I have the Pro Mini (or really a Xino) and hate it.
After I got the 1284 running with an ICSP-programmer, I swore I'll never buy anything but bare chips.
All the boards are a ripoff, just an extension to bare chip pins.
janost:
Its more of a pain trying to solder something to the Xino than to solder a bare chip.
Your always at the risk shorting some lines on the board.
? The holes are standard pitch - same as a "bare chip".
If I need some external components I usually attach them to a PCB with header pins as shown below.
I just thought they looked about the right size to glue to the back of your screen.
I also plan to keep the USART1 port as a PS/2 keyboard port for the C64 emulator.
That way its possible to type on the C64 keyboard if one wish.
The emulator maps the gamepad buttons to keys on the C64 keyboard or pins in the joystick port.if one chooses.
Then if there is a file "AUTOPROG.C64" on the SD-card it will be read and treated as if it was typed on the C64 keyboard.
That will enter a Basic program and ending the file with RUN also start it.
mrburnette:
I'm with fungus on this one...
These are just too inexpensive to ignore
Its not a one on one.
its a cople of hundred.
Or thousands.
If you're manufacturing something then sure, you design a custom PCB and use bare chips. You're not going to mess around with Pro Minis.
But ... I don't see why anybody would "hate" Pro Minis. They're perfect for hacking and building small gadgets and don't cost much more that a bare chip
(they probably work out much cheaper, if you factor in the cost of a piece of perf board and the time taken to solder the chip onto it).
mrburnette:
I'm with fungus on this one...
These are just too inexpensive to ignore
Its not a one on one.
its a cople of hundred.
Or thousands.
If you're manufacturing something then sure, you design a custom PCB and use bare chips. You're not going to mess around with Pro Minis.
But ... I don't see why anybody would "hate" Pro Minis. They're perfect for hacking and building small gadgets and don't cost much more that a bare chip
(they probably work out much cheaper, if you factor in the cost of a piece of perf board and the time taken to solder the chip onto it).
I had to pay 9EUR + shipping for my Xino.
How much is a bare 328-chip?