The pins on the back side are all available in the form of “jumper-wire”
connectors. If you bought the deluxe kit, you’ll already have the jumper
wires needed, otherwise you can buy them separately here.
It’s an Arduino
As I mentioned before, what makes the MaKey MaKey extra-awesome is
the fact that it’s completely Arduino-compatible.
Ardu-what-now?
Arduino is a super-popular electronics development platform. In essence,
it’s a tiny, little programmable computer, with seemingly infinite uses, that’s
been adopted as the go-to electronics platform for artists and electronics
veterans alike.
What’s made Arduino so popular, though, is the fact that it’s a lot more than
just a board full of electronics. It’s a well-documented programming
environment. It’s a huge electronics and programming resource manual.
And, most importantly, it’s a community full of both budding electronics-
addicts, and helpful EE know-it-alls.
But, I digress. Basically, the MaKey MaKey’s Arduino-ness, means that you
can easily
reprogram
it to work just exactly how you want. Do you need to
replace W, A, S, D, F and G with Q, W, E, R, T, and Y? You’re about six
lines of easy code edits, and one button click away from that quick fix!
Installing the Board
Enough talk, let’s start making! On this page we’ll detail the installation
process for both Windows and Mac OS X (which should match Linux pretty
closely).
Windows Installation
If you’re a Windows person, there are drivers. Sort of. The keyboard/mouse
part of the MaKey MaKey should not require drivers. If you have no interest
in reprogramming the board, then skip this part. But, it’s really worth it to
install the drivers. You want to get the most out of your MaKey MaKey,
right?
First, you’ll need a copy of the driver. Click here to grab the driver. You’ll
need to unzip that folder. Remember where it saves to on your computer!
1. The first time you plug your MaKey MaKey in, Windows will try to find
drivers for it. It’ll fail pretty miserably. You might get an error like this:
2. So, we’ll tell Windows what’s what with these drivers. You’ll need to
open your
Device Manager
. Either by navigating to your
Control
Panel
, then
System
, and then
Device Manager
. Or (my preferred
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