Arduino mini or comparable

[dutycat]

Anyone know of a small programmable electronics microprocessor board, like the Arduino, only a bit smaller? Do they make a smaller version of their board with the same functionality? Is that the nano? Can it be hooked up and programmed the same way as their regular size one? I have also seen "Arduino Nano compatible" for sale. What does that mean exactly? The Arduino comes with software. Does "compatible" mean if I have the Arduino software, I can use it to program a compatible board?

[Joseph Osborn]

I am interested in this subject also!

[Ant]

Compatibles are functionally equivalent units not actually made by Arduino in Italy - since it's all open source, anyone can produce their own unit with identical behaviour, but usually the compatibles are 'expanded' in some way or another.

The nano is a smaller version of the standard unit (i'm a bit out of touch with what's current these days, probably still the Uno) but should run any software that runs on the basic unit.

[Kylwell]

How small do you need? https://www.sparkfun.com/

[tetsujin]

Anyone know of a small programmable electronics microprocessor board, like the Arduino, only a bit smaller? Do they make a smaller version of their board with the same functionality? Is that the nano? Can it be hooked up and programmed the same way as their regular size one?

I'll break it down for ya:

The earliest versions of the Arduino interfaced to the PC through the old-style RS-232 serial ports - because these are easy to interface with electrically.

Later, they added an additional chip (usually a chip made by FTDI, but more recently they've been using an ATMega chip) that acts as a USB-to-serial converter, so you could just plug a USB cable into the board and program it. That's the type of Arduino that's most prevalent at this point. (Arduino Duemilanove, Arduino Uno, etc.)

Most recently they've started making Arduino boards whose main processor incorporates USB functionality, so they don't need a second chip in order to connect via USB. (Arduino Leonardo, Teensy, Arduino Pro Micro, etc.)

The reason I bring all this up is because it affects your buying options. You can trade a little bit of convenience for some cost savings. And, conversely, if you're not willing to give up that convenience, there are some buying options you must avoid.

For instance, the FTDI chip that was used in the Duemilanove - it turns out that was a substantial chunk of the board's cost. That's part of why they moved to using ATMegas to get the USB functionality for the Arduino. But if you're willing to buy a board without USB built-in, you can save money. For instance, Sparkfun's Arduino Pro Mini (priced at $10 currently) This is also nearly the smallest Arduino you'll find. (The Teensy 2.0 is slightly smaller.)

It may sound inconvenient to use an Arduino board without USB, but all it really means is that you buy a USB-to-serial cable (typically the FTDI one or an FTDI breakout board - whose pinout makes programming slightly more convenient than the FTDI cable) to connect it to your computer.

So if you have multiple projects, you can buy USB Arduinos for $20-$30 each, or you can buy an FTDI adapter once and buy TTL-serial Arduinos to go with it at $10 each.

If you do want a board with USB built in, there are a few that are roughly the same size as the Pro Mini: For instance Sparkfun's Arduino Pro Micro or the Teensy 2.0 - but they're a bit more expensive, of course.


For my projects I wanted something that's significantly smaller than even the Teensy, so I designed a board of my own. The smallest of these boards was around 11mm x 9mm (compared to 18mm x 33mm for an Arduino Pro Mini or 18mm x 31mm for a Teensy) - my board also omitted the voltage regulator, crystal oscillator, had fewer I/O pins, and had to be programmed in assembly language and code uploaded through a PIC programmer circuit... But I can fit those little boards almost anywhere, which is important for some of my models. Gives you an idea of what's possible, I guess.

[galaxy_jason]

http://log.liminastudio.com/itp/physica ... ap-and-fun