Power from Pololu

Pololu make a neat 5V booster:



Also, a nice power switch:

Firmate and Firmata VB

Firmata VB is here: http://www.acraigie.com/programming/firmatavb/default.html

This looks like a great way to interface VB code to the Arduino, but may be a bit too much like overkill unless you want to read or change actual pin values. For my first app (Chrony store & forward), I will just be uploading the data from the Chrony into the VB program.

The Firmata pages are here: http://www.firmata.org/wiki/Main_Page

UK Suppliers

Cool Components: http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk

HobbyTronics: http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk

nuelectronics.com: http://www.nuelectronics.com
Includes Nokia 3310 Shield

ByVac: General gear including BV4208 LCD Driver chip http://www.byvac.com/bv3/index.php?route=product/product&path=41_42&product_id=70

Chrony Resources

Good protocol and interface info from nopLabs:

Protocol: clickety

Serial interface: clickety

Simple remote control: clickety

Gear ordered from ekits

Ordered from eBay

LCD Keypad schematic: http://www.ekitszone.com/download/lcd-keypad-schematic.pdf

Library here: http://www.ekitszone.com/Products/3-lcd-keypad-shield-for-arduino.aspx


Site: http://www.ekitszone.com/

Reading serial data into the PC from Arduino

Posts on Arduino forum:

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,40326.0.html

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,52939.0.html

Useful Components

Pololu - Pushbutton Power Switch

UK Seller: http://www.active-robots.com/products/components/switch-relays.shtml#pololu


Pololu UK Distributors: http://www.pololu.com/distributors#uk