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

[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.

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 4:48 PM, Mykle Hansen <mykle at mykle.com> wrote:

> 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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-- 
-Frank Canaan
fcanaan at gmail.com
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