The easiest and most exciting drop in the world of microcontrollers or Meggy Jr RGB

So, to all lovers of retro games, pixel art, iron like arduino, and those who have creeped in the idea of ​​writing their simple game, without going too far into the jungle of datasheets!

I want to present you an 8-bit game handheld, on the Atmega-328 microcontroller, with a large, bright screen with pixels that can not be overlooked.
On board there is: 32KB of memory for your code, 6 buttons, a simple speaker, 8 additional diodes and a connector for programming and data exchange.

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What can be done with such small resources?
But in any case, the main resource is your imagination and experience!



device overview


Atmega328
- the heart of our toy
  • Clock frequency: 16 MHz
  • Flash memory capacity: 32 kb
  • SRAM memory capacity: 2 kb
  • EEPROM memory capacity: 1 kb


RGB LED matrix

consists of 64 RGB diodes, so we have to control 192 diodes.
Using PWM, you can get a glow of absolutely any color and brightness.

ISP interface

in fact, good old RS-232, with it we will flash the atmega and transfer data from the computer to meggs, or from meggs to meggs, or to any other scarf.

other board elements

The speaker is very simple, controlled by PWM, emits funny blips, the
buttons click loudly, there is a case for three AAA batteries and the ability to solder the headphone jack.

I am a fan of minimalism, to do something as rationally as possible and as cheaply as possible - this is a real challenge! This immediately attracted me to Meggy.
Remember how you competed with dad in childhood who will score more points in Tetris?
That is it. This game brings back that unforgettable feeling.

I completely forgot, you need to collect everything yourself!

Assembly


The set comes in a box, like for a small pizza, inside a bunch of sealed bags in which the parts are laid out right by the assembly steps, detailed instructions for assembly and programming, a couple of stickers and a cable for connecting to a computer.

But I hasten to please everyone who is afraid or simply did not try to solder something! Everything is very simple, even a primary school student can assemble it with the help of the simplest soldering iron.

The assembly process itself takes an hour or two and enters into a peaceful mood. :)
The game is already wired into the microcontroller, so right after assembly you can relax a bit and try your creation.

Programming


Here, as with the assembly. Everything is very simple!
Download the latest version of arduino, a library for meggie and go! The brochure describes everything in great detail. Whoever went through basic Pascal at school can easily write the first program.

At the same time, many interesting programs have been written for Meggy: the

game built in at the beginning


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MIDI-player with a computer and Wi-Mouta


a bunch of snakes, pongs, labyrinths and more.

Subjective opinion


I always loved simple toys: tetris, electronics, pinballs and more.
When I saw this kit, I immediately decided to buy it, while I was still studying at the institute and worked part-time as a technician in one place. Checked and repaired the scarves. I was already familiar with ibei, so I had a card and peypal. I ordered the kit, after 3 weeks I received it.
Before that, I only programmed at school, I was with you with microcontrollers. A month later he wrote his snake, then a couple more games. Then I tried ARM controllers at work, gradually got involved and now I graduated from the institute a year ago, I have not repaired and delved into the mistakes of assemblers for a long time. I changed my work to a more interesting one and I continue to plunge this fascinating abyss of computers in a crystal.

I wrote all this to the fact that I believe that education should be like this:
interesting and exciting - it motivates.
These should be toys for adults and children - educational.

Here you can familiarize yourself with the kit and order its

collection of projects

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