Arduino is the go to board for most folks looking for an introduction to microcontrollers. That's largely thanks to its sizable community, ease of use and surprising versatility. But, there is one small stumbling block for those just looking to dip their toes in the ATmega-powered waters: you'll need to provide your own sensors, components and breadboard. (At least you will unless you're satisfied just making the built-in LED blink.) The Esplora bakes some of those essential bits and pieces right on to the board. It's crafted around the same core as the Leonardo, but adds an accelerometer, microphone, analog joystick, four buttons, a light sensor, temperature sensor, linear potentiometer and a buzzer to the mix. While the gamepad-like layout means you wont be able to connect to any of the dozens of Arduino shields out there, it does have a pair of TinkerKit inputs and outputs for expanding the Esplora's capabilities. There's also a place to connect an upcoming LCD module. The Esplora is available now direct from Arduino for €41.90.

Continue reading Arduino Esplora helps you learn microcontrollers without the pesky breadboard

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Source: Arduino

The original Netduino Plus was a welcome alternative for Arduino developers that had its limits -- even networking was almost a step too far. Secret Labs doesn't want any of us to bump our heads on the ceiling with its just-launched Netduino Plus 2. The networkable, .NET-friendly developer board runs a four times faster 168MHz processor with double the RAM (over 100KB) and six times as much code space (384KB) as its two-year-old ancestor. Having so much headroom lets the team build common OneWire and Time Server code into the firmware; Secret Labs reckons that there's enough space that the Plus 2 can easily grow over time. The ports are just as ready for the future with four serial ports, software control of any add-on shields (including Rev C Arduino shields) and a new header that lets programmers debug both managed and truly native code at once. If the upgrade is sufficiently tempting, project builders just need to spend $60 today to enjoy some newfound freedom.

Continue reading Netduino Plus 2 offers four times the speed, full round of futureproofing (video)

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Netduino Plus 2 offers four times the speed, full round of futureproofing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the Arduino Leonardo, everyone's favorite hackable microcontroller turned a new page. Now it's time to bring that simplified design and slightly expanded feature set to the rest of the family, including the itty-bitty Arduino Micro. The tiny, embed-friendly board was designed with help from Adafruit Industries, one of the biggest players in the DIY market. At the heart of the Micro is the same 16MHz ATmega32u4 chip that powers the Leonardo, which means all the necessary USB controls are baked into the processor. Obviously, the layout here is different, so you wont be mounting the Micro to any shields, but with 20 digital I/O pins, 12 analog input channels and seven PWM channels, there's plenty of room for wiring up your own expansions. Amazingly it crams all that capability in a package just 48mm long and 18mm wide. The Arduino Micro will be available exclusively through Radio Shack and Adafruit first before becoming more widely available next month. The board is available with headers for €21 (roughly $23) and without headers for €18 (about $27). For more, check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Arduino Micro shrinks your favorite DIY platform down to ridiculous proportions

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Arduino Micro shrinks your favorite DIY platform down to ridiculous proportions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As much as we love the Arduino Uno, it's not the most powerful of hobbyist microcontrollers. Fortunately, the folks in Turin have just put the finishing touches on a 32-bit upgrade with buckets of potential. At the heart of the Arduino Due is an 84MHz Atmel CPU, based on ARM's Cortex M3 Architecture, which is capable of being the brains inside your own flying drone or homemade 3D printer. It should start trickling out onto shelves from today, setting you back $49, but hey, that's a small price to pay to automate your drinking adventures.

Continue reading Meet the Arduino Due, the 32-bit board that'll let your projects fly (really)

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Meet the Arduino Due, the 32-bit board that'll let your projects fly (really) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If a seemingly infinitely programmable mini computer like the Raspberry Pi is just too... limiting, we've got good news: the Gertboard extender has started shipping. The $48 companion board reaching customers' doorsteps converts analog to digital and back for Raspberry Pi fans developing home automation, robotics and just about anything else that needs a translation between the computing world and less intelligent objects. The one catch, as you'd sometimes expect from a homebrew project, is the need for some assembly -- you'll have to solder together Gert van Loo's Arduino-controlled invention on your own. We imagine the DIY crowd won't mind, though, as long as they can find the fast-selling Gertboard in the first place.

[Image credit: Stuart Green, Flickr]

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Gertboard extender for Raspberry Pi ships to advanced tinkerers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've seen quite a few NES mods in our day, but we can't say we've ever seen one hooked up to anything quite like this. Built by DIY-er Martin Raynsford, this contraption / work-of-art makes use of an Arduino (naturally) to relay signals from the NES controller to the Donkey Kong screen brought to life above, which was constructed with near pixel-perfect accuracy out of laser-cut parts. As Raynsford points out, though, things are still a bit limited in the game's V1 state. There isn't much of an actual "game," for starters -- just Mario stuck in the middle with a never-ending loop of barrels / ball bearings that you can jump over. A second version is planned with a greater degree of control, but we're guessing the video for it won't be quite as hypnotic as the one after the break.

Continue reading Mechanical Donkey Kong game tests your barrel-jumping skills, patience

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Mechanical Donkey Kong game tests your barrel-jumping skills, patience originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Intel has finalized the specs of its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) board, and announced it'll go on sale in October for less than $400 with a case and power supply. Carrying a 4 x 4-inch form factor between a Raspberry Pi and mini-ITX board, it'll be equipped with a Core i3 Ivy Bridge processor, HD 4000 graphics, two SO-DIMM sockets, an M-SATA slot for an SSD drive, three USB ports, one HDMI port and a mini-PCI slot for wireless connectivity. Two different models will be offered by the chip giant, identical except that one will be Thunderbolt equipped and the other will sport an ethernet port for connectivity. Originally intended for the kiosk and signage markets, enthusiast interest compelled Intel to put the board on general sale, along with a case (pictured above) and power supply option. That'll pit it against offerings from VIA and others, while offering considerably more oomph in a similar form factor -- though a mini-server slaying Core i5 option originally proposed by Intel was dropped.

[Image credit: PC World]

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Intel's Core i3 NUC mini-boards set to hit market in October, power up hobbyists and OEMs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's great to see Ben Heck focus his efforts of do-gooder projects like that foot-controlled wheelchair, but we'll always have a soft spot for the modfather's more nostalgic undertakings, like this BASIC pocket computer. Heck created the device for the latest episode of his web show, and if you're following along at home, you'll need the Chatpad from an Xbox 360 controller, an Arduino Uno and a LCD display -- a Hitachi HD 44780, in this case. The modder-turned-host is quick to point out that the project's purpose isn't solely nostalgic -- you can also use it to control real world objects, which in the Heck's case means a ghost on a pinball playfield. Check out a video of the invention in action after the break.

Continue reading Ben Heck fashions a pocket computer with an Xbox Chatpad and Arduino Uno

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Ben Heck fashions a pocket computer with an Xbox Chatpad and Arduino Uno originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spending too much time indoors? You need a Personal Energy Orb, a glowing Arduino powered ball that allows you to trade physical exertion for a tolerable mouse speed. Developed by two students at the University of Munich for a physical computing course, the PEO connects to a bike-mounted revolution counter to note how far a user rides, counting the total distance toward usable time on a computer. A fully "charged" green orb will allow a user to use their PC unhindered -- but a spent red orb will drag Windows' cursor sensitivity settings to its lowest. The idea, the project's creators say, is to annoy the user off of the computer and back on to their bike. It sure sounds aggravating to us. Check out the full homework assignment at the source link below, complete with goals, follies and Python scripts.

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Personal Energy Orb Aruino project knows you haven't been exercising, cripples your computer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.