[dorkbotpdx-blabber] dorkboard vs. pro-mini ; benito vs. ftdi

[Mykle Hansen]

hi all,

i'm gearing up for my next Arduino adventure, and
am faced with a choice: should i go Dorkboard? or
use the SparkFun Arduino Pro Mini?

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8824

... of course, apples to apples, i would use the Dorkboard
just to support the home team. although i do love the SparkFun
guys.

but what it comes down to is, i don't think i want to deal with
hand-soldering surface-mount chips. (i know i could do it
eventually, but i just don't love soldering that much.
maybe if i had a paste-stencil and one of those hot air
tools it would be easier, but i'm just one guy with a
weller and bad eyesight ...)

are there already-built Dorkboards out there, waiting to
be bought? from you? by me? or is it kit-only at this point?
or is it etch-your-own board and RTFM?

also, there is this programmer/loader puzzlement. the
Dorkboard interfaces with USB over Don's Benito 7g adapter
... are any Benitos built? or is that another project?

meanwhile, the SparkFun equivalent is this FTDI unit:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8772

... but it turns out the drivers require my Mac to run Leopard --
weak! So that's another hassle I'd like to avoid ...
in my perfect world where everything is easy, i
never burn my fingertips, money grows out of my butt, etc.

-m-
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[Donald Delmar Davis]

Mykle,

Recently one of our out of town lurkers set the price at a prebuilt benito at around 23 bucks. 

So I think thats the market rate for prebuilts and I will gladly assemble them for that. 

The point of the dorkboard is to let people build their own and build 3-6 for the same price as a prebuilt one so I could ask my kid to quote you the assembly but I wont do it :).

The cheapest way of course is to do the induction where you get the board the programmer and assistance and community for $25 If I get enough interest I will do one towards the end of next month. 

The board that you are looking at will require a programmer and the benito will work for that no mater what freeduino you choose. (IMHO the shield system is just stupid so thats not a board I would pick.) 

You and I should sit down and look at production of the the speed vest. 

A lot of answers to these questions would fall out of that discussion.

Don.

[Frank Canaan]

Hey man, I hear you. I have crappy vision and I twitch like Gary Busey after a 36 hour bender. The SMT components on the Dorkboard are still pretty large and the solder pads for them on the pcb are nice and big too. I am not the biggest fan of soldering, but i just sat down one day with a baggie full of random SMT parts and just practiced soldering them to everything, Wires, PCB's, each other, etc.. After a while you get it down. Using a vice and a mag visor or a helping hands jobbie helps immensely. I'm sure somone in the group has a bunch of SMT stuff you could buy on the cheap. I just feel silly to pay so much more for a pre-assembled product, especially when there are so few components on the device. I bought my first one from Makershed, but soon realized I just liked making my own so much more.

--
-Frank Canaan
fca...@gmail.com

[Donald Delmar Davis]

Sorry about the spam but I loaned my avr isp markII to the person who
brought a wave bubble project to two meetings ago.
I need it to program the bootloaders for the dorkboard kits.

Don.