Dale Wheat . com

Effective immediately, my new phone number is (330) 732-5307.  Give me a call sometime and let me know what’s going on.

I’ve updated the popular Lux Spectralis kit.  The circuit still does exactly the same thing (blinks multi-colored LEDs).  I simplified the whole thing and reduced the component count.  This will make it easier to assemble.  You can download your own copy of the assembly instructions.

The new Lux Spectrlais 2 kit uses three separate LEDs for the red, green and blue color channels.  This will make it much easier to modify for custom color combinations.  The new PCB is a little bit smaller than the previous version.  It uses electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) plating on all the electrical contacts, which has its own advantages, electrically, but I did it because it’s more beautiful and contrasts well with the black solder mask.

The kits still comes with a 3xAAA battery holder with a built-in power switch.  The lighting modes are identical to the previous version.  The price remains the same.

Over the summer, I wrote a book about Arduino internals, called Arduino Internals. It is being published today by Apress. It has a lot of detailed information about Arduinos as well as Atmel AVRs. There are several projects in the book that illustrate some of the topics. It’s a paperback book that runs to just over 350 pages. There’s also an “ebook” available in several popular formats.
You should be able to buy your very own copy today from Amazon with a nice little discount and free Super-Saver shipping. You can also go to your favorite book seller and buy a copy. Just use the ISBN number 978-1430238829. To buy the ebook, go to the book’s page on the Apress web site, apress.com.
This was a very exciting project for me. It’s my first book. I hope you enjoy it.

Update:  The publication date has been bumped to November 16, 2011.  I don’t know why.

I’ll be gone from Saturday, 15 October 2011 to late Monday, 24 October 2011. There’s really no good way to get in touch with me in the interim.

I’m going to Maker Faire this weekend, May 21st & 22nd! Most of the time, I’ll be in or around the Maker Shed, explaining how vitally important it is to have more blinky LEDs in your life. I’ll also be making a couple of short presentations. Saturday at 11am I’ll be talking about the Breadboard Arduino project. Sunday at 4:30pm I’ll demonstrate the Tiny Wanderer robot. If you can, please come out and say hi!

I ran out of black jumper wire for the Breadboard Arduino kits. This was entirely a planning failure on my part. I started using blue wire. I hope you don’t mind too much.

In no particular order, here are my reasons (justifications?) for making the change. I didn’t want to hold orders until more black wire could be obtained. I didn’t want to continue buying Velleman hookup-wire sampler kits as this was not cost-effective. The blue wires are prettier, in my opinion. The red+blue motif matches the printed stripes on the power rails of the breadboards.

For those of you that are even more resistant to change than I am, let me reassure you: Blue Wires work the same as Black Wires. I promise.

The beautiful copper-on-black Lux Spectralis PCBs are all gone.  Whimper.  This actually caught me by surprise.  Well, time to make some more.

I’ve re-designed the Lux Spectralis to make it simpler to assemble.  I’ve omitted all the extra transistors and replaced the hard-to-find RGB LED with three individual, high-output LEDs.  Now you can mix & match!  How about a “Purple Haze” Lux (red, blue, UV)?  Under-the-Sea Lux (green, cyan, blue)?  Or a toasty Fire Lux (red, orange, yellow)?

I’ve got prototype PCBs coming in the mail and as soon as I’m happy with the new, simplified circuitry I’ll have a big batch of them built.  This will take about a month, so please be patient!

If you’re heart is set on one of the older Lux Spectralis kits, a few are still available at the Maker Shed.  Until the end of February 2011, buy one Lux Spectralis for $10 and get a second one for half price ($5)!  Use code SHINY.

See the correction on the MAKE magazine web site:

http://makezine.com/25/arduinoprimer/

The text on page 65 concerning hooking up the right-side power connection is reversed.  The photos are correct.  Thanks to all the sharp-eyed readers out there that caught this for me!

Patrick Callahan of Pumping Station: One, a Chicago hackerspace, will be presenting a “Breadboard Arduino” class on Saturday, 12 February 2011 at 4PM.  Follow this link to find out more about the event or to sign up (4 seats left as of this writing):

http://arduinochicago.eventbrite.com/

I’m taking my loving, talented and overworked wife on a short road trip.  We leave this morning and will return Sunday.  Orders placed today, Friday, 28 January 2011 will ship Monday, 31 January 2011. If you placed an order yesterday, Thursday, 27 January 2011, your order is on its way to the Post Office, but you will not receive a shipment notification (from me) until Monday.