A Breadboard-Mounted “Arduino Uno”

Arduino Uno boards are great if you want to get started with microcontrollers, which likely means blinking the onboard LED as a sort of “hello world.” From there, items can be connected for further experimentation that often involves the use of a breadboard with jumper wires. At this point, however, things get a bit more unwieldy, as these wires need to be looped to and from the board, and the project now exists in two parts.

As a partial solution to this issue, Tindie seller The current stuff has come up with a "breadboard Arduino Uno clone." This dev board features the same ATmega328P microcontroller as the Uno, but is designed to sit on top of a breadboard. It plugs in via the 3.3V and 5V rails, providing power as well as mechanical attachment to the board.

Other connections can then be made via jumper wires, using the provided male headers. These are nominally supplied loose, so female headers could be added instead if you so prefer. Pin 13 is connected to an LED, so the standard blink sketch should work. There are also LEDs on the RX and TX lines to indicate it's communicating.

Programming is through a micro USB connection, so a full-sized USB cable isn't needed like the standard Uno. The board even features an ICSP header for communication.