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[Reply #15 on:]

the problem that I have with the ardweeny and solorbotics in general is that there is a $10 or something charge for orders under $35 i almost bought the ardweeny but that left a bad taste in my mouth

Was this recently? Because at their "shipping conditions" page:

http://www.solarbotics.com/info/shipping-options/#freeShippingConditions

They state that there is a handling fee of $5.00 for orders under $30.00; I don't consider that terrible - more of an "incentive" to purchase at least $30.00. I can see it from a business point of view; with the margins on products sold being only so big, you can easily start losing money on overhead. They've run their numbers, and so in order to keep their prices lower (than competition presumably), they have to charge a handling fee on small orders to cover what would be made up "on the margin" in a larger order. They can either do that, reduce overhead (aka, fire employees), or raise prices across their product line.

I hope that made sense...

 ;D

[Reply #16 on:]

i understand that but after the $5 and shipping one of them was going to be just over $20 and that wasnt worth it in my eyes

[Reply #17 on:]

Just to chip in... Jason from The Makerspace has confirmed that he will ship international, just not via the googleshop on the site.

For shipping quotes, just hit the contact button with your details and destination country and he'll sort it out for you... and very quickly too!!

Shipping to the UK works out at $13.45, which I think is VERY reasonable.  Some US companies really take the rip shipping overseas.  I once had a quote of $73 for three ft of macroline, which is a) not heavy b) not bulky and C) would fit into an envelope (a little one at that!!)

[Reply #18 on:]

How would you breadboard the picoduino? Put jumper wires through the holes? I can't decide which one I think is better: the picoduino or the ardweeny.

If you used those in projects, would you also need to buy/make a voltage regulator?

[Reply #19 on:]

picoduino

http://bytebucket.org/ricklon/arduino-wine-in-box-bot/wiki/Home

ardweeny



Yes, You need to buy/make a voltage regulator like this the breadboard voltage regulator as there is no voltage regulator on board.



smallest arduino board
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1239733868/all

[Reply #20 on:]

you put pin headers in it to breadboard it and it pops right into the breadboard. you would then just use wires to go from the pin to somewhere else i.e. a sensor.

also you do not need a voltage regulator if you just use 5v from the FTDI cable or 5v from another source. Also check out the shield adapter on the site it lets you use any normal Arduino shield with that form factor something that no one else has for the alternate form factors and it has a voltage regulator and other power options on the board as well

[Reply #21 on:]

Not the best picture, but there is an Adafruit adjustable power supply at the end of the breadboard. Other option is to use the breakout shield.

[Reply #22 on:]

and again you could just use the 5v from the FTDI cable as well

[Reply #23 on:]

Received my Picoduino kits today... faster shipping than some UK based companies selling their wares via ebay.

Now how do I phrase their feedback... ?

Picoduinoe, you get what it says you get, and fabulous in terms of shipping!!  Just gotta find the time to solder them together (which shouldn't be too difficult as I'll be having 3 weeks paternity VERY soon!)

[Reply #24 on:]

Anyone heard of the RBBB from Modern Device?
Another small package.

[Reply #25 on:]

Yeah, looked at that one the other week. Pretty cute:

[Reply #26 on:]

I actually ended up going with the Picoduino from Jason. He happily shipped to my hotel in CA so that was awesome. Have to say the Pico is pretty damn nice, and Jason's support was fabulous. So much so that I've ordered a few more and will pick them up in CA next week. Yay!

Also picked up a DroneCell from him (after some interesting chats with Eric (the designer)). Haven't figured out what to do with it yet, but it's uber-neat! :-)


Cheers,

[Reply #27 on:]

I just bought my picoduino's (two of them) to do a trial run of a lighting kit for hobby items. (for models like cars, star ships, cities, etc.)

I haven't gotten mine yet though. (bought Thursday night and is now Tuesday afternoon. I expect to get it tomorrow though.)

What's cool is that I contacted them about the batteries they mentioned in the description of the picoduino, and they said it will be there soon as they are in talks with a company about making them. They also said that it will probably sell for around $10 and be rechargeable, which it can also be used on any arduino I would guess.

Pretty spiffy website so far, just need to get a few more products. Register before buying from them though. I didn't and it didn't show my purchase on their website, even though I registered from the redirect page. No big deal really as google checkout still completed and I confirmed that they got my order (via contact on their site).

I'm rambling again. Anyway, hope to get my stuff for it tomorrow.

[Reply #28 on:]

My favorite clone is the dorkboard - http://www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/freeduino/dorkboard.shtml

Cheap and small.

Brad.

[Reply #29 on:]

This is an arduino that was developed on one side and is free.

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1282527716