<div dir="ltr">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. <br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 4:48 PM, Mykle Hansen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mykle@mykle.com">mykle@mykle.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;">
hi all,<br>
<br>
i'm gearing up for my next Arduino adventure, and<br>
am faced with a choice: should i go Dorkboard? or<br>
use the SparkFun Arduino Pro Mini?<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8824" target="_blank">http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8824</a><br>
<br>
... of course, apples to apples, i would use the Dorkboard<br>
just to support the home team. although i do love the SparkFun<br>
guys.<br>
<br>
but what it comes down to is, i don't think i want to deal with<br>
hand-soldering surface-mount chips. (i know i could do it<br>
eventually, but i just don't love soldering that much.<br>
maybe if i had a paste-stencil and one of those hot air<br>
tools it would be easier, but i'm just one guy with a<br>
weller and bad eyesight ...)<br>
<br>
are there already-built Dorkboards out there, waiting to<br>
be bought? from you? by me? or is it kit-only at this point?<br>
or is it etch-your-own board and RTFM?<br>
<br>
also, there is this programmer/loader puzzlement. the<br>
Dorkboard interfaces with USB over Don's Benito 7g adapter<br>
... are any Benitos built? or is that another project?<br>
<br>
meanwhile, the SparkFun equivalent is this FTDI unit:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8772" target="_blank">http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8772</a><br>
<br>
... but it turns out the drivers require my Mac to run Leopard --<br>
weak! So that's another hassle I'd like to avoid ...<br>
in my perfect world where everything is easy, i<br>
never burn my fingertips, money grows out of my butt, etc.<br>
<br>
-m-<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-Frank Canaan<br><a href="mailto:fcanaan@gmail.com">fcanaan@gmail.com</a><br>
</div>