Hi everyone, I am Brand new to ARDUINO. As I see, the entry level is Uno R3 but I can't see a link to buy it here. I did search in the Internet. There are several sellers with varying prices ranging frm a little less than to 9 dollars to 24 dollars. Is there any package or quality differences?
Can anyone advise me where can I buy the Uno explained by this website? Please give me a link
As I would like to display something (like temp reading, etc) on a LCD, could you kindly advise me which LCD is compatible to Arduino Uno Rev3. Where can I buy that (any link or store name would be highly appreciated)
I assume that a cable is required to connect between the board and the LCD. Which cable is compatible to Uno R3 ? Where can I buy that (any link or store name would be highly appreciated)
MSRP is ~$25. Board that cost significantly less than that are counterfeits, clones, (near) compatibles, or derivatives.
Various versions are also available at some retailers. MicroCenter, Radio Shack, and Fry's Electronics come to mind.
Unless you have previous microcontroller experience, buying a more-expensive real Arduino board from a well-known official or local distributor is probably a good idea.
@westfw, thank you so much. I followed the links and got the product order links, except the second (which is back order) Yes, I prefer to add a few dollars and make my learning curve easier (and secured; not to burn or break it)
I am on Windows. Which one do you recommend? I see that one is SMD and the orther is Atmega328. Would that make any difference in my learning curve?.
Would you have any ideas about LCD and cable (to connect the board and the LCD) which are recommended to to one of the above UNO boards?
@sterretje, thank you so much. When you say easily replaceable, is it from locally available materials or by ordering pieces of say damaged parts, instead of replacing the entire board?
I don't see DIP versions from the above. So, I go for the SMD as per your comment above.
Uno, mega, due etc. are designed to have shields fitted on top of them. Shields are great if you can find one that does some of the things you want to do in your project, and if they don't prevent you from doing any of the other things you want do to (by blocking pins for example). You just buy the shield, fit it onto the top of the Arduino, and you are immediately closer to completing your project.
But shields and Arduino designed for use with shields also have disadvantages. If you want to try a wide variety of different projects, you might be better off building your prototypes on breadboard. If so, an Uno or similar is a problem. It won't plug into the breadboard. So you have to connect many wires between the Uno and the breadboard. The result is usually a delicate mess. Finding wiring errors is difficult, and wires can so easily get pulled out by accident while you are working on the circuit.
So if you want to learn more about electronics and have the flexibility to build many different prototypes using many different components on breadboard, I would suggest choosing components that will plug directly into the breadboard, especially the Arduino itself.
Types of Arduino that plug into breadboard include Micro and Nano (very similar to Uno, good for beginners) or Pro Micro, Teensy or Wemos Mini (getting more advanced).
This is the kind of thing that can happen when you connect an Uno to a breadboard
azerino: @sterretje, thank you so much. When you say easily replaceable, is it from locally available materials or by ordering pieces of say damaged parts, instead of replacing the entire board?
I don't see DIP versions from the above. So, I go for the SMD as per your comment above.
This is the DIP version of the 328 with bootloader at a local 'store'. Look at pictures of the two versions of the board and you will recognize it. It's the only part that is easily replaceable on the non-SMD version. All other parts take more work and it depends on your soldering skills (both SMD and DIP version of the uno).
My first board was a Sparkfun Redboard; still going strong. It has the SMD version of the chip so when it goes, I will not replace the chip but buy a new one; there are a few minor differences with the Uno R3, but mostly nothing to worry about.
@PaulRB, thank you so much for the insight. Woaw, the second with breadboard is obviously clean. Is that the one you referred to as a shield? So, is it available here at Arduino? Can you provide me with the right links with a little note why I have to choose further between the micro and nano. As I understood, with Uno I will encounter problems when I try to connect cables. How is the learning curve between Uno, Micro, Nano for a brand new comer to the subject of micro controller?
I would highly appreciate your further guide. I want to invest extra dollars in exchange of easy learning processes, with little confusion and or harm to the board (to myself, lol).
@sterretje, thank you! I will have a look at it. I am not such a good in soldering.
Not sure what you are referring to. If you mean the type of "Arduino" you can see on the second picture, then no, that is not an official type of Arduino at all, and you cannot buy them from the Arduino shop. It is a Wemos Mini. This is a more advanced type of "Arduino" that has WiFi built-in, and I would not recommended it to absolute beginners. We sometimes call these boards "Arduino" even if they are not an official type of Arduino, because they can be programmed by the Arduino IDE (the software you use with Arduino) using the same language and most of the same libraries.
A "shield" is ad add-on board to an Arduino, that adds some functions. It is not an Arduino itself. An example would be a shield with an lcd and some buttons.
Here is an Arduino Nano compared to an Uno (actually it is a Duemilanove, the predecessor to the Uno). As you can see, the Nano has pins that stick down below the board, so that it can be plugged into a breadboard.
Here is an Uno with a shield stacked on top of it.
How is the learning curve between Uno, Micro, Nano for a brand new comer to the subject of micro controller?
My first Arduino was a Nano. It is perhaps the closest to an Uno and the same in almost all respects. Both use the same chip. The Nano has a couple more analog pins. But it is not able to supply as much power to your circuit as an Uno because it has a smaller power regulator. This makes no difference if you power the circuit from USB, because when using USB power, the regulator is not used. The Nano does not have a barrel connector for an external power supply, but you can still connect an external supply to its "Vin" pin, but be careful not to draw too much power that way.
@PaulBB, thank you so much. You said above "But shields and Arduino designed for use with shields also have disadvantages". I am a bit confused. Which one would you suggest then (with or without shield)?
As a beginner, I would like to have a board which is 100% compatible to Arduino IDE. If you think Micro, Nano, etc are advanced to me, is there a Uno with a shield that is 100% (or almost) compatible to the Arduino IDE.
I am not going to jump into LCD disply. I just wanted to order all once so that I will learn step by step util I display something on the LCD. For that, I was trying to find out the pieces that are compatible to each other and the the learning process is smoother (based on the same Arduino IDE libraries and examples. When I reach to advanced stage (which I hope one day), I will purchase sophisticated boards and so on.
True. But it's almost always a good choice for your FIRST attempts at "all this stuff."
Likewise, while there are advantages and disadvantages to the Uno ("DIP") vs Uno SMT, if you don't immediately recognize them, they're probably ones that won't come in to play.
I bought one of the starter kits from Sparkfun that had a Uno along with a plastic piece that the Uno fastened to with a Uno sized breadboard fastened next to it so the wires were no more than six inches most of the time, so not too bad and the teaching projects are simple so seems to me had no more than maybe 12 jumpers most of the time
I also got a couple of Pro Mini Arduino's (I think that's what I got) - similar to the smaller one above - for a couple of other projects I plan on doing and wanted a smaller footprint and something that plugged into a breadboard
Good luck - the important thing is to get started and see how you like things
Arduino is a system (as well as a company!) of IDE software and any board that can use it.... and helping community.
If you can, buy at least one authentic board to support the company and forum. IDE does not develop itself!
But after that, as one branch of the official Arduino plan is to build your own Duinos from chips and parts. You don't even have to have a board, the O'Baka Arduino is a bare ATmega328P with bits soldered right to the pins (not for beginners to try!) that plugs rght into breadboards --- a failed O'Baka since it has a use!
The software provided at that link will identify and program MANY different AVR chips. What you develop to run on a 2K RAM 328P may run perfectly well on a 1K RAM 168P or smaller AVR in a tailored-cheap end-product.
In this path, the board you buy is for Development. You keep it when the project is done, to start on the next thing. To me, THAT is Very Arduino.
azerino:
I am not going to jump into LCD disply. I just wanted to order all once so that I will learn step by step util I display something on the LCD. For that, I was trying to find out the pieces that are compatible to each other and the the learning process is smoother (based on the same Arduino IDE libraries and examples. When I reach to advanced stage (which I hope one day), I will purchase sophisticated boards and so on.
Just like saildude, I started with the Sparkfun starter kit. It gives you a number of components to play with and get your feet wet; some buttons, LCD, LEDs, resistors, shift register, breadboard and other stuff. All the pieces are compatible.
The official Arduino starter kits are basically the same.
It will be very boring to have only an Arduino. Unless you want to learn C/C++ programming only and not the hardware side of things; in which case you can just as well install a C/C++ compiler on your PC.
sterretje:
It will be very boring to have only an Arduino. Unless you want to learn C/C++ programming only and not the hardware side of things; in which case you can just as well install a C/C++ compiler on your PC.
Programming C/C++ on a modern PC can teach a lot, it will also teach habits and approaches very unsuited to Arduino.
Learning lights and switches should be done more to develop your own software skills than to "be awesome" but that and other small projects done and improved will go further towards success in bigger projects than buying any amount of gadgets ever will.
OTOH if you have good cookbook on a wow project that just follow the directions gets you there then hey, following instructions is also a skill that can lead to rewards.
Ebay is where I've purchased all of my arduino UNO clones. Have never had one fail on me yet, which is good. I have lots of these things, all purchased from different ebay sellers.
But one note is ....... not all UNO clones have the same features.
A full-featured one will have an 'ON' LED, and a transmit TX LED, and an receive RX LED, and a LED (labelled L). So that's like 4 LEDs. Some arduino tutorial sites have an onboard LED blinking tutorial....so that tutorial would work with this particular kind of arduino UNO.
Some other UNO clones have maybe a single LED for indicating that the UNO is powered on. So particular onboard LED blinking tutorials wouldn't work with boards like this (with reduced features).
