New book and projects kit: An Arduino Workshop

Hi smiley,

how many pages are there in the book?

214

It's great to see this come out, Smiley! I think it hits at just the right level, pitched a bit beyond a pure beginner's guide so that it can help people get through the "what next?" hump after doing Blink and other basic things. I think the associated hardware pack will be super-popular, too, that's a great move. One of the things I keep being asked about is whether there's a pack to go with Practical Arduino so I'm sure yours will sell like hot-cakes.

Jon
Freetronics: www.freetronics.com

that's an amazing initiative!
I'm thinking in make something like that in Portuguese.
And how about the demand? Do you have already some stats?

Jon,

Thanks for the nice words. I have your book and think that is excellent and I strongly recommend it for folks as a follow on to my book.

I also think that the hardware kit is a big convenience. Of course all the parts can be gotten elsewhere and possibly for less, but having it all in one place can be a real selling point. I'd imagine that your book would need a bunch of kits since it covers so much territory and a comprehensive kit would be be a bit unwieldy. Frankly though, the hardware side is a hassle that I only do to strictly to support book sales because you really have a time making the hardware pay. You might try it for a couple of the projects in your book and see if the demand is really there.

Radames,
I do get some orders from Portugal and especially Brazil, but I'm not sure how large the demand for something like this would be in Portuguese. I tend to think that folks interested in this sort of thing tend to also know English, but then the Arduino is aimed at a more of a mass audience than what I'm used to, so there might well be a demand. To me, it is telling that the design comes from Italy, but the documentation is in English.

Smiley

Hi Smiley,

I've just been browsing the excerpts, and I really like how you have explained the "Genesis of Arduino".

Just a question, are all of the components included in the "projects kit" used in the projects detailed in the book?.

shame it isn't open source like the arduino itself...

Hi,

Good idea selling the whole kit, buying components can be intimidating for someone new to electronics.

I also have a new book out: 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius. You can find it at Amazon.com and all good bookstores (as they say).

Simon Monk.

shame it isn't open source like the arduino itself...

So, is there no downloadable code provided?.

So, is there no downloadable code provided?.

I meant, the book itself isn't under a creative commons license.

open source isn't just for computer routines, the is open source cookbooks, knitting patterns, cola and lots more.

All the code is free to download from www.arduinoevilgenius.com

I do and will continue to contribute open source -
see my Arduino Ethernet shield library -

In some ways, I would love to open source everything, and I do feel a little guilty. But I did put a LOT of work into this - its a lot more laborious than throwing out the odd blogg. If it pays for a vacation for my family, that seems fair to me :slight_smile:

Simon.

Hi Smiley,

I've just been browsing the excerpts, and I really like how you have explained the "Genesis of Arduino".

Just a question, are all of the components included in the "projects kit" used in the projects detailed in the book?.
<<<<<

All components are used in the projects in the book.

Smiley

well

SmileyMicros,

is the code in your Arduino projects book downloadable?.

Btw, I've begun reading the AVR Butterfly book you wrote, and like it thus far.

Sorry about the delay getting back on this. I thought I had set this thread to notify me when it got a post, but I didn't.

I just realized that the source isn't available in one place. Most of the code in the book was posted along with the Nuts&Volts Smiley's Workshop article series and I intended to put it all in one place, but haven't done so to date. Since the code uses the Arduino libraries, it tends to be fairly short and easy to input, so I don't think its abscense should be a problem, but I'll make a TODO to get it all together in one place ASAP.

Thanks for the interest,
Smiley :slight_smile:

Aiuto !

Boy oh boy, lots of research and review, all necessary just to get started with the research in my specific area of interest ! Is there a book or other resource(s) that deals with just multimedia stuff ?

As I understand it, the Arduino series has capabilities for heading in all sorts of different directions, hence the reference material too is all over the map. I am into building some of the missing links in my music performance setup, but don't know if there's anything more specifically geared toward my area of interest, which is MIDI and hardware interface/controllers. My controller designs utilize such things as buttons, sliders, pots, mini-touchscreens (if there is such a thing yet; OLED ? ), LCD's, breath controller, etc.

I have done some research into the MIDIBOX, but with the potential I see with Flash/Flex, I think the Arduino is likely the better way to go, but I'm really not sure. I would like to be able to zero in on the resources for these purposes. Is there a single place I might best be going to for that ?

I continue to research, but I also don't fully know how things operate yet. Do I need an EEPROM blower, or any other devices (other than soldering station and a VOM), or is it all PC/Mac/Linux based development ?? I used to be an electro-mechanical instrumentation tech in the aerospace industry, so I think I still remember the lingo.

:slight_smile:

Very curious to get rolling.

Thanks,
Glennzone

Hi Glenn,

there is a search function provided at the top-right of this page.

Searching for "MIDI" reveals lots of related threads.

Some quickly found links are:
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Labs/MIDIOutput
http://www.tigoe.net/pcomp/code/communication/midi

and there is a MIDI library that could be useful:
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/MIDILibrary

SmileyMicros, Yes, the organizing of information is the hard part these days.

I prefer kits and hardcopy books when I'm just starting out, because the information is "pre-filtered" and sorted into a meaningful way.

By looking online for info, one can get a lot of useful information, but not a solid foundation to begin exploring from. One learns a lot of tid-bits of useful information with no general knowledge of how things are done the easiest way. ::slight_smile:

Looks good! I wish I found it when I started out.