4tronix

4Tronix Bit:Commander Console & Controller for BBC MicroBit (BitCommander)

$44.60

Quantity

The Bit:Commander is a great device for powering and experimenting with the BBC micro:bit. It combines a speaker, RGB LEDs, battery cage, extra buttons, on/off switch, analog dial, and joystick all in one compact unit.

Overview

As well as a battery pack (3 x AA batteries required), the Bit:Commander includes

Edge Connector for easy connection of the BBC micro:bit
On/off switch
Blue power indicator
6 multi-colour RGB LEDs (aka neopixels)
4 square 12mm push buttons with coloured caps (Red. Yellow, Green, Blue)
Analog dial input with Min, Max and intermediate markings
Analog Joystick with X and Y movement and a push switch
Powered miniature speaker

Suggested uses:

Acting as a remote control for another micro:bit device, such as a Bit:Bot
Acting as a self-contained portable (no wires) games console
Experimenting with various Digital and Analog inputs available as well as the speaker and neopixel outputs
Everything is pre-fitted. No wires, soldering or jumpoers to fiddle with

Pin Connections:

Speaker: Pin 0 (*)
Dial: Pin 0 (*)
Joystick X: Pin 1
Joystick Y: Pin 2
Joystick button: Pin 8
Neopixels: Pin 13
Red Button: Pin 12
Yellow Button: Pin 16
Green Button: Pin 14
Blue Button: Pin 15

(*) Pin 0 is used both for Speaker output (using the Music or Tone output methods) as well as the Dial analog input. This causes some compromises - most notable of which is that the Dial analog input cannot reach its normal maximum value of 1023 and stops at around 850 instead. As long as the software understands this, then it shouldn't be a problem.

NB. The Bit:Commander is only powered if batteries are fitted and it is switched on. Powering the micro:bit does not power the Bit:Commander. However, when the Bit:Commander is powered up, then it will also power the micro:bit (available separately)

Resources:

See the 4Tronix Blog Post for more information

Also see Mark Atkinson's excellent site for:

Blocks programming with Bit:Commander
MicroPython programming with Bit:Commander