The Shrimp: a low-fat Arduino clone

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Last week I mentioned the Shrimp-based workshop that I'll be running at SPA on 30 June: 'build your own Arduino clone'.

The workshop will run at the end of a full day so I'm keen to keep it as easy as possible. A random act of kindness has helped to make it even simpler than I'd expected.

A delightful surprise

When Cefn Hoile sent me the batch of CP2102 adapters I'd ordered for the workshop I discovered a delightful surprise: a full Shrimping It kit, complete with diagram and components.

Cefn has been helping people to build their own Shrimps for a while, and he's got things down to a fine art. He's worked out a breadboard layout that reduces the number of jump wires you need. A change I'd planned (using a 5v LED with a built-in resistor) adds a little to the cost but simplifies the breadboard layout even more.

Shrimplified for the SPA workshop

I've ended up with this, which is about as simple as I can get using a crystal oscillator.

Next I'll finish the builder's guide which I'll be open sourcing under a CC SA License.

I really want to do a dry run before the SPA session, and I'm going to try to recruit a few guinea-pigs at next Tuesday's XtC.

There are still places available at SPA so if you want to exchange ideas with an amazing group of software practitioners book your place now.

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