James Floyd Kelly - MintDuino: Building an Arduino-compatible Breadboard Microcontroller

The MintDuino is deceivingthis little tin of electronics is capable of providing the brains for an unlimited number of devices limited only by your imaginationand, of course, your bank account.

While the MintDuino is certainly capable of being used during a moment of inspiration, youll find that the real power of the device comes when you sit down, figure out what you want to make, and then start tackling your project a bit at a time. Anyone who has done circuit building or programming (or both) knows that it rarely pays to just start inserting components and writing complex sketches (programs in Arduino-speak). When trouble arises in a circuit or a program, it can be a time-consuming process to track down the error (or more likely, errors ) when you have too much complexity. Thats why its always a good idea to break a project idea down into manageable componentslets call them subtasks. If your big project has five major subtasks, tackling the first subtask and building a slightly less complicated circuit with a slightly less complicated sketch will save time and reduce stress. Once youve got the first subtask figured out, you move on to the second. By the time youve got all five subtasks built and their individual sketches tested, youre likely to have an increased chance of success when you pull them all together and build The Big Project.

And thats exactly what youre going to do in this MintDuino Notebook. Youre going to be shown The Big Projectbut youre not going to be allowed to build it just yet. The Big project has subtasks, and first youre going to learn how to get the subtasks to work. Once youve done that, youll be ready for the finale where you bring together all youve learned and tackleThe Big Project. So, what is The Big Project? Keep reading.