Link: ATmega32U4 Development Board

• This compact and elegant development board is powered by the ATmega32U4 microcontroller, a popular choice among hobbyists and engineers, especially those working on custom keyboard projects. The chip’s native USB support makes it ideal for creating devices that communicate directly with computers without requiring additional hardware.

• Although the ATmega32U4 is an older chip and has been largely replaced by more powerful alternatives from other manufacturers, it still enjoys strong software support and a large community of users. Many well-known boards use this chip, which means there are plenty of tutorials, libraries, and examples available to help you get started.

• The board features a modern USB-C connector, which, while not supporting USB Power Delivery, offers a more durable and user-friendly connection compared to older USB types. This design choice makes it more reliable and future-proof in terms of physical connectivity.

• It includes three LEDs: a power LED (D1), a receive LED (D2), and a transmit LED (D3). These provide visual feedback during communication and power status, making it easier to debug and monitor your projects.

• A 500 mA fuse is integrated directly into the power pin from the USB connector, offering basic protection against overcurrent situations. This helps prevent damage to the board or connected devices in case of accidental short circuits or improper power usage.

• The board provides 2x13 pins, with two dedicated as power (5V and GND), one as a reset pin (RST), and the remaining 23 as general-purpose I/O (GPIO) pins. In addition to standard peripherals like SPI, I2C, and UART, it also supports timers, interrupts, analog inputs, and digital I/O, giving you a wide range of capabilities for various applications.

• The board's width is designed to match the standard breadboard pitch, spanning from column A to J. While it occupies the full width of a single breadboard, when two breadboards are placed side by side, all the pins become easily accessible, making it very convenient for prototyping.

• To use the board for the first time, you need to burn a bootloader onto the ATmega32U4 using another Arduino as an ISP programmer. Once done, the board can be programmed via USB just like a regular Arduino. Alternatively, you can program the chip directly using an AVR programmer, which can save some flash memory by skipping the bootloader.