BlinkM Arduino, Sensors and Max/MSP

Hi

I have been using the BlinkM for a number of projects successfully with Max/MSP however I now want to develop a slightly more complex installation.

At the moment the BlinkM is sitting on the Arduino Duemilanove with pins connected as per guidance notes.

I want to add a touch sensor to the arduino via a breaboard and have the serial data from the sensor read by the Max patch. I don't know whether this is possible and whether I need to have two separate arduino's for this to work. I see there is a post regarding BlinkM as stand alone with a sensor but this is not really what I am looking for because BlinkM is controlled by different functions in my Max patch and stand alone would mean that his function would not exist.

Is there any way I can get the two working together and if so how? Any help would be appreciated.

I have also just seen the topic regarding the new Duemilanove with the ATMega328 chip which it now seems is the standard arduino being sold which only runs on V13 or later. I am currently running my BinkM and on my Arduino Duemilnove which I got about nine months ago on V11 without any problems and have not updated the firmware.

If I purchase a new Duemilanove I will have to update to V13.. which I am hoping is not a problem for my original Duemilanove with BlinkM. Has anyone else been using different versions of Arduinos on one Mac.

Best regards

Suse