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warming up

I still don't have all the parts I need to do what I need to do, but I started working with what I had around.

I had a 4-digit 7-segment led which I had ordered previously, but for the longest time I had thought I needed additional parts to make it work. It was only today that I realized that that was not the case.

Getting some help from this site, I was able to get the digits fired up:


This method uses way more wires than this guy (which uses a serial communications protocol called I^2C), but it's good to see it work. I still do want to try the less-wire led setup, as I would like to try playing around with I^2C.


In addition, I had recently purchased an Arduino Pro Mini, which contains all the capabilities of the above Arduino Uno but requires pins/connections to be soldered into the board. I had attempted to solder one part of it (the serial/USB connections) a few days ago (note that this was my first attempt ever at soldering), and the USB-to-Serial interface arrived today, making me try it out. Fortunately, it appears my first soldering work is a success.




I purchased a new coil of solder (63% Tin, 37% Lead) as I realized that the solder I'm using (non-lead, 99.3% tin) is not the best kind of solder for electronics. Let's see if the new solder helps me struggle less with soldering.

Anyways, I am hopeful that this will be the main device that will drive this project.


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