Goldilocks is an Arduino-compatible board with many advanced features suitable for experienced developers.

Software Installation

Download the latest Arduino IDE (v1.0.5 or newer) for your operating system from www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and install it to suit. You'll find more step-by-step guides for installation here: www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage.

Board Profile Installation

The ATmega1284P MCU used on the Goldilocks is not directly supported by the Arduino IDE, so a board profile needs to be installed before you can upload sketches.

1. Check the location of your "sketchbook" folder. You can determine this by launching the IDE and looking in the Preferences menu.

2. Open your sketchbook folder and create a new folder inside it called "hardware" if it does not already exist.

3. Download the Goldilocks board profile to suit your board. Most Goldilocks boards run at 20MHz, but some can be overclocked to 22.1184MHz. Download the profile to suit your board. You can also install both profiles if you have boards at both speeds:

4. Move the downloaded board profile inside the "hardware" directory you created previously, and unzip it. You should end up with a directory containing a file called "boards.txt" and various other directories. The correct path for the boards file will be "sketchbook/hardware/Goldilocks-20/boards.txt" for the 20MHz version, for example.

5. Quit and restart the Arduino IDE so it will recognise the new board profile.

6. Open Tools > Board and verify that you have an entry for the new board profile called "Freetronics Goldilocks 20MHz" or "Freetronics Goldilocks 22.1184MHz" as appropriate.

Initial Board Setup

You won't need to do this again unless the serial port number changes such as when using a different USB port on your computer.

1. In the Arduino IDE, select Tools > Board > Freetronics Goldilocks 20MHz.

2. Before connecting your Goldilocks to the USB port, have a look at the list of ports in Tools > Serial Port. That's where your Goldilocks serial port is going to appear when you plug it in.

3. Connect your Goldilocks to the computer USB port. We supply an appropriate USB cable with the Goldilocks. After a short while if you look at Tools > Serial Port again you'll see a new port appear: that's the Goldilocks ready to be used. Select that port now with Tools > Serial Port so there is a tick mark next to it

4. You're ready to go. The Arduino IDE now knows about your board and has a connection to it. Our Goldilocks boards ship with the "Blink" sketch preloaded so you should immediately see the blue power LED illuminate, and the red D13 LED will begin flashing on and off at 1 second intervals.

Other Resources

The Goldilocks board has many advanced features not covered in this quickstart guide. Phillip Stevens (originator of the Goldilocks project) has created a detailed Goldilocks User Manual which covers many of these features.