{"id":64,"date":"2016-03-08T11:30:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T07:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elmeranta.fi\/blog\/?p=64"},"modified":"2016-03-08T15:30:23","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T11:30:23","slug":"chinese-arduino-nano-clones-with-ch340-usb-chips-and-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elmeranta.fi\/blog\/2016\/03\/chinese-arduino-nano-clones-with-ch340-usb-chips-and-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Arduino Nano clones with CH340 USB chips and Windows 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"arduiono_nano_ebay\"<\/a>

Cheap, unsoldered Nano clone on eBay<\/p><\/div>\n

So what do we have here?<\/h3>\n

If you’re like me, and on your first steps into playing around with Arduino based boards, you probably chose a cheap eBay clone of your chosen Arduino board.<\/p>\n

Something like the one pictured on the right.<\/p>\n

To be honest, it’s hard to justify 18 UK pounds + VAT + shipping for a genuine Arduino board vs 1.5 pounds *including* shipping – at least for a pet learning project!<\/p>\n

Especially<\/strong> when a 4-core Raspberry Pi 3 with 1GB of memory costs just 30 pounds (yes, I know they are different beasts power consumption, etc wise, but I’m thinking of pure hardware costs here – I should know since as of writing this, I own 4 RPis from version 1 to 3).<\/p>\n

Mind you, I’m not saying the Arduino people don’t deserve our support, because they absolutely do. So if you’re not getting their hardware, drop them a donation – the link is easy to find on their download page (link below).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why the Nano, or Arduino in general?<\/h3>\n

Price issues aside, I’m one of those individuals that doesn’t like taking on a fly with a sledgehammer – not when a \u00a31.5 flyswatter will do.<\/p>\n

Also, while most of the hardware addons have had their Arduino libraries ported to RPi, for example, there’s\u00a0 beauty in using a piece of hardware on the platform it was developed for, with the libraries that were written for it.<\/p>\n

Also, no OS installation, no SD cards, etc. So if your project is not overly complicated (needs network \/ server, etc), you’re probably better off with the old, smart KISS -move.
\n(“Keep It Simple, Stupid”…)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Getting that thing running…<\/h3>\n

First you want to get two things before you plug in that thing (and see if it even works):<\/p>\n