Get Ready to Meggy

I recently attended 360|Flex San Jose, and took part in a “Flex and Hardware” session where we built basic electronics projects with an Arduino and a breadboard, and then talked to them over a USB serial interface from Flex. This was tons of fun.

I almost went for an electronics degree in college, but got in to programming instead. I don’t regret that decision, but I’m still very interested in electronics. I had been contemplating buying a basic electronics kit and messing around with hardware for a while, but going to the session at 360|Flex really threw me in the deep end and showed me just how easy it is to work with these open source hardware platforms. This has rekindled my interest in building myself an Arduinome.

The Arduinome project is a bit daunting for a newbie, so I figured I’d start with something a bit smaller and with lots more in the way of instructions. I found the project I was looking for on EvilMadScientist.com: the Meggy Jr kit. It’s very similar to the Arduinome in both form and function and requires total assembly by the user based on a PCB, but comes with a lot more in the way of how-tos and programming help. Plus, it’s only $95 for the top-notch kit and comes with everything you need in one box, unlike the Arduinome which requires group buys for custom PCBs and sourcing of parts from multiple manufacturers. I figure once I get this thing tackled, I’ll kick the tires on an Arduinome using the famous unsped shield.

I ordered the Meggy Jr. today and will be posting my progress as I go.