The Bit:Commander is a great device for powering and experimenting with the BBC micro:bit.

Overview

As well as a battery pack (3 x AA batteries required), the Bit:Commander includes

• Edge Connector for easy connection of the BBC micro:bit
• On/off switch
• Blue power indicator
• 6 multi-colour RGB LEDs (aka neopixels)
• 4 square 12mm push buttons with coloured caps (Red. Yellow, Green, Blue)
• Analog dial input with Min, Max and intermediate markings
• Analog Joystick with X and Y movement and a push switch
• Powered miniature speaker

Suggested uses:

• Acting as a remote control for another micro:bit device, such as a Bit:Bot
• Acting as a self-contained portable (no wires) games console
• Experimenting with various Digital and Analog inputs available as well as the speaker and neopixel outputs
• Everything is pre-fitted. No wires, soldering or jumpoers to fiddle with

Pin Connections:

• Speaker: Pin 0 (*)
• Dial: Pin 0 (*)
• Joystick X: Pin 1
• Joystick Y: Pin 2
• Joystick button: Pin 8
• Neopixels: Pin 13
• Red Button: Pin 12
• Yellow Button: Pin 16
• Green Button: Pin 14
• Blue Button: Pin 15

(*) Pin 0 is used both for Speaker output (using the Music or Tone output methods) as well as the Dial analog input. This causes some compromises - most notable of which is that the Dial analog input cannot reach its normal maximum value of 1023 and stops at around 850 instead. As long as the software understands this, then it shouldn't be a problem.

NB. The Bit:Commander is only powered if batteries are fitted and it is switched on. Powering the micro:bit does not power the Bit:Commander. However, when the Bit:Commander is powered up, then it will also power the micro:bit

Resources:

See this Blog Post for more information

Also see Mark Atkinson's excellent site for:

• Blocks programming with Bit:Commander
• MicroPython programming with Bit:Commander