Heh, might as well start off with a general "right track" question I suppose.
To get started I was thinking of getting one of the starer-kits I see around the web, for example the
Starter Kit from oomlout. There seems to be a bunch of generally-handy components in there for experimental tinkering, and my back-of-an-envelope adding-up seems to indicate a cheaper price than buying the bits separately.
Basically I'm starting with all the tools, but none of the components, as I think those spider-legged transistors I have from 15 years ago have probably been sitting in a damp shoe-box in the shed for a bit long.
For £56 I'd get the following, plus some gubbins (printed guides and stuff):
- 1x Arduino Uno board (328)
- 75x Piece Jumper Wire Bundle
- 1x USB Cable
- 1x Multi-compartment Plastic Storage Box
- 1x 9v Battery - Arduino Adapter
- 10x 5mm Red LEDs
- 10x 5mm Green LEDs
- 1x 10mm Red LED
- 1x Toy Motor
- 1x Mini Servo Motor
- 1x 8-Bit Shift Register (74HC595)
- 1x Piezo Element
- 2x Pushbuttons
- 1x Potentiometer (10k)
- 1x Photo Resistor
- 1x Temperature Sensor (TMP36)
- 1x Relay (5v DPDT)
- 2x Transistors (2N222A)
- 31x Resistors (560 Ohm x25, 2.2k Ohm x3, 10k Ohm x3)
- 2x Diodes (1N4001)