Stupid Question

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Ok, this is a stupid question for sure :slight_smile: , but I checked the troubleshooting guide and the solution, as silly as it might be, doesn't appear there so... here we go :slight_smile:
I'm working on a project I'll have to present in a couple days: the point is that I don't know if the Arduino can be powered via a usb pc port even if the computer it belongs to doesn't have the proper arduino drivers installed. I'd like to know because I'll only have a short time for my presentation and the computer I'll be using is not mine (and probably doesn't have Arduino drivers on it whatsoever), so I need to know if I'll have to put an additional section in my circuit to power the Arduino.
Pretty stupid question, I told you... :slight_smile:

2

questions are never stupid, they may be incomplete or ...
answers can be stupid :wink:

The point is that I don't know if the Arduino can be powered via a usb pc port even if the computer it belongs to doesn't have the proper arduino drivers installed.

you need 5 seconds to confirm this with another computer.
Don't you have a 2nd computer in the house?

Q: do you need the serial port for the presentation?

3

The Arduino should power okay, the drivers are only to allow communication.

4

Thank you for the quick reply.
No, I don't have another computer at the moment (I'm not even home and I won't be until the day of the presentation... it's kind of a weird situation but it's not worth explaining, really).
Also, about your serial port question, I think could easily transfer the ppt from my usb flashdrive to the computer I'll be using, so the serial port won't be a problem (also, most computers have more than one, so...)

5

Ok, thank you, that's all I need!

6

lewisallanreed:
Also, about your serial port question, I think could easily transfer the ppt from my usb flashdrive to the computer I'll be using, so the serial port won't be a problem (also, most computers have more than one, so...)

What Rob meant was do you need to use the IDE Serial monitor (or any other serial port control) to send/receive data to/from the Arduino as you will need drivers to do this.