What is on the Board?
The micro:bit has a lot to offer when it comes to onboard inputs and outputs. In fact, there are so
many things packed onto this little board that you would be hard-pressed to really need anything
else if your goal is to explore the basics of programming and hardware.
Front
On the front of the board there are a number of components that are pretty visible right off the bat!
1.
LED Array
— The micro:bit has a 5x5 LED array that you can use as a tiny screen to draw
on and display words, numbers and other information.
2.
A/B Buttons
— Two buttons in all of their clicky glory: A is on the left, B is on the right, and
both are prime for controlling a game of your design.
3.
Edge “Pins”
— The gold tabs at the bottom of the board are for hooking up external
components. The tabs with larger holes can be easily used with alligator clips to prototype
things quickly!
4.
Light Sensor
— A bit of a hidden gem. The LED array doubles as a light sensor!
Back
The back is where a lot of the magic happens. Check it out…
1.
Microcontroller
— The brains of the outfit. The micro:bit is powered by a 16MHz ARM
Cortex-M0 microcontroller with 256KB Flash and 16KB RAM.
