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Back to basics...no soldering required?

A project log for eMBee ONE Pocket Computer

A 1980s style 8-bit computer running BASIC. Includes OLED screen and a QWERTY keyboard. Oh, and the whole thing fits in an Altoids tin.

matthew-beggMatthew Begg 07/18/2022 at 22:041 Comment

Despite being distracted by other projects (including the eMBee TWO with colour screen), I keep being drawn back to the simplicity of the eMBee ONE and the 8-bit aesthetic. One aim is for this to be a simple project for anyone to build. Perhaps it would be possible to build this (and fit it inside the Altoids tin) WITHOUT soldering? I did some initial research into this idea, and it looks possible. The image below shows a real Altoids tin (cinnamon flavour if you must know!) with two small solder less breadboards inside. I've placed the display, keyboard connector and buzzer but didn't have an Arduino Nano with headers attached. You can see a fresh unheadered one in a bag there. But you can buy them from eBay and AliExpress with headers already attached. So this is looking very promising. Still begs the question of how to power it and still have it all fit in the tin. Also can the innards be made tidy once the hotchpotch of jumper wires are attached?

Couple of issues to consider:

What do you think to this slight change in direction towards non-soldered kits?

Discussions

Matthew Begg wrote 07/21/2022 at 07:31 point

The picture on this post shows a 0.96 OLED display with only 4 pins (I2C) but the eMBee BASIC software needs an SPI display. So I've ordered some and will post again once they arrive.

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