Sorry if this is a wrong place for it but I figured id rather have it moved from a General Discussion where any topic can work rather than put it in a place where it shouldn't be.
I've always been into hardware but the initial start up to really get into it was always just too much for me. Now that I'm looking around, though, it seems like I am able to generally afford stuff. And so I've been on Sparkfun looking into Arduinos, Kits, etc. to determine what I want for around $100 (Although less it always good).
And so I have a few questions:
What are some general things I should have just to get started and mess around a bit? I don't have a project in mind at the moment so I just want enough to experiment some.
I understand the differences between the SMD and the PTH version of an Uno, but what end result does it put to me?
Am I aiming too low or high with a budget of $100? Can I go lower or is it not high enough to realistically get started?
Hopefully with your answers, I can pick a kit or get the parts for starting out.
You need an Arduino, I'd reccomend the UNO, doesn't matter if it's SMD or the DIP version. You also need a USB cable for it unless you don't have one already.
You need a breadboard, some jumper wire and components to play with. For example LED's with resistors, potentiometers, push buttons, various sensors and so on. I don't know what you like to play with.
It probably won't matter to you which version you get.
You can't replace the ATMega on you board if you buy the SMD version but I don't think that's necessary unless it breaks and they usually don't do that.
The kit from sparkfun is $100. You can get away with lower if you skip some of the components.
You can also check the parts list and buy the parts separately but I don't know how much that would save you. The experiments and the source code for the kit is available online at ardx.org
You can also buy a bootloaded ATMega328, a crystal and some caps plus FTDI interface and do everything on breadboards if you like. That's probably the cheapest way but you won't be up and running in five minutes like you are with the UNO.
The above recommendations are good. But I take one exception, the Uno SMD is a restrictive board compaired to the standard Uno board. Being able to program a sketch on a standard board and then remove the chip to a standalone application is very convienent, and as you have a stated hardware backround I'm sure that would be something you would be intereseted in.
The Uno SMD board was a responce to a shortage of DIP 328p chips and has no advantages over the standard Uno board.
That was the main thing, the fact hat I may want to just simply remove for a new in the case I want to stick it for a bread board Arduino. I mean sure I could create my own board to lets me stick a sketch on to an AtMega ad use it then, but it would make my Uno not as much of a proto platform as I would like it to be. I was trying to get the Inventor kit, but with a DIP chip by buying up all the parts in it but I couldn't get an exact part count and even then the price was going a bit high. In a perfect world I would want the inventor kit with a DIP chip but it is a fair bit of chance at it seems now.
It's based around the same experiments but has a few parts less and is cheaper.
They say it contains the THM version but you might want to get that confirmed.
You can get most of those same parts from dipmcicro.com and with inexpensive shipping too.
I would recommend a socketed board to start so that when you accidentally overstress an output & fry the atmega you can pop a new one in & keep going.
To add further, I would recommend a duemilanove (www.gravitech.us in AZ still carries them, or try mouser.com, they carry all the arduino stuff now) so that you can bitbang a bootloader onto a new blank part. Requires adding 4 pins to the board and jumpering those pins to the ICSP header. There's a very well documented procedure available.
Yes, and you can buy blank ones for less and then load your own.
Or - take advantage of the FTDI chip and load Other parts that you Can't buy preloaded - like 644s, 1284s, the SMD parts ...
DroxPopuli:
Sorry if this is a wrong place for it but I figured id rather have it moved from a General Discussion where any topic can work rather than put it in a place where it shouldn't be.
I've always been into hardware but the initial start up to really get into it was always just too much for me. Now that I'm looking around, though, it seems like I am able to generally afford stuff. And so I've been on Sparkfun looking into Arduinos, Kits, etc. to determine what I want for around $100 (Although less it always good).
And so I have a few questions:
What are some general things I should have just to get started and mess around a bit? I don't have a project in mind at the moment so I just want enough to experiment some.
I understand the differences between the SMD and the PTH version of an Uno, but what end result does it put to me?
Am I aiming too low or high with a budget of $100? Can I go lower or is it not high enough to realistically get started?
Hopefully with your answers, I can pick a kit or get the parts for starting out.
Thank you,
I started with that sparkfun kit (well, the oomlout version) and it was great.
Well I have decided on getting Loading... as it comes with a DIP Socket Uno. I'll probably get another component or two such as a 7 segment but does that look good?