This probably isn't a good board for a beginner to start with. The "Mega" version has a lot more complexity than you'd use if you're not already familiar with the arduino, I'd suggest you start there. A tutorial on that can be found on the arduino website at:<br>
<a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage">http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage</a><br><br>Christie<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 3:08 PM, jim <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jim@well.com">jim@well.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
i'd like to get one, but currently have no clue<br>
how to get started with it. it would be helpful,<br>
at least comforting, to see a link or two to a<br>
tutorial or tutor or Noisebridge study group.<br>
i'll hold my breath and sign up.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On Mon, 2009-03-30 at 15:01 -0700, Christie Dudley wrote:<br>
> Corey and I have been talking about going in on an order. I was<br>
> thinking it'd be cool to see if other folks from NB wanted to get in<br>
> on this too. I'd like to get the order sent out by Thursday morning.<br>
><br>
> I've made a wiki page for signing up at:<br>
> <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Mega_Arduino_Order" target="_blank">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Mega_Arduino_Order</a> - we can do this<br>
> the way we usually do bulk orders.<br>
><br>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
> From: Corey McGuire <<a href="mailto:coreyfro@coreyfro.com">coreyfro@coreyfro.com</a>><br>
> Date: 2009/3/30<br>
> Subject: [Swarm] Arduino Mega spotted in the wild!<br>
> To: Swarm <<a href="mailto:swarm@lee.org">swarm@lee.org</a>><br>
><br>
><br>
> Arduino Mega spotted in the wild! Who wants to jump in on an order?<br>
> Discounts at 5 and 10 <a href="http://tr.im/ardmega" target="_blank">http://tr.im/ardmega</a> <a href="http://tr.im/megashield" target="_blank">http://tr.im/megashield</a><br>
><br>
> $65.00, 2/$123.50, 10/$585.00, 50/$2,600.00, 100/$4,875.00<br>
> Special Offer<br>
> * Offer includes one FREE MEGAshield PCB per Arduino MEGA board,<br>
> valued at $6.50 each<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Arduino MEGA requires Arduino IDE 0015 or newer<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Overview<br>
> The Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega1280<br>
> (datasheet). It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be<br>
> used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial<br>
> ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack,<br>
> an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to<br>
> support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a<br>
> USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get<br>
> started. The Mega is compatible with most shields designed for the<br>
> Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Schematic & Reference Design<br>
> EAGLE files: arduino-mega-reference-design.zip Ä<br>
><br>
> Schematic: arduino-mega-schematic.pdf<br>
><br>
><br>
> Summary<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Microcontroller<br>
> ATmega1280<br>
> Operating Voltage<br>
> 5V<br>
> Input Voltage (recommended)<br>
> 7-12V<br>
> Input Voltage (limits)<br>
> 6-20V<br>
> Digital I/O Pins<br>
> 54 (of which 14 provide PWM output)<br>
> Analog Input Pins<br>
> 16<br>
> DC Current per I/O Pin<br>
> 40 mA<br>
> DC Current for 3.3V Pin<br>
> 50 mA<br>
> Flash Memory<br>
> 128 KB of which 4 KB used by<br>
> bootloader<br>
> SRAM<br>
> 8 KB<br>
> EEPROM<br>
> 4 KB<br>
> Clock Speed<br>
> 16 MHz<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Power<br>
> The Arduino Mega can be powered via the USB connection or with an<br>
> external power supply. The power source is selected automatically.<br>
><br>
> External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter<br>
> (wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a<br>
> 2.1mm center-positive plug into the board's power jack. Leads from a<br>
> battery can be inserted in the Gnd and Vin pin headers of the POWER<br>
> connector.<br>
><br>
> The board can operate on an external supply of 6 to 20 volts. If<br>
> supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than<br>
> five volts and the board may be unstable. If using more than 12V, the<br>
> voltage regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended<br>
> range is 7 to 12 volts.<br>
><br>
> The power pins are as follows:<br>
><br>
> * VIN. The input voltage to the Arduino board when it's using an<br>
> external power source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB<br>
> connection or other regulated power source). You can supply<br>
> voltage through this pin, or, if supplying voltage via the<br>
> power jack, access it through this pin.<br>
> * 5V. The regulated power supply used to power the<br>
> microcontroller and other components on the board. This can<br>
> come either from VIN via an on-board regulator, or be supplied<br>
> by USB or another regulated 5V supply.<br>
> * 3V3. A 3.3 volt supply generated by the on-board FTDI chip.<br>
> Maximum current draw is 50 mA.<br>
><br>
> * GND. Ground pins.<br>
> Memory<br>
> The ATmega1280 has 128 KB of flash memory for storing code (of which 4<br>
> KB is used for the bootloader), 8 KB of SRAM and 4 KB of EEPROM (which<br>
> can be read and written with the EEPROM library).<br>
><br>
><br>
> Input and Output<br>
> Each of the 54 digital pins on the Mega can be used as an input or<br>
> output, using pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions.<br>
> They operate at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive a maximum of<br>
> 40 mA and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default)<br>
> of 20-50 kOhms. In addition, some pins have specialized functions:<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> * Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX); Serial 1: 19 (RX) and 18 (TX);<br>
> Serial 2: 17 (RX) and 16 (TX); Serial 3: 15 (RX) and 14 (TX).<br>
> Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. Pins 0<br>
> and 1 are also connected to the corresponding pins of the FTDI<br>
> USB-to-TTL Serial chip.<br>
> * External Interrupts: 2 (interrupt 0), 3 (interrupt 1), 18<br>
> (interrupt 5), 19 (interrupt 4), 20 (interrupt 3), and 21<br>
> (interrupt 2). These pins can be configured to trigger an<br>
> interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a<br>
> change in value. See the attachInterrupt() function for<br>
> details.<br>
> * PWM: 0 to 13. Provide 8-bit PWM output with the analogWrite()<br>
> function.<br>
> * SPI: 50 (MISO), 51 (MOSI), 52 (SCK), 53 (SS). These pins<br>
> support SPI communication, which, although provided by the<br>
> underlying hardware, is not currently included in the Arduino<br>
> language. The SPI pins are also broken out on the ICSP header,<br>
> which is physically compatible with the Duemilanove and<br>
> Diecimila.<br>
><br>
> * LED: 13. There is a built-in LED connected to digital pin 13.<br>
> When the pin is HIGH value, the LED is on, when the pin is<br>
> LOW, it's off.<br>
> * I2C: 20 (SDA) and 21 (SCL). Support I2C (TWI) communication<br>
> using the Wire library (documentation on the Wiring website).<br>
> Note that these pins are not in the same location as the I2C<br>
> pins on the Duemilanove or Diecimila.<br>
><br>
> The Mega has 16 analog inputs, each of which provide 10 bits of<br>
> resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from<br>
> ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of<br>
> their range using the AREF pin and analogReference() function.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> There are a couple of other pins on the board:<br>
><br>
> * AREF. Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with<br>
> analogReference().<br>
> * Reset. Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller.<br>
> Typically used to add a reset button to shields which block<br>
> the one on the board.<br>
> Communication<br>
> The Arduino Mega has a number of facilities for communicating with a<br>
> computer, another Arduino, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega1280<br>
> provides four hardware UARTs for TTL (5V) serial communication. An<br>
> FTDI FT232RL on the board channels one of these over USB and the FTDI<br>
> drivers (included with the Arduino software) provide a virtual com<br>
> port to software on the computer. The Arduino software includes a<br>
> serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent to and from<br>
> the Arduino board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when<br>
> data is being transmitted via the FTDI chip and USB connection to the<br>
> computer (but not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> A SoftwareSerial library allows for serial communication on any of the<br>
> Mega's digital pins.<br>
><br>
> The ATmega1280 also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication. The<br>
> Arduino software includes a Wire library to simplify use of the I2C<br>
> bus; see the documentation on the Wiring website for details. To use<br>
> the SPI communication, please see the ATmega1280 datasheet.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Programming<br>
> The Arduino Mega can be programmed with the Arduino software<br>
> (download). For details, see the reference and tutorials.<br>
><br>
> The ATmega1280 on the Arduino Mega comes preburned with a bootloader<br>
> that allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an<br>
> external hardware programmer. It communicates using the original<br>
> STK500 protocol (reference, C header files).<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> You can also bypass the bootloader and program the microcontroller<br>
> through the ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header; see these<br>
> instructions for details.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Automatic (Software) Reset<br>
> Rather then requiring a physical press of the reset button before an<br>
> upload, the Arduino Mega is designed in a way that allows it to be<br>
> reset by software running on a connected computer. One of the hardware<br>
> flow control lines (DTR) of the FT232RL is connected to the reset line<br>
> of the ATmega1280 via a 100 nanofarad capacitor. When this line is<br>
> asserted (taken low), the reset line drops long enough to reset the<br>
> chip. The Arduino software uses this capability to allow you to upload<br>
> code by simply pressing the upload button in the Arduino environment.<br>
> This means that the bootloader can have a shorter timeout, as the<br>
> lowering of DTR can be well-coordinated with the start of the upload.<br>
><br>
> This setup has other implications. When the Mega is connected to<br>
> either a computer running Mac OS X or Linux, it resets each time a<br>
> connection is made to it from software (via USB). For the following<br>
> half-second or so, the bootloader is running on the Mega. While it is<br>
> programmed to ignore malformed data (i.e. anything besides an upload<br>
> of new code), it will intercept the first few bytes of data sent to<br>
> the board after a connection is opened. If a sketch running on the<br>
> board receives one-time configuration or other data when it first<br>
> starts, make sure that the software with which it communicates waits a<br>
> second after opening the connection and before sending this data.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> The Mega contains a trace that can be cut to disable the auto-reset.<br>
> The pads on either side of the trace can be soldered together to<br>
> re-enable it. It's labeled "RESET-EN". You may also be able to disable<br>
> the auto-reset by connecting a 110 ohm resistor from 5V to the reset<br>
> line; see this forum thread for details.<br>
><br>
><br>
> USB Overcurrent Protection<br>
> The Arduino Mega has a resettable polyfuse that protects your<br>
> computer's USB ports from shorts and overcurrent. Although most<br>
> computers provide their own internal protection, the fuse provides an<br>
> extra layer of protection. If more than 500 mA is applied to the USB<br>
> port, the fuse will automatically break the connection until the short<br>
> or overload is removed.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Physical Characteristics and Shield Compatibility<br>
> The maximum length and width of the Mega PCB are 4 and 2.1 inches<br>
> respectively, with the USB connector and power jack extending beyond<br>
> the former dimension. Three screw holes allow the board to be attached<br>
> to a surface or case. Note that the distance between digital pins 7<br>
> and 8 is 160 mil (0.16"), not an even multiple of the 100 mil spacing<br>
> of the other pins.<br>
><br>
> The Mega is designed to be compatible with most shields designed for<br>
> the Diecimila or Duemilanove. Digital pins 0 to 13 (and the adjacent<br>
> AREF and GND pins), analog inputs 0 to 5, the power header, and ICSP<br>
> header are all in equivalent locations. Further the main UART (serial<br>
> port) is located on the same pins (0 and 1), as are external<br>
> interrupts 0 and 1 (pins 2 and 3 respectively). SPI is available<br>
> through the ICSP header on both the Mega and Duemilanove / Diecimila.<br>
> Please note that I2C is not located on the same pins on the Mega (20<br>
> and 21) as the Duemilanove / Diecimila (analog inputs 4 and 5).<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Images<br>
> Some images contain optional accessories and components.<br>
><br>
> Related items<br>
> Arduino Duemilanove<br>
> Price: $29.45<br>
><br>
><br>
> Seeeduino fully Assembled - Arduino compatible<br>
> Price: $23.99<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> ---- SWARM, A Large Scale Kinetic Art Project<br>
> ---- <a href="http://orbswarm.com" target="_blank">http://orbswarm.com</a><br>
> <a href="http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org" target="_blank">http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org</a><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> I refuse to give up childish things.<br>
</div></div>> _______________________________________________<br>
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<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>I refuse to give up childish things.<br>