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I want to buy an arduino development board which has facility to remove its chip and insert a new one anytime. I want to use multiple chips in a single board for different purposes.

If it is not possible, Please suggest me any alternative.

Greenonline
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Ranjan Jha
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  • You have another post [Which Arduino has maximum features?](http://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/13786/which-arduino-has-maximum-features) which also requests `Suggest me an arduino board` - this is pretty close to a cross-post of the same question. – Nick Gammon Jul 29 '15 at 21:38
  • @NickGammon - I understand where you are coming from, but it is not necessarily true. If the title of _this_ question was changed to "Suggest me an Arduino development board _with a removable MCU_", which would more accurately describe the meat of this post, then the answer to the other question would arguably be the Arduino Mega, in lieu of the UNO. – Greenonline Jul 30 '15 at 17:55
  • Yes, putting the two posts together it is unclear if the OP wants *maximum features* or *a removable chip*. Maybe he wants the board with maximum features that also has a removable chip? Or maybe he wants two boards recommended? It isn't clear. – Nick Gammon Jul 30 '15 at 21:05

5 Answers5

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Only the Arduino Uno has a socketed IC chip. All the rest are using soldered SMD ICs.

Gerben
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  • And the 2009, but almost no one uses those anymore. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jul 28 '15 at 14:00
  • I don't think you can buy Duemilanoves anymore. Also, make sure you don't get the [Uno SMD](https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUnoSMD) obviously. – Gerben Jul 28 '15 at 14:04
  • Never underestimate the capabilities of NOS. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jul 28 '15 at 14:13
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    "I don't think you can buy Duemilanoves anymore." see http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=duemilanove and increasingly more sellers again offer Uno variations with other USB helper chips than the 8u2/16u2, so that could be seen as 2015ish version of Duemilanoves. And there is not much difference in handling between Uno and Duemilanove when you update your "2009er" to Optiboot. – gone Jul 28 '15 at 14:30
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You could get an ATmegaXX8 target board from Evil Mad Scientist. That has (or can have) a ZIF socket so you can easily remove the chip without bending its legs.

AtmegaXX8 target board

That's around $US 3 for the board, $2 for the ZIF socket, $1 for the crystal, 45 cents for the ICSP header.

You can put an Atmega328P into the socket (same chip as on the Uno). Note that some soldering is required. You would need to solder on the ZIF socket, the ISP header, and make up an FTDI header if you wanted to easily program it from the IDE.

You would also need (or it would be helpful to have) a 16 MHz crystal along with 2 x 18 pF capacitors. They have them for sale at that site.

You would also need a 10 k pull-up resistor for Reset, a couple of 0.1 µF decoupling capacitors, and another 0.1 µF capacitor for handling reset via the FTDI interface - if you use it.

If you want to program serially (and do serial debugging) you need some sort of USB interface, such as an FTDI cable or board.

Example FTDI Serial TTL-232 USB Cable.

FTDI cable

That is around $US 18. (Of course, you only need to buy the cable once, so this is a one-time cost).

You would need to solder in 6 header pins in a line to plug that into (on the prototyping area) and then run appropriate wires to Tx/Rx/Gnd/5V and Reset via the 0.1 µF capacitor I mentioned.

Adafruit have an Arduino bootloader-programmed chip (Atmega328P) for $US 6.

All-up it would probably cost you around $US 30 to put it together. (The FTDI cable is a once-off cost, as you can use that on multiple projects).

Other vendors will probably have similar products.

Nick Gammon
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  • I'm going to second the EMS board because those pin labels are super handy to have (and unstoppable when you pair it with [one of these](http://www.dipmicro.com/store/CPU-ARD328P). Can't say I like how far the crystal is, but at 20MHz it doesn't seem horrible. But get yourself a EvUSBasp; the [2015 edition](http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/USBasp-USB-ISP-3-3V-5V-AVR-Programmer-USB-ATMEGA8-ATMEGA128-New-10PIN-Wire-Support/223246_2036402518.html) has a tiny 3.3V/5V switch (and don't forget the 10-to-6-pin adapter if you need one). – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jul 30 '15 at 23:39
  • Good idea. In fact you can make those labels yourself, see [Arduino Breadboard Labels](http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=18957&p=98175#p98175) – Nick Gammon Jul 31 '15 at 00:18
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The ultimate solution would be to build it yourself!

Standalone Arduino

Arduino has an excellent step by step guide on how to build a standalone Arduino, using a ATMega328, on a breadboard. Now everything is removable, not just the chip.

Note that there is one slight error in the guide, which I have highlighted here, Arduino Standalone - photo shows incorrect pin wired to MOSI.

There is a video on how to achieve, more or less, the same thing, 1-Day Project: Build Your Own Arduino Uno for $5.

Community
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Greenonline
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It is possible, you could probably do it on most of the Arduino boards too.

This page on the Arduino website may help you - https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoToBreadboard

I have personally never attempted it but I know quite a few people who have and they have never had too many big issues.

Alex Weir
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If the question is driven by need of minimizing the overall cost, well, on ebay you can find plenty of Arduino Mini Pro at about $2, shipment included. Add an USBASP programmer at the cost of $5 and you get a solution which is still pretty cheap and allows each board to be used, rather than having just one with multiple chips to insert/remove. At a fraction of the cost of the other solutions described here.

Igor Stoppa
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