What should I get? I saw the Arduinos in radio shack and I did some reading on what they are and fell in love. I want to try it on linux and windows and make a hobby out of it. What board should I get? I want a ton of options and flexibility. Also any knowledge and experiences are welcome 
I think maybe an Uno?
All of the Radio Shacks near me sell both the Uno and the Mega as well as a few shields.
I personally bought an UNO first as it is cheaper and since by itself it is quite boring, I had more she money to spend on other components.
You will quickly find yourself bored with turning the on board pin 13 light on and off and want more cool stuff.Radio shack has a fairly limited selection of bits to play with but you can get LED's, switches, IR transmitters and receivers, and basic caps and resistors. Beyond that you will have to go online unless you are lucky enough to have one of the few retailers close by that sells hobby electronics.
Well, in flint theres this crazy computer store I was told about and I bet they have stuff. But other then that I'll get an uno. I'm kind of disappointed that ubuntu's packages are behind though. Luckily I can get windows and my netbook could be used to program on too.
Do you mean Flint MI? If so and you are not too far away, check out MicroCenter in Madison Heights, they have a decent selection. Last time I was in there, they had the Ultimate Microcontroller Pack from Maker Shed, which looks to be a good starter.
Radio Shack is hit or miss, depending on your location. I have 4 within 20 miles of me and one has a great setup and the others carry very little.
Can you tell anything about your technical knowledge sofar.
- ever programmed
- ever soldered
- worked with electrictronics
General advice - start with an UNO and the examples in the tutorial section. They are a great learner.
or download - Loading... -
Studying cyber defense, have programmed java and want to learn python. work remotely as a web design coder (not that good though) and yes Flint MI
go start with UNO, the programming language will be not the problem I think. YOu just should get used that there is limited memory and no garbage collector 
also read - Arduino Playground - Java - might be interesting
One other question can I wipe the board when I'm done with a project?
What you are programming is 1 chip and you can rewrite that over 50,000 times. These boards are development boards. One direction you can take is to use the board to program stand-alone projects. So you keep the project and use the same board to make the next and so on. Of course you will need to buy more chips, but those are cheap if you shop in the right places ----
which leads to WTH are you doing in Radio Shack? Okay, price on the Arduino's isn't so bad there but the project kits are steep!
Are you able to shop online and can you wait for parts by mail? The savings are worth it and you can get things you won't see on most any store shelf.
I'm pretty sure there's at least one shopping thread here so I won't post my 20+ links.
Oh yea I can go online I just like having things right away. I'll probably buy the board there and then go online. Maybe some stores in flint.
YOu can ask your local store in flint if (s)he can inform you about other arduino adepts around.. Hang up a small poster?
I was pleasantly surprised at the Arduino price at Radio Shack. The convenience of immediate delivery is worth the extra $5 or $6. Espeically considering you would spend at least half that on shipping.
The price on the board is great for RS! If I needed one in an emergency, it's good to know they're there. I used to buy chips and components at RS for the convenience and then around 1987 they cut the selection way back while pushing phones and the Trash-80 incompatible-slot and drive PC's.
robtillaart:
YOu can ask your local store in flint if (s)he can inform you about other arduino adepts around.. Hang up a small poster?
There are a couple of us hacks in the area...
In most areas you can search a bit for computer users groups. From there you can find the chip heads through the geek to geek network.
Right on! I'll be getting one soon. My first project will be the bug zapper. I also think I'll put a numeric read-out on it. [quote author=Jack Christensen link=topic=97172.msg730594#msg730594 date=1332161117]
robtillaart:
YOu can ask your local store in flint if (s)he can inform you about other arduino adepts around.. Hang up a small poster?
There are a couple of us hacks in the area...
[/quote]
We'll have to get in touch while I'm in flint! I applied at Radio Shack so maybe if I get a job there I can try to get more stuff in there as well.
I too am local to that area. What crazy computer store are you referring to?
I know of an electronic parts place in St. Clair Shores (11mi and Harper area) called Abel Electronics.
Let Jack and I know if you are in the area and want to meet somewhere?
duckie
I'm on spring break right now so after break I could meet up. I'm in my home town right now. But my friends in one of my classes that are native to flint told me about microcenter and I think it was mentioned on here. I don't know the area that well as to where to go for good electronic stuff. Maybe the mall would be a good place. I'll have to figure it out when I go back. I'm at school tues through thurs and I have to get a ride but yea should be feasible.