I am attempting to build an IR remote control to control my tv/BANNED player, using the 2.8" TFT Touch Shield for Arduino (https://www.adafruit.com/products/376) as the primary input inside a Adafruit MENTA - Mint Tin Arduino Compatible Kit with Mint Tin (https://www.adafruit.com/products/795). According to the friendly tutorial (http://www.ladyada.net/products/tfttouchshield/), all standard shields will fit. However, my concern is with the number of pins that the touch shield uses (they are all plugged in, though pins 2,3(Digital) and 4,5(Analog) are not used). In the tutorial it says to use a protoshield with stacking headers at access the unused pins. So, in the end I have two questions.
- 1. How exactly does this work? This is my first big project, and I have never used a protoshield. Wouldn't the unused pins be plugged into the Arduino board through the protoshield? How does using a protoshield help?
2. How much room does the 2nd shield take up? Will it still fit inside the tin?
--Polishfreak8