Hello,
I've just built up the Spiffie.org MPGuino v2.1 kit, and I have a few beginner questions. I hate newbies who don't do their homework like everyone else
I've been doing some reading but I am new to ATmega/Arduino programming.
1) When I plug the board into the USB port, nothing happens. I would expect the screen backlight to come on, at least. Is this normal?
2) After I install the Arduino environment, download the code ("mpguino.pde"), and upload the code to the board, the screen comes on, and the program is running as advertised. But I have to do this every time in order to get the screen to come on. This can't be right... whats going on?
3) When I send the sketch to the board, I get a message:
"Binary sketch size: 14346 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)"
So I'm not sure whether sketch was uploaded or not. Should I worry about this message? This is Arduino 0011, Mac OS X 10.5.
4) The code I downloaded from googlecode (link from Spiffie.org) has no version number in the comments or in the filename. Is it v0.75? I see references to 0.701 or 0.74 on various posts.
5) I see the installation instructions call for connection to non-switched power. How much power does the MPGuino use when it is "off"? Has anyone drained their battery with this?
6) Some [early?] documentation refers to jumper settings for changing from 5 V to 12 V power. Does anyone know if this is still required for the Spiffie v2 board? (I admit I have not studied the schematics which are online).
Thanks for your help!