Part of The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009
Blinky projects – Open source hardware tends to have a lot of projects that blinky, pulse, and light up. It’s a hard category to define exactly, so I’m calling it blinky projects. From a “Larsen scanner” (cylon) to making your bicycle spell words in the air, all of these projects are filled with LEDs.
MiniPOV
The 3rd generation MiniPOV is perfect for beginners who are looking to learn how to solder, how to program microcontrollers, or make LED blinky toys. Because the programmer is built into the kit, you don’t need a special “microcontroller programmer”. This version can be used with PCs (Linux/Unix or Windows) and Macs (running MacOS X and with a USB/serial converter).
Price: $17.99
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SpokePOV
Spoke POV is an easy-to-make electronic kit toy that turns your bicycle wheel into a customized display! The project includes a free schematic design, open software for uploading and editing stored bitmap images, and a high-quality kit with all the parts necessary to build your own.
Price: $37.50 and up
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Peggy, Peggy 2
A versatile, high-brightness LED display, Peggy 2 is an updated version of the Peggy light-emitting pegboard display. Version 2 adds simple animation capability and Arduino compatibility.
Price: $94.95
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LED Micro-Readerboard Kit
This fun little open source soldering kit provides an introduction to the capabilities of microcontrollers.The readerboard spells out preprogrammed messages such as “MAKE” one letter at a time on its alphanumeric LED display.
Price: $15.00
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Buy one @ Maker Shed
USB 7 – 6 Digit LED Display Kit
The USB7 expands most computers with a USB connected 6-digit, seven-segment display. Supporting letters, numbers, and a range of punctuation, the USB7 benefits any project requiring highly visible information. Using common a USB cable for both communication and power, the USB7 requires no special or bulky cables and with a simple virtual-serial port protocol, sending regular ASCII characters is all that’s required to control the USB7s full output capacity. Based on the AVR-CDC project, the USB7 is supported by Windows XP, Windows 2000, OS X, and many Linux variants.
Price: $25.99
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Trippy RGB Waves Kit
Imagine a bunch of little lights on a table, each about the size of a chess piece, each independent of the others. Arrange them any way you want. Each one continually, slowly changes colors on its own — but when you wave your hand over them, they create waves of colors that follow your hand. Trippy! Another awesome and affordable kit from the creator of the TV-B-Gone and the Brain Machine, Mitch Altman.
Price: $10.00
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Larson Scanner Kit
The Larson Scanner is named after Glen A. Larson, the man responsible for producing the original Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider television shows. The kit is very easy to build, and includes a preprogrammed microcontroller, battery holder, and nine ultrabright red LEDs. Once you’ve built it, you’ll have a beautiful back-and-forth scanning red light, ready for incorporation into various sci-fi props, costumes, and pumpkins.
Price: $13.00
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Wee Blinky
The Wee Blinky is a simple LED flasher kit that you can build.
Price: $8.00
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Lux Spectralis
The Lux Spectralis is a deluxe RGB (red, green and blue) LED (light emitting diode) blinky that you can build.
Price: $10.00
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TinyCylon
The original Cylons are from TV’s Battlestar Galactica. They are humanoid robots with a scanning red visor where their eyes should be.
Price: $10.00
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Buy one @ Maker Shed
Open heart kit
The Open Heart is an LED matrix of individually addressable LEDs. It can be used to create a brooch or bag light with highly customizable animations. It can be configured so that you can temporarily attach it to fabrics with headers that you simply push through, or you can configure it to be sewn into a project using conductive fabric for a more permanent setup
Price: $18.00
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Buy one @ Maker Shed
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