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I would encourage everyone to give an Arduino a go. You can pick them up for a few bucks each, and even kits full of sensors and hookup wires are quite cheap. T

I would encourage everyone to give an Arduino a go. You can pick them up for a few bucks each, and even kits full of sensors and hookup wires are quite cheap. The range of micros available now is huge, and many of them have useful stuff like built in WiFi (like an ESP8266). You need very little electronics knowledge to do a whole heap of fun things, and tutorials and libraries are absolutely everywhere.

kusha 8y ago
In the world of $5 Raspberry PI Zero Ws with BT/Wifi/Full Distro why even consider Arduino anymore?
- northwest65 8y ago
  To get started with an Arduino you install the IDE and plug it into a USB cable, load Blink and hoorah your first program is already running. By comparison a PI is far more mucking around https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-se...
- schwartzworld 8y ago
  Arduinos are just a micro-controller. You wouldn't want a full linux distro for a lot of the things they are used for. A raspberry pi to just blink some LEDs or make a HID device would be way overkill You can't effectively battery-power a Pi and they can overheat without ventilation, so for wearables, Pi isn't even a choice. Arduinos come in a lot of flavors, and many have features that Pi doesn't, like lots of analogue inputs for example. And cost IS still a factor. A $5 pi requires an SD card at a minimum. You can get Chinese arduinos for like $2 apiece.
- codesushi42 8y ago
  Because Rpis and Arduinos are completely different. Arduinos have a microcontroller onboard, not a microprocessor. Along with ADC and PWM to simulate DAC. You need a real-time system like Arduino in order to properly interface with sensors and actuators.
- chrisparton1991 8y ago
  You can get an Arduino Nano clone for considerably less than $5 on eBay. The cheapest price I can find a local Pi Zero for on eBay is $24 AUD (without an SD card). I use Arduinos and similar boards to drive addressable LED strips. A lot of these strips require extremely precise timing, which is difficult or impossible to get from a Pi for some strips. From another perspective, the limitations of the Arduino boards (e.g. RAM measured in kilobytes) force you to think harder about how you want to solve a problem, which can be quite an enjoyable challenge.

kusha 8y ago

In the world of $5 Raspberry PI Zero Ws with BT/Wifi/Full Distro why even consider Arduino anymore?

northwest65 8y ago
To get started with an Arduino you install the IDE and plug it into a USB cable, load Blink and hoorah your first program is already running. By comparison a PI is far more mucking around https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-se...
schwartzworld 8y ago
Arduinos are just a micro-controller. You wouldn't want a full linux distro for a lot of the things they are used for. A raspberry pi to just blink some LEDs or make a HID device would be way overkill You can't effectively battery-power a Pi and they can overheat without ventilation, so for wearables, Pi isn't even a choice. Arduinos come in a lot of flavors, and many have features that Pi doesn't, like lots of analogue inputs for example. And cost IS still a factor. A $5 pi requires an SD card at a minimum. You can get Chinese arduinos for like $2 apiece.
codesushi42 8y ago
Because Rpis and Arduinos are completely different. Arduinos have a microcontroller onboard, not a microprocessor. Along with ADC and PWM to simulate DAC. You need a real-time system like Arduino in order to properly interface with sensors and actuators.
chrisparton1991 8y ago
You can get an Arduino Nano clone for considerably less than $5 on eBay. The cheapest price I can find a local Pi Zero for on eBay is $24 AUD (without an SD card). I use Arduinos and similar boards to drive addressable LED strips. A lot of these strips require extremely precise timing, which is difficult or impossible to get from a Pi for some strips. From another perspective, the limitations of the Arduino boards (e.g. RAM measured in kilobytes) force you to think harder about how you want to solve a problem, which can be quite an enjoyable challenge.