555-Powered Trollduino

If you’ve poked around on hacker blogs or forums for long enough, you’ve probably come across a comment like “you could have done that with a 555 timer,” or some collection of other discrete components. While perhaps such a project is possible, the person who came up with this insult likely didn’t actually make it with a 555 before hurling these insults into cyberspace.

Yes, a 555 timer is a simpler solution in some instances, but doesn’t come in a development board format like the Arduino Uno, which allows you to just plug components in and program. Or at least it didn’t until now. That's because Mild Lee Interested has designed the Trollduino, which places an actual 555 timer onto an Uno-style board. Presumably this would let trolls who demean less experienced hackers’ blinky projects build them before putting words to a keyboard. Or maybe it could instead provide a moment of introspection to consider whether or such argument is actually worth it.

The build itself features a 555 IC, along with a variety of resistors and capacitors, and even has a barrel jack and USB connector for power. The device is pin-compatible with most Arduino shields, though as the write-up notes, its functionality maybe limited. You can, however, actually run a blink sketch with a couple resistors and a capacitor.

Although a bit of a joke, a board like this could actually be a great way to learn about this venerable component. While a schematic is available as of this writing, the author may also publish the Gerber files if there is interest in the project.