Background knowledge about Adafruit
Adafruit Industries was founded in 2005 by engineer Limor "Ladyada" Fried. With her company, the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) graduate wanted to create the best possible place on the Internet to learn electronics and create the best products - for creatives of all ages and technical knowledge levels. The founder was the first female engineer to grace the cover of Wired technology magazine and was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine, a business publication. The company ranked 11th among U.S. manufacturing companies in 2014 and 1st in New York City among the 5000 "fastest growing private companies."
The company name is based on the founder's online nickname: Ladyada. This in turn goes back to the computer science pioneer Ada Lovelace.
Individually controllable RGB LEDs: NeoPixel
One of the most prominent products from Adafruit is the NeoPixel product line. These are individually addressable RGB LEDs, based on WS2812 LEDs and an integrated WS2811 driver chip. Especially on a developer board the number of available channels is limited and RGB LEDs occupy three analog channels (red, green, blue). The integrated chip, on the other hand, occupies a single output of the board. Adafruit offers versatile NeoPixel products, such as LED strips, rings, matrices and sticks. In addition to RGB technology, the company also carries RGBW (red, green, blue, white) variants.
To support NeoPixel programming for Arduino boards, Adafruit provides a large library.
Feather developer boards - light and compact
The New York-based company is also known for its so-called Feather developer boards, whose naming is due to their exceptionally light and compact design. They bear a resemblance to Arduino boards and can be easily operated with a battery. The first Feather board appeared at the end of 2015, and all series feature the same design, pinout, similar microcontrollers and lithium-polymer batteries. The respective release is always on Wednesdays on Adafruit's own electronics show "Ask an Engineer". Each board has its own special feature, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or SD card communication.
Adafruit products in the online shop
In our online store you can find a wide range of Adafruit products - starting with versatile extensions for Arduino, such as LCD displays and various cables. Also discover a wide NeoPixel assortment, be it LED matrices, rings, jewels or sticks. Furthermore, we carry different models of Feather developer boards, the popular FLORA wearables and much more. Order your desired item now.
