Introduction

The Make Controller is a flexible tool that serves people of diverse backgrounds and interests very well.  But what can YOU make with the Make Controller?  What do you need to get started?

It's helpful to identify how you'll be using the Controller.  The most common approaches are:

• Desktop Developer - you create programs on the desktop that integrate physical devices.
• Microcontroller Developer - you create programs that run directly on the Make Controller, no computer involved.

You might do both, of course, but it's worth going over what's involved in each of them.  You can get a good sense of what's available by browsing the Documentation Section.

Desktop Developer

If you write software on the desktop or a server, the Make Controller can be used as an interface between your applications and the physical world. Instead of writing applications that run on the Make Controller itself, you write applications on the desktop in the language of your choice, and send messages back and forth to the Make Controller (Ethernet and/or USB) to interact with it.

The Make Controller exposes just about all its components via OSC, an open and standardized protocol, making it easy to interface from a variety of languages and environments over both USB and Ethernet.  Sending messages to turn LEDs on and off, read from the serial port, sample analog inputs and more are all easily available via OSC.  Load up the provided heavy firmware application (from the Downloads Page) to enable OSC on the Make Controller.

mchelper is an OSC enabled application that makes it easy to manually test and configure your Make Controller.  This makes it a good place to start experimenting and testing.

Example Uses

• Create a "kiosk" - a station that triggers computer actions based on physical interactions.
• Create a custom controller for an application you're working on.
• Create a physical display for your program - animate lights, dials, and other to communicate the behavior of your application.
• Use the Make Controller as a remote data node for your internet application.

Requirements

You're familiar with, or willing to learn, one of the languages that uses OSC such as:

Resources
Some helpful documents to get started integrating the Make Controller into your programs.

• The OSC tutorial and OSC reference
• The tutorial and how-to sections for OSC users
  
• The list of tutorials we have for different OSC environments
  

Microcontroller Developer

The Make Controller is fully programmable and supported by free, open-source tools.  An easy-to-use API makes it simple to write your own programs to run on the Make Controller. 

mcbuilder is a simple IDE that makes it easy to get started writing your own programs for the Make Controller.  You can also use Eclipse or Xcode to create your projects.

Example Uses

• Create a data logger or data acquisition device
• Create a remote (Ethernet) control interface
• Create an embedded interactive device (read sensor input and create a corresponding output)
• Interface with and control other hardware (wireless modules, LCDs, etc)

Requirements

• Familiar with, or willing to learn, C programming language (firmware is written in C)
• Familiar with using IDEs, and ideally command line tools (not always necessary)
• Soldering and some electronics knowledge for cases in which external hardware is involved

Resources

• Tutorial on programming the Make Controller
• Firmware API