Arduino Notebook Cover Makes It Easy To Tinker Anywhere

arduino-notebook-cover

[Erv] was putting his holiday shopping list together and decided that instead of buying his friends something from the store, he would give them something a bit more useful. A former Electrical Engineer by trade, [Erv] typically prefers PIC microcontrollers, but he says that Arduinos are just so convenient to use for prototyping that he likes to always have one on hand.

He figured that his friends might enjoy having easy access to an Arduino as well, so he made them some slick ZapBook covers which enable them to have a prototyping platform on hand at all times. The cover is made from a PCB and includes a socket for an Arduino Pro Mini, along with a handful of built-in LEDs. He has extended a few other I/O pins from the Arduino as well, but he says that the small solder bridges connecting the LEDs can be removed in a pinch, freeing up 8 additional pins with ease. We are pretty keen on the idea of an easily portable prototyping setup, though it doesn’t hurt that [Erv] incorporated a Hack a Day skull with light up eyes into his design either!

We’re not sure if he’s planning on releasing the schematics for the board, but the notebooks would be pretty useful for any hackerspaces hosting beginner Arduino programming classes.

27 thoughts on “Arduino Notebook Cover Makes It Easy To Tinker Anywhere

  1. Great work, especially for a custom, one-off type of product. I wish I’d had the time & talent to come up with this type (and level) of gift. Sadly, I don’t think any of my friends or family would truly be able to enjoy it. I need new friends…. ;___;

    [Erv] typically prefers PIC microcontrollers, but he says that Arduinos are just so convenient to use for prototyping that he likes to always have one on hand.

    Mwahaha, another one falls to the Dark Side! j/k I think Erv nailed it with that comment: convenient to use for prototyping. Even though many of us find the Arduino platform annoying, aggravating, limited, etc., it is still damn convenient for quick & dirty operations.

  2. mhmmmm, it’s cool, but just doesn’t do it for me for some reason… Maybe it’d be better if it were a PIC. What’s missing here? IDK.

    Wouldn’t it be cool if you could program it on the go?

  3. Damn genius! I especially like the inclusion of both the HaD logo, and the SparkFun flame.

    I also definitely agree that this would make a great cover for a book about beginning with Arduinos, or microcontrollers in general. It could be a series, each with a different, more advanced cover, until the last one is an SMD uC solder pad, with SMD solder pads all over it, fully customizable.

    “That’s a million-dollar idea right there!”

  4. thanks guys. I passed the idea to sparkfun as I would love to see an official SFE arduino notebook, but I didn’t get any reply. I’m sure this idea has some potential, especially with shields. It could really be the grownup kid version of the secret agent note book (shields / accessories with magnets a carbon rubber connections stored elsewhere, like in the 3th cover !)

  5. … only addition I can think of is a built in LiPo battery (with USB charger socket of course), plug your notepad in to your err… notepad and charge it up for hours (or possibly minutes depending in the LiPo and the application) of standalone fun.

  6. Er…whats a “zapbook”? Googling confused me.

    http://blog.yonotsune.com/tag/zap-book/

    Oh, found it. Seller’s site blocked from work lol
    “This was another delightful find, Zap Book from Clairefontaine, a French stationary brand. If you’re looking to hand-write your own book, make a mini scrapbook, have too many random thoughts that you want to put into paper, etc. then this is the notebook for you.”

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