I'm very excited about this first shot of the new Arduino MEGA. It is built around an ATMEGA1280 and looks like it has some pretty hefty specs. It has a completely new I/O layout so it does not look like it will be compatible with existing Arduino shields made for the Diecimila or Duemilanove. This is good news for any of us craving more digital, analog and PWM pins. No word on release date or pricing just yet.
I completed my Valentines day gift and thought I would share. Mariessa had an idea about the gift she wanted "LED Flowers" were the request. Simple on off powered LED Flowers just wouldn't do for me however. So I put together a vase with 6 flowers inside that each have a Pink LED that is connected to an Arduino. It has a button that allows you to put it into a few different modes: off, on, pwm cycling, and a special twinkle mode. It also has an AC Adapter connected for convince.
Software: To write the script I started out with the blink script and added my various modes. I ported the twinkle effect from the Valentine's Day LED Heart from NerdKits and I got the button state code from ladyada'sArduino Tutorial Lesson 5. The code is by no means polished and there are even some modes that I didn't end up using.
Roses.pde can be found under Roses in my arduino git repository on github
All three Luxeon I LED's running and under Arduino control. These things are beasts I tell you!
Hardware
It's taken me a while to get around to building this electrical prototype but it seems to be working like a charm. Right now there are three separate National Semi driver boards powered from 9V with dimming wires connected to the Arduino for PWM. I have wide angle lenses and holders on each Luxeon Star that make each to a 20 degree beam which also let me look at them without burning out my eyes. My goal is to get these into a neat package that can be used as either an Arduino shield or standalone device with an AVR built in.
Software
I have been writing a few different pieces of software that let you control the LED's over serial. The first is a Visual C# application that has direct control (sliders for each color) and a background thread that lets you check various information sources over the web and use the light as a lo-fi information display. Some examples are checking for new email and checking for local weather information. The app uses custom firmware to communicate over serial.
The second is a Processing sketch that allows control via the iPhone using TouchOSC and the Open Sound Control protocol. This sketch uses Firmata firmware on the Arduino.
I have further plans for the software that I won't get into here but it will be just as big a part of this project as the hardware.
Below is a small video of each color being testing.
Matt over at Liquidware has released a wonderful looking Arduino compatible board called the Illuminato. It is based around an Atmega645, has 42 I/O pins, and has twice the code space. I really like the artistic approach to the board design. All the parts are laid out on a 45 degree angle and are symmetrical. This board from start to finish is a piece of artwork. Great work!The board also has some bright white SMT LED's on the bottom of the board to give it some atmospheric under glow.
There might not be anything I want more in this world at this very moment then 10 multi-colored Arduino's under my Christmas tree. I have a feeling I'm one out of not to many who would feel the same. Smart Projects has made a limited run of these colored Arduino Duemilanoves for the holidays in red, purple, orange, yellow, black, green, white, and the standard blue.
Funnel IO is a new board that is being sold through Sparkfun. This board has some pretty promising features including an XBee socket and a Lithium Polymer battery charging circuit. The board is set up so that you can program it wirelessly through the Xbee's serial connection to the AVR. It is designed to be used with the Funnel toolkit which allows you to interface to physical components such as sensors and switches with programming languages such as Actionscript 3, Processing, and Ruby.
Another alternative for a single board Arduino/XBee is John Luciani'sZB1.
$24.95 from Sparkfun Electronics Buy (Currently out of stock but is available on back order.)
I've been working on getting a driver for a Philips Lumileds Luxeon I high powered LED up and running. I tried a few designs with no success before using National's LM3404. I came across a really nice Evaluation Board that was just a bare PCB so I could pick and choose the parts I needed for my specific application and it was only $13 as opposed to the $40 it costs for the full Evaluation Board. I built up the driver board and connected it to an Arduino and used the Dimmer example sketch to PWM the driver's DIM input. This is part of a larger project I have been working on for a high power RGB computer controlled lighting fixture.
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