5 ms·

While not entirely related to the article, I've been wanting to start playing with an Arduino for a while now. I have a little bit of experience with circuits,

by skolor 17y ago

While not entirely related to the article, I've been wanting to start playing with an Arduino for a while now. I have a little bit of experience with circuits, but not really anything that goes beyond soldering a longer wire onto something. Does anyone have a suggestion about where to start with Arduinos? Specifically, a kit which would be complete enough to play with and make a few things.

Timothee 17y ago
I never really looked at the answers before but I know this has been talked about many times. So, I suggest that you comb through the results here: http://searchyc.com/arduino http://searchyc.com/arduino
sp332 17y ago
http://www.adafruit.com/ http://www.adafruit.com/ has nice kits, and friendly people.
- skolor 17y ago
  That was one of the places I had looked at, and was seriously considering: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=68 http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38... . My primary concern was whether or not that would be able to get me from "Huh, these sound cool" TO "well, if I go out and buy X and Y, I'll be able to make a really cool Z". I guess its finding that balance point, a kit with enough parts to take you through learning the process, but not so much stuff you end up with things you never use.
  - bockris 17y ago
    I bought this exact kit earlier this year and I fall firmly in the 'I want more neat stuff' camp. I want to buy the ARDX kit but it didn't come out until after I had already purchased the starter kit. http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=170 http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38... However you can download the PDF's (check the Resources section of the page) so I'm going to buy the missing components. Edit: One thing I am sorely missing is a decent sized breadboard for prototyping. The little mini one that comes with the starter kit is nice because it fits on the proto-shield but I want a bigger one for my initial designs.
    - skolor 17y ago
      Oooh. I never looked to closely at that one, I had figured it was mostly just the same kit, plus the plastic cards, but going through it all, it definitely looks worth the extra $20. It looks like the one I linked was enough to get someone excited about the Arduino, and the one you linked was enough to actually start making things.
      - bockris 17y ago
        Actually here is a new review that oomlout linked from their twitter feed. http://grathio.com/2009/09/review-of-the-arduino-expermentation-kit.html http://grathio.com/2009/09/review-of-the-arduino-expermentat...
blhack 17y ago
I recently bought and arduino and have been having a LOT of fun with it... Last night, actually, I was the most giddy I think I have been in YEARS... I stole two servos out of a remote control plane from my childhood, and connected them to one another so that I could point a stick at almost any point...(think like what an observatory does...the end of my servo was the telescope)... Anyhow (this is going to be a birthday present for my friend that introduced me to this)...I connected an LED to the end of a stick that was connected to one of the servos, then wrote some code to spell out words with it in the air... Set a camera in front of it, turn the lights out, expose for about 30 seconds (or however long the drawing takes) and get a word...totally stupid, totally pointless and TOTALLY fun... For this project I needed: 2 servos (any servos will pretty much work...you can buy them at your local hobby shop) 1 LED some wire. Some Spaghetti sticks (I used these to make an "arm" for the LED). The birthday present is going to be a program that spells out "Happy Birthday" in the air, as well as the source code for it :). Honestly, after the servo went back to its "home" position, and shut off the LED, it took about 10 seconds for the photo to process. Seeing the photo come onto the screen with my message in it was AMAZING. Seriously, if you're even thinking about buying one of these, JUST DO IT! Playing with this thing feels like when I first started to code way back when...
- lsb 17y ago
  That sounds really cool, you should write it up and submit it.

by skolor 17y ago

Timothee 17y ago

I never really looked at the answers before but I know this has been talked about many times. So, I suggest that you comb through the results here: http://searchyc.com/arduino http://searchyc.com/arduino

sp332 17y ago

http://www.adafruit.com/ http://www.adafruit.com/ has nice kits, and friendly people.

skolor 17y ago
That was one of the places I had looked at, and was seriously considering: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=68 http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38... . My primary concern was whether or not that would be able to get me from "Huh, these sound cool" TO "well, if I go out and buy X and Y, I'll be able to make a really cool Z". I guess its finding that balance point, a kit with enough parts to take you through learning the process, but not so much stuff you end up with things you never use.
- bockris 17y ago
  I bought this exact kit earlier this year and I fall firmly in the 'I want more neat stuff' camp. I want to buy the ARDX kit but it didn't come out until after I had already purchased the starter kit. http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=170 http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&#38... However you can download the PDF's (check the Resources section of the page) so I'm going to buy the missing components. Edit: One thing I am sorely missing is a decent sized breadboard for prototyping. The little mini one that comes with the starter kit is nice because it fits on the proto-shield but I want a bigger one for my initial designs.
  - skolor 17y ago
    Oooh. I never looked to closely at that one, I had figured it was mostly just the same kit, plus the plastic cards, but going through it all, it definitely looks worth the extra $20. It looks like the one I linked was enough to get someone excited about the Arduino, and the one you linked was enough to actually start making things.
    - bockris 17y ago
      Actually here is a new review that oomlout linked from their twitter feed. http://grathio.com/2009/09/review-of-the-arduino-expermentation-kit.html http://grathio.com/2009/09/review-of-the-arduino-expermentat...

blhack 17y ago

I recently bought and arduino and have been having a LOT of fun with it... Last night, actually, I was the most giddy I think I have been in YEARS... I stole two servos out of a remote control plane from my childhood, and connected them to one another so that I could point a stick at almost any point...(think like what an observatory does...the end of my servo was the telescope)... Anyhow (this is going to be a birthday present for my friend that introduced me to this)...I connected an LED to the end of a stick that was connected to one of the servos, then wrote some code to spell out words with it in the air... Set a camera in front of it, turn the lights out, expose for about 30 seconds (or however long the drawing takes) and get a word...totally stupid, totally pointless and TOTALLY fun... For this project I needed: 2 servos (any servos will pretty much work...you can buy them at your local hobby shop) 1 LED some wire. Some Spaghetti sticks (I used these to make an "arm" for the LED). The birthday present is going to be a program that spells out "Happy Birthday" in the air, as well as the source code for it :). Honestly, after the servo went back to its "home" position, and shut off the LED, it took about 10 seconds for the photo to process. Seeing the photo come onto the screen with my message in it was AMAZING. Seriously, if you're even thinking about buying one of these, JUST DO IT! Playing with this thing feels like when I first started to code way back when...

lsb 17y ago
That sounds really cool, you should write it up and submit it.