After experimenting with hardware, the time comes when you need to run some simple sketches to check that something is working, or you would like to be able to simply send commands to do simple tasks as turning a digital output on or off without having to endlessly write and upload basic sketches. Thanks to Roberto Valgolio life has been made easier with his Arduino serial control protocol.
Once Roberto's sketch has been uploaded, you can send various commands via the serial monitor or terminal software to activate a wide range of functions, such as pinMode, digitalWrite/digitalRead, analogRead, analogWrite and more. And with some work you could also add your own extra or customised functions.
This method is a great way of directly controlling I/O in no time at all. When testing the sketch yourself, be sure to place the line serialEvent(); in void loop() to get started. For more information and the sketch, visit Roberto's website. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're new to Arduino and want to join the fun, the first step is a solid board for your projects - our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs:
