
Fritzing - opensource circuit sketching tool for Arduino - SingAlong
http://fritzing.org/
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sgrove
Looks pretty cool - I've been very eager to get into hardware hacking (after
getting comfortable with functional programming). I wondered about the
"legitimacy" of Arduino boards and if they could really support real world
apps, so I googled for some examples...

Simply put, it's amazing. This alone (open source gameboy!) is worth learning
it: [http://antipastohw.blogspot.com/2008/10/using-inputshield-
to...](http://antipastohw.blogspot.com/2008/10/using-inputshield-to-make-open-
source.html)

And a quick link to some other projects that I imagine will spark a few hn
minds: <http://hacknmod.com/hack/top-40-arduino-projects-of-the-web/>

How common are local meetups for the hardware hacking novices? Hardware people
are sometime hard to connect with (even harder than the average CS
student...). I'd love to start diving into this!

~~~
SingAlong
Arduino are mostly used by starters. Coz it's very easy to learn programming
it. There's always been discussions on Arduino vs Picaxe (like Intel vs AMD)
:P here <http://letsmakerobots.com/node/80> and
<http://letsmakerobots.com/node/5696>

I guess they mean Atmel vs Picaxe, coz the Arduino is actually a dev board
that uses the Atmel ATmega328 chip (previously ATmega168).

If you are starting out, it's better you start with an Arduino, later when you
are a pro, you can buy only an ATmega and use it. I have a lot of electronic
guys laughing at me when I said I bought an Arduino for $30, coz they said it
could be done with just a $3 ATmega chip. But it's a lot easier doing things
feeling safe that there's a community to support you when something goes
wrong.

Arduino dev board isn't for finished products (although you can use it).
Basically meant to make physical computing easier to learn for hobbyists. The
Arduino Duemilanouve has currently is sold with an ATmega328 chip that runs at
32Mhz and has 32kb of memory. The older Arduino Duemilanouve or Diecimelia
boards came with a ATmega168 chip running at 16mhz and 16kb memory (2kb for
bootloader + 14kb programmable). If you are looking to make something complex
like mobile computing stuff, you should checkout Gumstix at gumstix.org (often
refered to as computer-on-module) and also the ARM-based 400mhz Beagleboard
(beagleboard.org $149). Beagleboard, I heard lacks a sound module though.

The Arduino's programming syntax is similar to C, and it's simpler when
compared to programming a barebone chip like ATmega or Picaxe.

P.S: I'm not a pro. I just learned how to control a DC motor with the Arduino
last month. So I might me wrong.

------
acgourley
While I have the eyeballs of some hardware people, does anyone know the
logistics behind taking a basic circuit + micro controller design and sending
that overseas to be fabricated for you?

Do you hire a firm to take care of moving all the various parts between
factories, or this something a single factory can handle? What order of
magnitude is the minimum lot size?

And lets say you wanted to get your finished design into some plastic molding,
how would you go about that?

I know that's a whirlwind of questions, but I think it's something a lot of
software guys are really in the dark about and yet would like to know.

~~~
coryrc
For example: www.myropcb.com

It's called "Printed Circuit Board Assembly"

Tooling for plastic molding is >$10,000, even simple parts. Look at machining
premade plastic parts or using sheet metal.

~~~
acgourley
Thanks for that link, reading through that site answered a lot of my
questions!

And good point about the molding. It would probably make more sense to find
existing plastic cases and tool out whatever holes you need for IO/display.
Although that raises the question of how you would setup a factory line to do
that tooling.

I'd even just like keywords so that I knew what this was _called_ then I could
google it myself.

~~~
coryrc
www.pactec.com does custom machining of their enclosures, but I haven't gone
through this, so I can't help much with this. Good luck!

------
Steve0
I first thought this would let you simulate your arduino. This isn't the case,
it's a sketch-only tool.

From the faq: Does Fritzing simulate my circuit, like, does an LED actually
blink if I plug it in? No, sorry. We don't think that the advantage of having
a simulation is worth the effort. Hardware is very difficult to simulate and
it would also complicate the usage of Fritzing. Also, we think that it is
important that you get hands on with the real stuff, and that you should try
out your circuits physically. We will however add some simple checks in the
future, to help you avoid common mistakes.

~~~
SingAlong
maybe you mis-read the word "sketching" in the title :P

But yes, the website's intro to the tool is very confusing.

"Fritzing is an open-source initiative to support designers, artists,
researchers and hobbyists to take the step from physical prototyping to actual
product"

How about just saying that it's a Arduino sketching tool? ;)

