iDuino MPGuino

[cmags]

Mine took almost 3 weeks, but it did get here. Patience, Daniel-san...

[XyKo]

Only if they left a physical address on their website. I was in Toronto 2 days ago and could had pick it up.

[Spiffed]

OK,
Sorry I dropped the ball on monitoring this thread. I'll deal with the quick issues regarding ordering first:

• Yes, the shipping calculator's been on the fritz lately, it now falls back to default rates if Canada Post doesn't provide one. Base shipping rates are:
  • Canada: $1.40
  • USofA: $2.27
  • International: $4.19
• Yeah, any form of First Class Mail can take a while to cross the border. First class mail is inspected by both Canadian and International customs (and whatever air-carrier is involved for overseas). Based on manifest tracking, i can tell it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 15 business-days to clear cross-border customs. Expedited US is really your cheapest rate for guaranteed shipping times.

Now, with regard to kits:

It looks promising, but I think a ftdi chip (USB) might enjoy a larger audience. My feeling is that I initially underestimated the footprint of legacy free machines out there when this project started.

Having found a source for less expensive FT232 chips, I think I'll go with a USB interface.

Or possibly just a kit with the software already loaded

I'll include whatever the latest software revision is when I package the kits. The ATmegas need to be burnt anyway, and it's just one less step.

It is a PITA to translate that to a simple PCB though, I wind up making them a bit like making jewelery ( see this post ) but I have a couple things I still want to try in that department.

buttons beside the LCD gave the lowest profile I could actually have manufactured. I'll see about making that section "break-away" so it could be mounted on top, if desired.

The consensus is that the blue ones suck. The green ones are much better especially if you crank up the contrast.

The blue ones are also nearly 2x as much wholesale, I'll either use g/y newhaven units or equivalent spec knock-offs.

FYI, I haven't had any trouble with nothing connected to the reset pin for the chipswap versions

Reset is pulled high internally with about 100-400K. To use the Arduino IDE's auto-magic reset, you need around 5-20K of resistance (or a ridiculously small cap).

The pinout to the buttons and the LCD is the same, correct

Yup, thankfully these things are standardized.

Iwould like to recommend to place approx 18 pF capacitors instead of 0.1 uF for C7 and C8.

Of course, it looks like an oops in the schematic. They'll be somewhere between 16 and 28pF depending on the crystal's cut.

Now that I'm done launching the StickDuino Freeduino, I'd like to have this ready for early September. I received a few requests for pre-orders and the like: If you're interested, PM me and I'll add you to a list to be notified when I have some pre-release ones to play with. (Actually, just PM me if you'd like to be a beta tester ... I only have the one car to test on.)
When I get back into work tomorrow I'll add the new board/render images.

[SVOboy]

I'm super excited.

[Axaday]

Okay, I've assembled my iDuino kit and to the best of my knowledge, I've done it all right. I was thinking that if I plugged it into my USB I'd be able to load the program and see if I'd indeed done everything right, but I found that the end of step by step instructions leaves me a little lost. Not the least problem is that the arduino website seems not to be working at the moment. When it is up, what will I do? Download a software that will immediately recognize my iDuino and ask if I want to program it?

After that, I see this pic http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...2&d=1218579499. Is that and the main page diagram my best guide or are there some step by step instructions that I haven't seen?

[cmags]

I had to do a little digging myself w/ the iDuino.. I'll try to do a bit of a writeup here:

So you've got your iDuino built, and have built your MPGuino auxiliary circuitry and are ready to program. You should be able to leave the auxiliary circuitry connected for this, but the iDuino and the ATMega are all that's required (This Assumes Windows XP):

1. Go to the Arduino site and download the IDE: Arduino - Software Note: Be sure to use Arduino 0.11 only
2. Plug in the iDuino to the USB port
3. Windows will recognize the iDuino 2.1, but you will need to manually install drivers:
   1. Choose not to search the internet for drivers
   2. Choose to manually find the location of the driver
   3. Browse to where you installed the Arduino software and dig into the drivers\FTDI USB Drivers folder
   4. Hit OK a few times to install
   5. It will then prompt for installation of USB Serial Port drivers
   6. Do the same thing, same folder to install that
4. Once you have the iDuino and USB Serial Port installed, launch the Arduino IDE
5. Copy/paste the current version of the code into Arduino
6. Go to Tools -> Serial Port and choose the port (typically the last one, but if You're not sure, right-click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports - one of them should indicate USB Serial Port)
7. Click the verify button, then the upload button
8. If all goes well you'll see a message indicating so - if not, check that port again

Installing the iDuino drivers was the part that held me up for a bit. It was mentioned somewhere in the forum, either in this thread or the MPGuino workspace, but took some digging. Hopefully this will help some people out.

Feel free to make comments/ask questions!

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by Axaday

After that, I see this pic http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...2&d=1218579499. Is that (...) my best guide or are there some step by step instructions that I haven't seen?

Sorry, I haven't gotten to install this in the car yet (I have been doing lots of work on the house since there is a good likelihood I will be moving in the upcoming months). When I do get it installed and up and running, I will be posting pictures of how I built it, but I want to be sure I have everything installed correctly first. If you want to be sure that what you are doing is correct, you should compare it to the first picture I posted, the one I got from dcb's thread.
The picture you reference is the way I have built mine (or something like that). Any number of variants are possible to achieve the same overall circuit. I am building mine this way to keep the large cap and the 7805 off to the side where their height will not be as big of an issue since the iDuino is standing on female headers right next to it.

[wagonman76]

Sounds just like the instructions for the USB based Arduino board. Is there any difference?

[cmags]

Originally Posted by wagonman76

Sounds just like the instructions for the USB based Arduino board. Is there any difference?

Nope, uses the same exact drivers. Only difference I suspect is that when you plug it in, the little bubble popup on the bottom says "Found New Hardware: iDuino 2.1".

[Axaday]

I've hit a snag, at least, and maybe a big disappointment. I downloaded the software, plugged in the iDuino, and installed the drivers, but the power LED doesn't come on and when I uploaded the blink test program it said it uploaded, but it doesn't blink.

I'm hoping someone will tell me that is just for an Arduino and that there is some good reason that my complete iDuino alone doesn't do anything. Otherwise, my iDuino doesn't work.