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3. Headers: The main board uses male and female headers of various sizes in up to 17 different
locations, depending on which upgrade boards you are installing, if any. If you are not installing
any upgrade boards, you will install male headers in 3 different locations, and no female headers.
The Expression upgrade adds 2 female headers to the main board. Those headers are packaged
with the Expression upgrade. The Stereo upgrade adds 3 female headers and 9 male headers to
the main board. Those parts are packaged with the Stereo upgrade.
PLEASE NOTE
: Your kit contains the necessary number of header pins in one or
more sections. If you have more than one section, be mindful when you break them
apart into the individual lengths required for the build. Plan ahead so that you do not
end up with a few pieces of one-pin header. This would be annoying.
We’ll start with the 3 male headers that go on the main board, common to all VPM-1 versions.
a. ISP header: By installing a 2x3 header array, you create an ISP (in-system programming)
port. This is a little socket that enables you to plug a cable into your VPM-1 and upload (or
“flash”) new software onto the control chip (aka the microcontroller unit, or MCU). The
microcontroller in this kit comes pre-programmed with the software needed to make your
VPM-1 work, but you can mod or tweak the software and re-program the chip, if you are
into that sort of thing. See the VPM-1 Owner’s Guide for more information about this.
Carefully break two pieces with three pins each off of the row of header pins. You can use
your fingers to do this (13). Insert the two pieces in the pads marked “ISP” (14). The short
pins go through the board; the long pins point up. Make sure the bottoms of the headers are
flat against the circuit board.
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