It's here.  The MPGuino, that is. I ordered an old Spiffie kit from a member on Ecomodder, and it arrived yesterday. I just got a chance to look at it. Here are the bits and pieces:





I read the directions closely.....

1 LCD - not included. [Was used by P.O. for project.] - I have one coming separately.
1 Atmega 168 chip, check. [He actually sent two!]
1 Surface mount phone jack, check.
2 5.1v Zener Diodes, check.
2 1n4004 diodes, check.
1 10K resistor, check.
1 220 resistor, check.
2 1K resistors, check.
2 100K resistors, check.
1 7805 voltage regulator, check.
1 28 pin socket, check.
1 16Mhz crystal, check.
2 18pf ceramic capacitors, check.
1 2n3906 transistor, check.
3 6mm buttons, check.
1 470uF electrolytic capacitor, check.

4, 0.1uF ceramic capacitors, uhhh.............not here? 

Great. So I can't put this together today, after all.

So I need some ceramic capacitors. Of course, I could go to Radio Shack and probably just buy them. But that would be waay too simple (and expensive). For not much more, I can probably build another MPGuino, which I'd like to do anyway.

So I looked around online, found a decent site, Tayda Electronics. They don't have everything, but they do have an awful lot of components. And everything is dirt cheap. Most of the stuff in my cart costs a penny each.

One little caveat is that orders are a minimum of $5.00. My order total is 1.24 so far....  That's for the missing caps, plus one of everything listed except the Atmega and LCD. Odd problem to have.....What else do I need from them?

I poked around some more, and they actually have the Atmega chips! Out of stock. So I emailed them to ask if they will let me know when the chip is back in stock. I will then order the parts and finish the kit. Stay tuned......