to think about it because the arduino has its own onboard. I want to start using more embedded systems soon though to save some money so I'll need to get a programmer at some point

If you already have an Arduino, you can use that as the programmer, by making up a programming cable and uploading the arduinoisp sletch.

Kctess5:
I want to start using more embedded systems soon though to save some money so I'll need to get a programmer at some point

The Bus Pirate is pretty cool, it replaces a lot of single purpose tools. It can act as a programmer for PIC, AVR, and many brands of CPLD and PGAs; it also helps you debug i2c/TWI, SPI, CAN, and a bunch of other protocols. Plus it's about the same price as a basic AVR ISP programmer, so IMHO it's a no-brainer. It's also got a pretty big community of active developers behind it, so it will continue to be maintained and improved.

Yes, you can use an Arduino as an ISP, but it's a PITA. You can also use a hammer to drive in a wood screw, but it's arguably the wrong tool for the job

I have ordered 20 of my Mini-uino's. 5 10 15! are spoken for already (I can always order more). Anybody else wants a bare board, let me know.
$1.25 plus first class postage in a mail to your location (What's mail these days? 45-50 cents or something?)
Say flat $2, since I need to get a box of envelopes too.

how small is the chip? im not sure if my soldering is up to par?

Its the ATMega328P-AU. I made the pads a little thinner to give the solder mask a shot between pins and help avoid solder shorts between pins.
You're gonna want some flux and a small diameter tip to solder individual pins, ~.5mm, pads are .8mm apart.
Or a little bigger tip and do the "horizontal wipe" or the "drag" soldering you see on you tube videos.
I'm looking forward to trying those out.

That'll be fun, im down for 5

I have ordered 20 of my Mini-uino's. 5 10 15 16! are spoken for already (I can always order more).

All 20 Mini-uino PCB boards are now spoken for:
cyclegadget - 5
fxguy - 4
eddiea6987 - 5
kxtess5 -1
mabus - 5

I asked itead to bump the order to 50 pieces.
I ordered a set of these parts to build a couple for myself from Newark:
Newark Part No: 22pF cap
70K9277 Manufacturer Part No:
C0805C220J5GACTU

Newark Part No: 10K resistor
64K2889 Manufacturer Part No:
C0805C104J5RACTU

Newark Part No: 16 MHz xtal
13J1628 Manufacturer Part No:
ABL-16.000MHZ-B2

Newark Part No: 100nF cap
26R4046 Manufacturer Part No:
CRCW080510K0FKEB

I have 0.025" square posts from other projects, you can get single row, double row, solder directly, male headers, female headers, your call for your project.

and the ATMega328P-AU that I purchased earlier.
Newark Part Number: 14R4631
Manufacturer Part No: ATMEGA328P-AU

Hey, looks like I have missed the boat but I'm certainly keen on buying a couple from you if you manage to get more stock :grin:

buzzdavidson:
Yes, you can use an Arduino as an ISP, but it's a PITA. You can also use a hammer to drive in a wood screw, but it's arguably the wrong tool for the job

Once you've made up an ISP cable for the Arduino and got it working, it's an entirely adequate tool for the job. But I agree that if you are going to be programming mcus frequently, a dedicated ISP makes sense.

CrossRoads:
All 20 Mini-uino PCB boards are now spoken for:
I asked itead to bump the order to 50 pieces.

I am not surprised, you have done a nice job on Bobuino board and this Mini-uino looks cool too!

Mark

Wow, that 50-lot of PCBs is moving!

All 20 Mini-uino PCB boards are now spoken for:
cyclegadget - 5 /5
fxguy - 4 / 4
eddiea6987 - 5 / 14
kxtess5 -1 / 15
mabus - 5 / 20
iggykoopa - 5 / 25
dtokez - 2-3?? / 27?

You guys are making me wonder if I should have ordered 100! Waiting on shipping info from iteadstudios now ...

We should all post what you end up doing with these boards. Mad props to crossRoads for organizing all of this btw