The Arduino Uno and a Mac

I finally managed to get my hands on an Arduino board a couple of days ago and have been playing around with it this evening.

Arduinos run one bit of code - that's it. Whereas Raspberry Pi's can have operating systems installed and all sorts, the Arduino has a bit of code it runs over and over again.

I wanted to make an LED blink (who doesn't?!) as my first experience, however - I was struggling to get my Mac to see the board. I had purchased a Sintron Uno and thought it was the knock-off board that was giving me sub-par performance.

After much-a-googling, I eventually discovered it was because of my computer missing the drivers. If found the steps below to ensure my Mac had Arduino Uno drivers installed correctly:

  • Open up terminal

Run the following commands

$ cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
$ sudo mv AppleUSBFTDI.kext AppleUSBFTDI.disabled
$ sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
  • Reboot
  • Install FTDI Chip Drivers
  • Open up the Arduino program
  • Select the correct Port from Tools -> Port -> /dev/cu.usbmodem411

Happy coding!

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Mike Street

Written by Mike Street

Mike is a CTO and Lead Developer from Brighton, UK. He spends his time writing, cycling and coding. You can find Mike on Mastodon.