I have just started to get into electronics with no background and am learning new things as i go by so there is a lot i don't know in this project. I purchased an arduino and have experimented with the basics such as fading led and blink.
Looking at the components required for the project they mention i need:
Atmel AVR Atmega16 microcontroller
Programmer to program the Atmega16
Max232 rs-232 chip, or equivalent
What i want to know is that do the above components come attached to the arduino? Or is it something that i have to purchase separately and mount it on top of the arduino board?
Do you guys think the project i am attempting is doable by a beginner? Or should i come back after gaining experience from smaller projects.
The Atmega16 is a less capable version of the Atmega1284P.
16KB of programmable flash memory, 1KB SRAM, 512B EEPROM, an 8-channel 10-bit A/D converter, single hardware Serial port
vs
128KB of programmable flash memory, 16KB SRAM, 4KB EEPROM, an 8-channel 10-bit A/D converter, and dual hardware Serial ports
'1284P has strong community support in the IDE:
A bootloader can be installed on the 1284P and then sketches serially downloaded via an USB/Serial adapter like any other Arduino.
RS232 support not needed if USB is used instead.
I offer 1284P boards in several form factors, here's a Duemilanove-like board with onboard FTDI interface (vs '16U2 on the Uno): http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/BobuinoRev17/
Firstly, I would recommend you start with some basic Arduino stuff - such as a UNO or Nano with a breadboard to practice wiring and coding.
Secondly, the reference in that "instructable" to a MAX232 suggests it is rather antiquated - Arduino moved away from those some years ago, today it is all done with USB to TTL adapters which are really cheap on eBay - of the order of US$1.20. And that is fully assembled ready to use, not just a chip.
As to the design, while you are necessarily committed to assembling the LED frame, driving it with discrete transistors and multiplexing in the code is somewhat tedious.
You should be able to find a design using the MAX7219 which performs the multiplexing of all 64 LEDs for you and which MAX7219 can be obtained as a full kit (including an 8 by 8 LED matrix which you do not need to use but the kit is cheap anyway) so that you have the PCB to mount that chip and use with a fully-assembled Arduino Nano or Pro Mini (with a separate USB to TTL adapter for the Pro Mini).
