It's based on an AVR microcontroller. It has a USB interface on-board, but doesn't use Arduino bootloader mechanisms for software updates, which is a
shame, since it would make the whole project much more useful. This one requires use of an external AVR programmer. They're not very expensive, but
they're also not for embedded software beginners. From the article:
Quote:
The CheapStat firmware is likewise easily updated with the aid of a simple microcontroller programming kit.
"Easily updated" is true only after you've done it a few times.
If you're interested in making one of these, you'll need all the supporting information. This doesn't seem to entirely present either in the
downloadable appendices to the article or the supplementary materials. Therefore, get it all. Also, I'm disappointed in the maturity level of these
materials. They're adequate if you already know what you're doing, and somewhere between just barely so and inadequate for the less experienced.
At least as far as I can tell right now, there aren't any kits or even blank circuit boards available from vendors. So if you want to build one,
you'll have to send out the Gerber files to a fabricator, etch your own board, or prototype the circuit directly.
So as much as I appreciate this as a step forward toward access to instrumentation, it's more that it saves a lot of time for someone already with
electronics skill than it enables someone without such skill to quickly acquire the instrument.
