I just finished soldering the Adafruit Motor Shield … this time with all the bits in the correct places.  The Adafruit directions are incredibly detailed, I just soldered a few parts in wrong like an idiot last time. This time it went much smoother and much quicker.

I just wired up the two steppers, plugged in the power adapter, plugged in the USB cable, uploaded the Polargraph firmware, fired up the Polargraph software, and asked it to try to draw something.  And it started to twitch away in what appeared to be a meaningful pattern!!!

Huzzah!

Now… for sleep!