Project Description

The MHVBoard is an open-source Arduino clone, released under the TAPR Noncommercial Hardware License. It is based on the Metaboard from Metalabs, with substantial tweaks.

Some of the more significant differences against the Arduino include:

• Prototyping area
• V-USB directly to the microcontroller, allowing emulation of low-speed USB devices
• 20MHz clock speed (vs 16MHz on the Arduino)
• Breadboard compatible, even with narrow breadboards (a right-angle header is provided for JP4 so you can plug it into your breadboard sideways)
• Completely hand solderable (a local lecturer has even built a course around these)
• TTL serial header

The picture above is an older version of the board, to give you an idea of the finished product. It is 5 revisions old though, and much has changed since then:

• Onboard LED on B5/Arduino 13 can be disabled
• Added 3.3V regulator & reset lines
• Made Arduino shield compatible (the old revision was breadboard compatible only)
• Relocated ICSP header to the Arduino location to support the more oddball shields
• Added a power LED
• Used displaced drills to make it easier to solder the headers
• Removed the upload jumper (this is now handled in software instead)

The full schematic and board layout is available on the project page for anyone to make use of. You can also view a high res render of the board layout.

All funds raised will go towards getting the new revision fabricated. Anything left over will fund further development into MHVLib, an efficiency oriented runtime library for AVR microcontrollers.

All rewards will be posted out mid-December at the latest (sooner if the funding target is achieved earlier), so your shiny toy will be in your hands in time for Christmas.

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