Last week, I posted a Kerning Controller prototype. After trying to make the Bluetooth work for a long time, and failing, I decided to make a USB–connected one instead. Now that the Bluetooth function is out of the picture, I decided to choose a different microcontroller that would make my life easier.
The Second Prototype
This prototype uses slightly different components than before.
Microcontroller Adafruit ItsyBitsy M4 Express
As a side-by-side comparison, you can see that the size of the components have reduced quite a bit. The first prototype is on the left, and the second is on the right.
Since the Mini-2Axis Analog Thumbstick didn’t have breadboard-sized through-hole components, I made a DIY ‘breakout board’ based on Adafruit’s. (original part here)
Second Prototype in Action
You can see that it works just like the first one, except that I needed to add two buttons to replace the ‘select’ function on the original joystick. (These only have 2 axis and no select buttons.)
Bill of Material
The following is a list of items that I am planning to get via Digikey. Some points:
Mainly, these are parts from the ItsyBitsy Board (Taken from Adafruit’s schematic files here).
There’s a lot of breakout-board type items in addition to essential items, because I’m hoping to use these to help me with hand-soldering surface mount parts.
I already have the J-Link Edu ($20).
Next Steps
Trying to re-build the ItsyBitsy via the components and try to get the prototype working!