Breadboardable ioBridge

[zero*gx]

I think a version of the iobridge that was able to natively plug into a bradboard would be cool, and extremly useful... the system of having plugs hanging off the front looks a little goofy, and by using a breadboard, it is possible to expand the system to as much working space as needed, simply by adding more breadboards.

[nick]

I had the same thought.  I think that a jumper cable to connect the plugs on the ioBridge to a breadboard would probably work just as well and be simpler.  I'm thinking a cable that has a molded plug at one end, and five pins on the other.  The five pins would each have a couple inches of wire so you could put them where ever you want on the breadboard.  It would be nice to have solderable pins for more permanent prototypes.

I know that you can just plug jumper wires into the molded plugs on the ioBridge, but I find they tend to fall out after a while.

[jason]

I've been thinking about this as well.  We just need to find the right sized breadboard and stick it to the top with double sided foam tape.

One drawback is that the breadboard can't be too big or else it will cover up the LED display.  But we could make the label smaller and put it on the button instead of the top. 

[zero*gx]

i know sparkfun carries mini breadboards. they might be the right size. i was thinking more along the lines of something that plugged into a breadboard... you would have a piece of circuit board that plugged into the center divide on the breadboard. you would have everything except the voltage regulators, and connectors all sitting on one thing. the voltage regulators could be built elsewhere on the board, and the iobridge chip would only need to handle the communications, so less pins would be needed on the iobridge chip. power would come from the power rails.

parallax makes a version of the propellor education kit that is on a breadboard, and it was fairly easy to setup, and works fairly well.

finally, the other benefit would be the costs would be cheaper, and if a user wanted to build a permenant embedded system, the iochip could just be soldered ontop of a pcb or placed in a dip socket.

[noelportugal]

This radioshack breadboard worked well for me.

[zero*gx]

that looks around the right size. if iobridge were going to add a breadboard, theycould the lcd display on a tetherable piece. a circuit board that would sit on the side of the breadboard, with a removal tether cord to connect it to the unit.