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Sparkfun Electronics has a nice inexpensive RS232 to TTL converter that is easy to build, use, deal with, and prototype with.  As shown, the kit comes with all the parts necessary and this kit takes about 1/2  hour to construct.

Sparkfun Kit As Delivered

A number of 1/8 watt and 3mm LEDs were used, they were a bit tough to see to these 43 year old eyes, but I managed.  Construction went quickly and I was done in about 1/2 an hour.

Kit As Assembled

Instead of using the supplied wires, which will eventually become brittle and snap off at the PCB, I soldered a 4 pin male header as used in almost every prototyping project known to man.

Header Attached

Now… the converter can be used with any solderless breadboard and the wires won’t eventually snap off with use and abuse.

In Action

So pick up this converter, the PRT-00133 RS232 Shifter Board Kit for a paltry $6.95.

Found these the other day…  http://www.compsys1.com/workbench/uWEB/web_dev_board.html

CompSys WebDev Board

Basically they are little webservers with a couple of I/O.  I’m going to be throwing these EVERYWHERE!  Web enabled toaster anyone?

Today, I received an Arduino Duemilanove (thats 2009 in Italian), a USB programmable open-source (software AND hardware) microcontroller system from Adafruit Industries.

The Arduino site describes their product  as…

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Arduino Duemilanove

Thats basically a microcontroller board in so many words.  What makes this a cut above the rest is its ease of programming.  It uses a C like language, more reminiscent of Second Life’s LSL scripting language, more of a state machine than having a main() and function calls beyond that.

I’ve been a PIC fan since 1994 or so, and I still am, but I think the PIC has now been relegated to dedicated hardware designs where this Arduino board will be a bit of overkill.  The Arduino will be good for proof of concepts, quick projects and the like.

I have alot of projects in mind, so as usual, watch this space for more, but here is Arduino’s introduction to the platform to get you started…

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction