This isn't an "Arduino (clone)" by any measure. It's an ATMEGA on a breadboard. The advantage of the Arduino as sold is that it's an all-in-one package (USB interface, handy headers broken out for access to PINs, LEDs, voltage regulation, serial port, etc.) and it is very useful for _prototyping_.<p>Once you've prototyped using an Arduino you can then go select the minimal set of components you need using the smallest appropriate ATMEGA for your application and get it under $5.
Arduino and Netduino are great, but I think people like the author sort of forget why.<p>Back a few years ago, you could buy very cheap microcontrollers, then with a few $ of components make a simple programmer from the PCs parallel port or serial.
<a href="http://picpgm.picprojects.net/hardware.html" rel="nofollow">http://picpgm.picprojects.net/hardware.html</a> for a nice collection of them.<p>These where great, they cost about £1.50 each iirc, and I really liked them, by the time I went to uni I knew my Microchip PIC MASM by heart.<p>However people who are just learning about programming electronics don't really want to have to figure out the joys of GPIOA3 being shared with the ADC when trying to attach an LED.<p>Arduino providing a nice simple formfactor for allowing people to simply plonk them together, no worries about which pins can do what, how much can be driven. All the packages made it quite clear what could play nicely together.<p>This doesn't change that. Nor does it mention that if your the kind of geek who is thinking of buying say 3 or more of them you'd be much better off with oldschool prototyping board, a vertible smorgasboard of uCs and a simple programmer. There are some great PIC ones that even have the ICD (In Circuit Debugging!) on ebay for next to nothing.
This is just a subset of the official arduino tutorial on the subject [1]. And there are about 5,000 other articles showing the same thing. [2] Seems kinda odd, and late in the game, to re-document something that's already been documented so many times.<p>[1] <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone" rel="nofollow">http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=minimal+breadboard+arduino" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/search?q=minimal+breadboard+arduino</a><p><i>EDIT: judgmental statement removed, as it was unnecessary</i>
We've known that Atmel CPUs are cheap. I just bought a tube of them a week ago for less than $20. And I have enough regulators and spare junk to make a fakeduino for $3-ish.<p>That hasn't been the point.<p>I can go buy a nice, stackable hardware platform with everything Open and just not worry about it. The bootcode has already been written, and the IDE is short and sweet. Everything "Just Works". And then, we can discuss the crazy good amount of modules that have extended the Arduino IDE (and associated hardware).<p>It's well worth $30 for a rapid prototyping and design. Then, once I get a set design, I can go the chip+regulator+resistors route. And then I can tear the breadboarded setup on my Arduino and use it for another project testing!
<a href="http://shrimping.it/blog/shrimp/" rel="nofollow">http://shrimping.it/blog/shrimp/</a> here's a link to another blog which does it for 3$. A 5$ device "cloning" partial Arduino functionality is really not impressing me anymore.
Arduino is a great platform for prototyping on, but it's kind of expensive and bulky for a finished product. At least my $30 uno is. Being able to make a stand-alone is great! I can prototype on my arduino, then use it to burn the code onto a bare chip.<p>I found this article easier to read than the one on Arduino's wiki. It's basically the same information, but with better explanations and pictures.
Or for less than that you can just buy a TI Launchpad; $4 delivered.<p>You'll have to use strict C and use breakouts and your own breadboard/components, but it's cheap enough to be disposable for hobbyists.
Quick plug for Teensy. You can get Teensy 2.0 for $16 and you don't need a FTDI cable.<p><a href="http://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html</a>