The final step in giving birth to your Stickuino, after testing basic functionality, is getting it to communicate with your computer.
Disclaimer
We are not responsible for any damage to the USB ports or other components of your computer caused by connecting your Stickuino to it. If you’ve soldered and tested it according to the instructions you should be fine, and many workshop participants before you can vow for that, but it’s your own work that you are testing here. If you don’t feel comfortable, ask for a second opinion and hook it up to a lab computer first to see what happens.
Arduino IDE
Download the Arduino IDE (version >= 2.2.1, not the online version) for your platform of choice. The software is available from the Software page. Be sure to opt for the desktop IDE and not the web editor.
Version 2.x.x of the Arduino IDE is a rather recent release and we’ve noticed that it may be a bit sluggish or buggy at times, at least on macOS. In case the bugs bite you, you may also opt for the “legacy” Arduino IDE 1.8.19 which is available from the same download page.
Install the software following the instructions as found under the Getting started link on the Arduino site. The Arduino IDE is quite basic. If you want a more fully fledged IDE that interfaces well with all kinds of embedded platforms and works on top of VSCode (or other editors), you might have a look at PlatformIO.
FTDI drivers
Note that you’ll be using an FTDI USB to serial chip (on the USB FTDI board) to connect your Stickuino to your computer, so you might need to install the FTDI drivers from the FTDI website. On some Windows platforms the USB FTDI board is detected automatically. On recent versions of macOS the native drivers from Apple which are already installed seem to be working very well with the Arduino IDE. Please first try any native drivers on your system (Windows or otherwise), if available. If you encounter any problems, install the official FTDI drivers. You may also check out the gory details of the USB FTDI board by Sparkfun.
Connecting and programming
Connect your Stickuino to your computer using the USB FTDI board. If things work out as intended you should once more see the red led light up and the green led blink, without any smoke coming out of your computer.
Start the Arduino IDE and choose the correct Serial Port in the Tools menu (COM or /dev/tty with the right id). Check whether the correct board type has been selected in the Tools menu (Arduino Uno).
Open the Blink sketch (File > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink). This is the Hello World of the Arduino platform. The code is already installed on the microcontroller of your Stickuino, that’s where all the blinking is coming from. Try to compile and upload the code to your Stickuino, overwriting the code that’s already present on the microcontroller. No error messages? Done uploading? Everything still working as intended? Congratulations! You just took your first steps into the world of physical computing. ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
Finger exercises
You won’t have time to relax for very long. Now that the basics have been covered, you can start experimenting to get acquainted to the Arduino IDE and platform, as well as build your first electronic circuits on your breadboard. Here are some suggestions:
- Try to modify the Blink sketch in such a way that your Stickuino blinks with a different frequency.
- Have your Stickuino blink S.O.S. in morse.
- Try to get Blink to work with one of the leds in the Interaction technology sensor kit, using a different port of your Stickuino. Use your breadboard and don’t forget to put a 220 Ohm resistor from your kit in series with the led. (Color code 220 Ohm resistor: red-red-brown-gold). Have a look at the first circuit on the hooking things up page for details.
- Build a traffic light on your breadboard.
Moving on
Great, you are a big boy/girl/non-binary person now! It’s time for some serious business.