Now that we have our board add-on installed, we can get started playing around with the development board. For the scope of this tutorial, we will highlight a few of the features on the board. From there we will be able to build our own custom code to integrate the development board into a project.
In this example, we will blink the LED that is built into the SparkFun Thing Plus NORA-W306.
The connection is the same as explained earlier in the tutorial. Connect the USB cable to the SparkFun Thing Plus NORA-W306. Of course, make sure to connect the other end to your computer.
Let's upload a sketch to the board. This example is the basic Arduino blink example. Note that we specify pin 18
instead of using the macro called LED_BUILTIN
.
Copy and paste the following code in the Arduino IDE. Select the correct board definition from the menu (in this case, Tools > Board > Realtek Ameba Boards (32-bits ARM Cortex-M33 @200MHz) > SparkFun Thing Plus NORA-W306 (RTL8720DF). Then select the correct COM port that the board enumerated to (in this case, it was COM13). Hit upload button.
/*
Blink
Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
This example code is in the public domain.
*/
// Pin 18 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards.
// give it a name:
int led = 18; //LED is connected to pin 18 on the SparkFun Thing Plus NORA-W306
//NOTE: You can also use LED_BUILTIN.
// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}
// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
digitalWrite(led, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
delay(1000); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(led, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}
!!! note
Note: You can also use the macro for the LED by using LED_BUILTIN
. The code in the built-in Arduino examples will function the same as well!
Once uploaded, check the LED labeled as 18 on the board. It should be blinking on and off every second! Sweet!