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Step 4Parts: Microcontroller
This bit is easy, I'm using a Forebrain dev board, which contains a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller.
For those of you who don't know what microcontrollers are, they are little chips that can be programmed to carry out a whole number of things - from keeping time inside a digital watch, to running a microwave, to running your car. Forebrain is a development board carrying a microcontroller, it is designed so that you can easily use these useful little chips in your project without having to spend too much time soldering to impossibly small pins on the chip.
When you get a new Forebrain unit (the can be purchased from http://www.universalair.co.uk/, they will be blank, and will not do anything useful. Software needs to be written and compiled (on a PC), and then downloaded onto the Forebrain unit before they start doing anything. The software that runs on microcontrollers is typically called "firmware", and the act of loading firmware onto a microcontroller is sometimes called "flashing", and has nothing to do with indecent exposure.
Because I've already written the software to make Forebrain act as a USB-controlled bell, you can simply download my compiled firmware (I'll tell you how later), and load it directly onto Forebrain over USB without ever having to look at a line of code. The whole process should take minutes, does not require any new software, and does not require you to learn any new skills or see a line of code.
For those of you who don't know what microcontrollers are, they are little chips that can be programmed to carry out a whole number of things - from keeping time inside a digital watch, to running a microwave, to running your car. Forebrain is a development board carrying a microcontroller, it is designed so that you can easily use these useful little chips in your project without having to spend too much time soldering to impossibly small pins on the chip.
When you get a new Forebrain unit (the can be purchased from http://www.universalair.co.uk/, they will be blank, and will not do anything useful. Software needs to be written and compiled (on a PC), and then downloaded onto the Forebrain unit before they start doing anything. The software that runs on microcontrollers is typically called "firmware", and the act of loading firmware onto a microcontroller is sometimes called "flashing", and has nothing to do with indecent exposure.
Because I've already written the software to make Forebrain act as a USB-controlled bell, you can simply download my compiled firmware (I'll tell you how later), and load it directly onto Forebrain over USB without ever having to look at a line of code. The whole process should take minutes, does not require any new software, and does not require you to learn any new skills or see a line of code.
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