Ben LimOn 28 April 2017 I conducted the first test of the ULCEKit. It was a class of 20 university students and lasted about 2 hours.
Most of the class did not have any electronics knowledge and there were some challenges in setting up because the CH340G drivers are not compatible with MacOS. With this in mind, the next set of devices will instead target the CP2104 drivers which are better supported and used by Adafruit and Sparkfun.
After the lesson, a quick survey was conducted:
Fun: 4.8/5
Too expensive: $21
Too cheap: $3
Starting to get expensive: $15
Bargain price: $8
So it seems like the right price would be in the low tens range, which is close to the cost point of developing the goods.
Total soldering time was about 5 hours, and packing took about 2 hours.
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That issue with the CH340G driver is annoying on Windows also. Even after finally getting it successfuly installed Windows will often not see the Arduino board on the USB port so you have to unplug and replug it again. Becomes a chaotic waste of time when working with a group when the PC stops communicating with the Arduino in the middle of a session. I had this happen on both Win7 and Win10. My recommendation: Forget MacOS and Windows. Use a Linux distribution like Ubuntu. It just works, and it keeps working. At least that's my experience.
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Unfortunately students were using their own machines, and it is more useful to do so since this would allow them to prototype anywhere especially when they are still beginning.
While the CH340G drivers are good for people who don't mind spending a little bit of time, the lack of compatibility on other platforms limits the use of chips.
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