MakerShield Kit, why another Prototyping Shield?

Even though I do have an Adafruit Proto Shield, which works well and I've had no problems what-so-ever with it, I decided to pick up one of the MakerShield Kits for a number of reasons.

  • Yes, It has a Potentiometer on the board ... but that wasn't the primary reason.
  • The Shield Headers allow you to attach shields ON TOP ... BIG reason #1 
  • The ICSP Headers are in the correct place for Arduino Shields ... BIG reason #2

So, why is this important if you are going to use it as a Prototyping shield, you want it to be the one on top, so you can access everything... right?   Well... yes, typically.  But here are the benefits to me...

  1. I have a pcDuino with a T Board to bridge 5V Arduino shields (the pcDuino only wants 3.3V shields used, the T Board allows 5V shields without damaging the pcDuino).  It has ICSP headers, but they aren't in the standard location for Arduino shields.  The MakerShield fixes that, I can attach this to the T Board and then attach a shield that has the ICSP connection, and I'm good-to-go.
  2. I also have an Arduino UNO clone from doflye.net (Chinese).  Bought it for about $4.00 on eBay.  After replacing the chip with the correct one for UNO (instead of the one that was included with it ,.. another $2.00 expense), I found that the ICSP headers on this board were rotated 180%!!!! (i.e not compatible with standard Arduino shields at all), and it's offset just a tad from the Standard Arduino.position too.   The MakerShield fixes that too.  I can now just attach the MakerShield to the clone, then attach a shield that has an ICSP connection, and, again, good-to-go.   I tried it with my USB Host Shield and it worked like a charm.
To me, the MakerShield is a benefit in a couple of ways ... plus it's a nice Prototyping shield too ... it works for my Arduino (including fixing a problem with a clone I purchased), pcDuino (fixing the ICSP header location on the T-Board) and my Netduino too (it doesn't even have ICSP headers ... this Shield is the recommended way to resolve that too!).

Keep in mind, that it does come as a kit, you need to dig out the tools and soldering iron to put it together.  But once you do, I think you'll find it's a nice addition.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parallax Smart Card Reader Samples for Arduino

Note :  There is a now an Arduino Library available for the Parallax Smart Card Reader, please see the new post in this blog. I ordered one of the Parallax Smart Card Readers as listed on the  Parallax  web site.   I also went ahead and ordered one of each of the three (3) types of Smart Cards that Parallax provides for use with the reader to play around with ... and I believe I have code for the Arduino that works with each of the three types. Note :  I did lock my first IS23SC4442 (32321)  card while learning ... had to order more (this time I ordered a couple) ... but I did seem to get it working without locking a second one.   And ... once you lock one, it can't be unlocked (at least not that I know of) ... but I do now have the ability to make sure the lock-check logic works and see that it is impossible to write to the card's memory when it is locked.  The  IS24C16A (32322) and  IS24C02A (32323) don't have a...
Read more

Parallax Smart Card Reader - Revisited

I believe I have mentioned that at some time, I was going to implement an Arduino Library for the Parallax Smart Card Reader.   Well, that time is now. The library has support for the 3 smart cards that are also available from Parallax.   The samples are equivalent to the stand-alone samples that have been available for quite some time now.   The big difference is that using the 3 smart cards is now very similar.   You initialize the cards with an Initialize() function, you read and write data to the cards with Read() and Write() functions.   There is an Authenticate() function available for the IS23SC4442 card.   The parameters are similar for each card (but they aren't always identical ... the IS24SC16A card requires a Page parameter, where the IS24SC02A doesn't, for example).   Update :  This library now has 3 additional functions for each card:  WriteString(), ReadString() and ClearString() ... basically you can write a string at a loca...
Read more

A USB Host Shield 2.0 compatible AndroidAccessory Library

I've been reading the Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius book (by Simon Monk) .... if you are interested in learning what's required to communicate between an Arduino and an Android Phone or Tablet, this is a great way to get started.    Anyhow...while playing with the sample projects, downloading the code, etc. I found that my USB Host Shield (which uses v2.0 of the Arduino library from Circuits@Home found  here ) wasn't compatible with the AndroidAcessory  library found in the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) that can be accessed here .   So, rather than taking the time to change all of the Arduino sketches to be compatible with the newer USB Host Shield library, I went a different direction and instead took some time to create a 'compatible' AndroidAccessory library.  I can tell you that all of the Arduino sketches in the aforementioned book will compile uncha...
Read more