tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5782074057859078915.post-66072155681440517412008-02-13T12:37:00.000-05:002008-02-13T12:37:00.000-05:00so the biggest secrets i have learned about kits is:<BR/>* make the kit complete<BR/>* make it do something when you build it<BR/><BR/>when i say complete i mean, you should offer a version that has -everything- so that when the box arrives you can make it do stuff (other than, say, really basic stuff like tools & batteries). its frustrated me to get a kit and then it turns out i have to go to radioshack and buy a 9V battery clip cause it doesnt come with one.<BR/><BR/>when i say do something, i mean you should have the software/firmware ready to make it interact with the existing monome software. if its not easy to load it onto the uC (say, because its not an arduino) then it should be preprogrammed. i bought an avr programmer kit and it turned out the microcontroller in the kit arrives blank. so i needed a programmer to make the programmer kit work.<BR/><BR/>but there are tons of things you can do to pare down costs. for example, instead of buying from a middleman and paying $1.50/led you can go direct with http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/led/LE1011.htm<BR/>and only pay $0.60 (LEDs aren't manufactured in the US so basically any US sellers are just buying from China/Taiwan/Brazil, etc and reselling)<BR/>if you post to the ladyada forums i can probably help you in detail. but a lot of it is deciding what you want to do with the kit and how many you are interested in selling.Limorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17180599896118348096noreply@blogger.com