Arduino Mini Pro

Arduino Pro Mini is a wonderful board, that with only a little soldering comes great. I love the integrated power regulation that allows you to plug it to a more than common 9v wall plug. Here's a page about some things I discovered that might be some help for you ... or at least for me not to forget it :P

Uploading code to the Mini Pro

I copy and paste my post on the Arduino Forum ... finding this saved me of becoming crazy
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1244146665/0#14

Hi all,
 
I had the same problem with my Arduino Mini Pro 8MHz/3.3v and found my/the answer.
 
The key is the bootloader that is on the Mini Pro:
If the default pattern of the led is (_ = off, * = on) :
__________ (simple slow pace blinking) ... you must choose in the Arduino software 
"Board = Arduino Mini Pro" (my first Mini Pro was like that and working)
 
 BUT **
 
if the pattern is ____*____*___*__*_***** (like a drum rolling faster) you must choose "Board = Arduino Duemillanove w/ ATMega 328" ! 
And it started working just fine !
 
It took me a few hours to desperately try that, and it worked just fine   Smiley I think the key is that the "older" generation came with a 
old bootloader with a specific signature, but the new ones come with another signature that match the Duemillanove 328.
 
Hope this helps. At least it saved me from throwing my 3 Mini Pro to the bin! And no need for any kind of rewiring the FTDI connector, the 
Sparfun 3.3v works just fine it you plug it the right way (not upside down).
 
Cheers,
Alan. 

Please, don't do this

To my great shame, I s*ck at electronics. Really. To the point I misread the pins on the board and plugged my unregulated 9v (meaning 15v I assume when not too much used) to the Vcc pin ... that was expecting 3.3v. As you can expect, my board became very hot within seconds and left us for the country of the happy boards ... now even if you plug it to a fully working FTDI usb board, it overheats within seconds, saying at which point it is dead.
Please, never do this. The unregulated pin is on the side and is labelled RAW (for the ground, use its GND friend just next): don't forget this lesson that cost me a board and some unsoldering/rewiring time.