
MicroView: Chip-sized Arduino with built-in OLED Display - Serow225
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1516846343/microview-chip-sized-arduino-with-built-in-oled-di
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owenversteeg
This is going to be a lot more revolutionary than a lot of people think. I
mentor Lego Robotics teams, and this year's season will mark my eighth year
doing Lego Robotics. During this time, I've shown the kids (ages 9-14)
hundreds of programming-related things, ranging from quadcopters to Arduinos
to WebGL experiments to Leap Motion devices, and what never fails to captivate
them is when they make the Lego Mindstorm brick __display __something.

When kids on the team seem reluctant to start programming, I always bust out
the smiley face demo: they push a button and the smiley face smiles. It's
ridiculously simple, but that's part of the appeal - they see that it's simple
and they want to know how to do it themselves. If I were to show them an
Arduino blinking out a message in Morse code using an LED, they assume that
it's over their head and could care less how it was done, but when I show a
simple demo using the Mindstorms display everyone's captivated.

Each Mindstorms brick costs $200-$250, and parts can add hundreds of dollars
to this cost. Since the price of the MicroView is 4-5 times smaller, there can
be 4-5 times more people captivated by them - not to mention how school
districts that have fewer funds can now introduce students to programming as
well.

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Vexs
Yeah, this would be great for kids, especially with a good library. Mindstorms
really is a great start, and I think that comes down to two things, the
physical, and the programming- physical because it's fun making things move,
especially things you made, and mindstorms programming is so unbelievably
simple in design, and yet so very effective. This seems to grab both parts, it
has a nice interface, not too big as to be daunting, nor too small to be
useless, and there are tomes written about arduino programming

If you're interested in more advanced mindstorms, check out robotC and similar
alternatives. They offer a lot more freedom with coding, so for the more
advanced kids, it offers actual code, and a variety of very cool functions.

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owenversteeg
I've tried to get the kids to start with robotC and friends but with the short
length of the season and the "intimidation factor" of writing actual code I
rarely get past a simple "Hello world."

The kids that are interested in coding usually get started when I show them
Eloquent Javascript - I suppose its introduction is more simple and
captivating than most other books.

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jws
Looks interesting. I would have chosen this for a couple of past projects.
$45, but you get a display for that. Even if you think you can communicate
enough information with a few LEDs by the time you think about assembly time,
packaging, and explaining the LED meanings this is an easy choice even if you
just need to indicate a few states or a scalar value.

• 64x48 monochrome OLED

• In a forward facing case suitable for exposing to users. You'll still need
to enclose the back.

• Tiny. Looks to be about 2.54cm square, depending on the size of his fingers.
Not Arduino form factor.

• ATmega328P (32k flash, 1K EEPROM, 2k RAM)

• 12 I/O pins, 3 with PWM, 6 can be analog inputs, 5V logic

• Serial pins, no USB (but you can make ghetto if you need to with a couple
resistors) There is a USB sled available for programming.

• 3.3V to 16V power input. No external components required.

• 600% funded, 25 days to go. Estimated delivery is August.

~~~
schappim
I'm Marcus part of the MicroView team.

> if you think you can communicate enough information with a few LEDs

We actually started with that concept and made an Arduino compatible called
the Magpie (basically an Uno with an LED on every IO pin see:
[http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/magpie-100-arduino...](http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/magpie-100-arduino-
uno-compatible) ). Whilst the Magpie was a step forward it wasn't quite good
enough, hence building the MicroView.

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iSloth
Few comments on here suggesting that it might be over priced, and yes it
probably is, however some people like my self just want something simple to
play around with, without buying loads of different parts when you don't
really know what's required, if that costs me a few extra dollars to be lazy
well that's ok with me :)

Never used an Arduino before and like the idea of having a screen to use, so
ordered one to play around with.

Good luck with the project!

Edit: Just realised, I'm a long time lurker on KickStarter, but this is my
first backing!

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georgemcbay
I don't think it is overpriced at all, I think the price is pretty perfect for
what it is; not really that much higher than you would pay for one-offs of
other small Arduino-alikes (sans any kind of display, but sharing the same
lack of meaningful physical shield compatibility) and the screen would be
really useful and/or cool in a lot of situations.

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ChuckMcM
Hmm, cute. A bit perplexing though. My sense is that at $20 each this would be
something one could use as parts to other things, at $45 each one definitely
has to be more reserved. And what about four or five? Given they blew through
their Kickstarter target I'm guessing a lot of these will be out there and I'm
really interested in seeing the cool applications that people will put them
too, but I am still struggling with the value proposition.

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schappim
A large portion of that $45 goes to the "Free Worldwide Shipping". We're
looking at offering multiples in a package but it's a grey area on
Kickstarter:

>Offering multiple quantities of a reward is prohibited. Hardware and Product
Design projects can only offer rewards in single quantities or a sensible set
(some items only make sense as a pair or as a kit of several items, for
instance). The development of new products can be especially complex for
creators and offering multiple quantities feels premature, and can imply that
products are shrink-wrapped and ready to ship.

We might be considered a sensible set, or we might not. We're reaching out to
Kickstarter now.

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Vexs
I hope you are (considered a sensible set)- I hate having a item tied to
something permanent, and then needing it again.

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sown
I have a feeling this is where hardware prototyping is going to head, at least
part of the time. Smaller, specialized and perhaps plug-able units coming
together. Anyone can make a wonderful little device, I would hope.

Rather than components, they'd be like 'appliances' in a data center.

A teeny-tiny little data center that was itself an appliance. neat!

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spiritplumber
[http://www.picaxe.com/Hardware/Add-on-Modules/Budget-
Serial-...](http://www.picaxe.com/Hardware/Add-on-Modules/Budget-Serial-OLED-
Module/) This is open firmware and has IIRC four GPIOs free.

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joshvm
This looks nifty, but I think it's a touch overpriced given that you could buy
an OLED breakout on eBay for £5 and a tiny Arduino clone for about the same
price. If you're at the level of programming the thing anyway, it's not that
much more effort to clip two things together and find a library. Granted it
wouldn't be in a fancy box, but I would be willing to sacrifice aesthetics to
save £20.

I'd be interested to see one with an Atmega32U4 so that you didn't need the
USB backpack. Having native USB would make things a lot more compact.

Also it looks like it's going to possibly block the second port on the Pi
depending on which one you use.

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schappim
Thanks for your feedback on price. A large part of the $45 is FREE Worldwide
Shipping.

A huge point of the MicroView is that it's finished in a way that allows
beginners to just plonk it into a breadboard and get up and running with
Arduino. It's a bridge so they can ultimately get to the point where they can
go to ebay and stitch parts together.

Re: Atmega32U4

We are aware of the Atmega32U4 but, we really wanted to build an Arduino in a
chip form-factor. We'll be taking into consideration the Atmega32U4 for future
versions.

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DHowett

        A large part of the $45 is FREE Worldwide Shipping.
    

I think that's a disingenuous use of the word _free_. It's more like
_subsidized worldwide shipping_ , or _normally-priced worldwide shipping paid
into by everybody (even locals)_.

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leoc
I'm both charmed and appalled. Connect your Arduino to your RasPi? Convert it
into an OLED necklace? If this campaign was starting a week from now I'd
wonder if it wasn't a stealthy parody of Arduino hobbyism... But it does seem
both charming and useful.

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rcarmo
Very nice indeed. I'd rather have it without the exterior moulding, though.

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snogglethorpe
Yeah. I'm sure the current case is useful for the stated purpose ("easy to
grab and use in a breadboard"), but for people trying to use it in some
application, the pictures of the raw (really tiny, hardly any bezel!) display
and accompanying (slightly larger) processor board look much more enticing....

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tmuir
I'd be interested in seeing statistics on how well Arduinos that aren't
compatible with shields sell. In my opinion, Arduino's biggest contribution to
making it easier to get started in embedded development has been shields and
the compatibility they bring.

Code can be shared easily. Users can debug others code over the internet. The
same cannot be said with hardware, at least to the same degree. Schematics and
the physical implementation of a circuit are not the same thing. Having the
peripheral hardware on compatible PCBs fixes that problem.

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dippyskoodlez
I have 3 digisparks and really love them for a quick space saving design, but
it's definitely not new user friendly.

For this though, I'm more interested in the OLED screen than the Arduino.

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pugz
I'm a fan of Marcus' work; I would have backed this even if it was half as
useful. Given how great it is, I didn't even need to worry about that. :)
Looking forward to receiving mine!

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alirazaq
I'm sure there's a reason for not having the package flat all around but the
convex shape on the pin-header side seems to make it a lot thicker than
necessary.

I would have liked to make a watch out of this, but something that big would
look obnoxious. Great idea nonetheless, I really enjoy seeing all these ready-
to-work solutions for the maker community.

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pokpokpok
I'd love to see it without the shell

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schappim
I've just shared some prototype photos here:
[https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A1532ODW4jpjh](https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A1532ODW4jpjh)

Excuse the messy desk.

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TazeTSchnitzel
Is this another one of those projects that's using the Arduino name without
permission? I'd be wary.

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schappim
No, we're paying a royalty to Arduino see:
[http://arduino.cc/en/ArduinoAtHeart/HomePage](http://arduino.cc/en/ArduinoAtHeart/HomePage)

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TazeTSchnitzel
Ah, I'm glad to hear it!

