Tag Archives: microcontroller

A watched DigiSpark never boils

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Itty bitty microcontroller

Itty bitty microcontroller

I’ve been refreshing my DigiSpark Kickstarter backer/order page for days now watching my spot in the queue go from #3800 to just now under #200. ((Photo courtesy of Clarence Risher))

Since I have such limited experience with Arduinos, I am hoping that this project is a good place to start.  To date my experience with Arduinos had to do with the minor modifications/updates with the Arduino powered motherboard and extruder board for the Cupcake CNC and my DrawBot.

One of the benefits of the DigiSpark that interested me the most was it’s extremely small form factor.  It’s so tiny that I can pop it into a USB port and try out a small Arduino sketch1 without tangling with a USB cable.  And, when not in use I can drop the whole thing into the coffee table drawer.  An Arduino plus USB cable, while still small, are just a little too bulky to toss into the same drawer.  ((Mostly because of all of the other little projects I already have tossed in the same drawer!))

  1. Blink, you say? [↩]

Microcontrollers?

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Recently more than one person has suggested I try my hand at an Arduino.  I’ve got a spare Extruder Controller which happens to include an Arduino.

I rarely bother learning something new if I can help it. 1  And, I’ll actively avoid trying to learn something new if there’s not a need to learn it.

I have no doubt that once I figure out how to use an Arduino I’d enjoy it.  However, I just don’t have any ideas of what I’d want to use a microcontroller for at this time.  And, really, none of the projects I’ve seen is particularly compelling.  And, without an end goal I’m shooting for, this would just be learning something for learning’s sake.

So, here’s the question I pose to you, gentle reader:

What would you design/build if you had access to an Arduino, a Thing-O-Matic, a Cupcake, an Egg-Bot, and lots of plastic?

  1. I remember in high school that it was so much easier for me to derive Tan, Sin, Cos, rather than to actually remember the values around the unit circle.  And really, if you can derive that information quickly, why bother committing it to memory? [↩]