There seems to be an endless supply of them. Besides "hiding behind doors when they were handing out brains" (thanks to Nick's link) what are the solid reasons for such pursuit? Saying "RTFM" seems like hitting zombies with a bat toothpick. What is the BFG-9000 type of argument to convince them to forever give up such pursuit? ]
Are you referring to LSD?
I don't think this behavior was drug related though 
I meant potentiometer but had to cut off due to character limit. If someone says "hey I just don't want to use potentiometer so help me", my only weapon of defense so far has been "the spec says you need your pot so use it or else". It's just not working. I need a super weapon like that featured in first person shooting game DOOM, the "all-foe-attacking-boss-ball-busting-self-guided-last-resort" Big-F-Gun-9000 to effectively mount my attack/defense.
The reason for that is the people want something like shield always ,when with arduino they always want something that is already completed to much extent and a single pot makes their plug and play thought off.
many LCD's you can practically plug right into the arduino if it wasnt for that stupid pot, now your dragging out the breadboard, digging around in bins, oh crap I used up all my 10K trimmers, all I have left is this 1963 quad ganged, roll of quarters sized thing that I have to solder wire on blah blah blah.
That's probably true like both of you said. If LCD sellers all have the decency to include a type 3362 10K potentiometer that so easily plugs into a bread board, there will be a lot less requests then. That still won't solve the problem since only few includes a pot.
At some point the newbies will have to realize plug and play has a limit and a perfboard/breadboard is needed for every project. Maybe that's it! Arduino forum should have a list of minimal equipment for every newbie, like one UNO, one 10K potentiometer, one small breadboard at least 30 rows prefer with buses, one bag of random resistors and LEDs, one set of jumpers, at least include 5 colors and 30 pieces, one simple multimeter. What do you guys think?
What do you guys think?
This will not only reduce the amount of posts the newbies make but also would be beneficial for the other people on the forum who can help to help actually when they have all stuff at hand and the newbies would get on fast with all that compulsory stuff handy , i think this should be LOCKED somewhere on the face of forum so that it is in the eyes of every one.
Just wrote up a blog post:
I won't get many readers on my blog but will find some place to have similar content stick to a forum. Any suggestions on the parts/tool list?
liudr:
At some point the newbies will have to realize plug and play has a limit and a perfboard/breadboard is needed for every project.
You know, I was going to post something about this (ie - newbies wanting plug-n-play electronics) last night, but gave it up and canceled the post as it just didn't seem like it would add anything to the conversation that hasn't already been said (not like this does either).
liudr:
Maybe that's it! Arduino forum should have a list of minimal equipment for every newbie, like one UNO, one 10K potentiometer, one small breadboard at least 30 rows prefer with buses, one bag of random resistors and LEDs, one set of jumpers, at least include 5 colors and 30 pieces, one simple multimeter. What do you guys think?
Couldn't hurt, but I doubt it would quell any of the questions; instead, we'll just be pointing at that post. That said, if someone wanted to create it, it should have:
- A list of parts to have on hand -immediately- for beginners (the basics)
- A list of tools the beginner should have (breadboard and multimeter at minimum, micro pliers and wire strippers too)
- A list of free online PDF books and such for beginners (like the Earthshine Electronics Arduino book and such)
- Links to Grob's "Basic Electronics", Horowitz's (et al) "Art of Electronics" and Forrest M. Mims III's "Engineer's Mini Notebooks"
- Links to "trusted" suppliers of pre-built kits
- Links to "trusted" suppliers of new parts for such kits
- Links to "trusted" suppliers of surplus parts for such kits
I came up with something akin to this for the "$100.00 Workbench Challenge" in Nuts and Volts magazine in 2008; I was mainly focused on the idea of a "robotics workbench", but I think an Arduino version could be done (keeping it around $100.00 would be difficult, though - unless you went with something like an RBBB; keep the Arduino "separate", and building a beginner's kit for $100.00 or less is easily doable, provided you shop mostly surplus and discount).
What is worst are the morons that think resistors on LEDs are unnecessary.
Just wrote up a blog post:
I in my previous post talked about a listing that is clearly visible or flashes so that the new ones who enter get a glimpse of that listing and click on it , what you did on your blog is very good but in this case we need to post the link to the new ones that what they need, however in the case what i suggested they will just enter the forum and get attracted to that link to get an overview of ingredients.
NI$HANT:
Just wrote up a blog post:
I in my previous post talked about a listing that is clearly visible or flashes so that the new ones who enter get a glimpse of that listing and click on it , what you did on your blog is very good but in this case we need to post the link to the new ones that what they need, however in the case what i suggested they will just enter the forum and get attracted to that link to get an overview of ingredients.
That will need some help from forum admins. I'll be in a better position to ask for such help if I have a list that has been critiqued by everyone replying here
Grumpy_Mike:
What is worst are the morons that think resistors on LEDs are unnecessary.
If electronics can speak, they are all going to tell them how very much pissed off they are by the word of "unnecessary". How in hell do some people consider something is unnecessary without any knowledge what IS necessary?! A recent post made me quite angry when the OP said he thinks outside the box. He doesn't know what the box is yet. LOL Maybe a lack of logic and no slap in the head when they did wrong things growing up contributes to this nonsense. Specs should always be respected, period.
liudr:
Just wrote up a blog post:Minimal equipment for Arduino newbies | LiuDr Electronic Solutions LLC Official Blog
I won't get many readers on my blog but will find some place to have similar content stick to a forum. Any suggestions on the parts/tool list?
That looks good. I've done something similar for programming issues. I'm just negotiating right now about the etiquette for making posts sticky. But a post along the lines of yours appears to me to qualify.
Grumpy_Mike:
What is worst are the morons that think resistors on LEDs are unnecessary.
The thing is Mike, they don't know what they don't know. Assuming you regards LEDs as "small lights" then most people know you just screw a light bulb in - you don't need resistors.
Great! It would be nice to qualify a post or so as sticky so every time similar things pop up we can point to that post and don't have to dig up/rewrite everything again. I'll keep collecting feedback on this beginner's list of parts/tools and contact you when it's been critiqued enough.
Grumpy_Mike:
What is worst are the morons that think resistors on LEDs are unnecessary.
Resistors aren't really much used for power LEDs.
If a component is neccessary isn't defined by what someone thinks, but by the circuit, and the component specifications.
@ liudr , i was thinking another addition, I think there must be or can be a Beginner's list of getting them started in each case that the starting people take up like:
getting started with motor's?--> Yes--> OK then get these ingredients! in your lab
getting started with LED's/DC lighting --> Yes--> OK then get all this stuff
getting started with External Programmer--> Yes --> OK start learning this way.
getting started with Wireless(Bluetooth)--> Yes--> OK get these ingredients.
getting started with Wireless(RF)--> Yes --> OK get these ingredients.
in addition to "get these ingredients" we can also add-up some guidelines and anyother additional stuff that we think might provide an Helping hand and lower the forum cluttering with redundancy.
also, i think these days some experts are fed up of answering the very often/very monotonous/very repetitive same questions of the ever entering newbies into forum and their(newbies) not clarifying with the basics which are already available if a bit search is done saving their and other people's time.
takao21106:
Grumpy_Mike:
What is worst are the morons that think resistors on LEDs are unnecessary.Resistors aren't really much used for power LEDs.
If a component is neccessary isn't defined by what someone thinks, but by the circuit, and the component specifications.
If arduino has constant current supply it would not need a resistor either but it has a constant (to certain limit) voltage supply instead. You are totally mixing up these two situations. The arduino is the constant voltage situation and a resistor is always needed.
Good idea NI$HANT, the more specific hardware will depend on local suppliers too so I wish there were lists for parts suggestions say USA/UK/Australia/India/... where lots are playing with Arduino.
liudr:
Saying "RTFM" seems like hitting zombies with a bat.
I believe that zombies are vulnerable to blunt impact trauma, provided it is directed at the cranium, and delivered with sufficient force.
I might be mistaken, but I get the impression that there a lot of people who buy just an Arduino, and not one of the starter kits. And it seems that this occurs before doing much reading on the various forums and vendors' websites. That seems the biggest challenge -- to get people to do some reading first, before buying just an Arduino and then asking, "How do I do X?". Alas, liudr, this is the way of things in many areas, not just Arduino, and if you spend enough time on any topic-specific boards, you'll see that this pattern repeats ad nausem whether the topic is Arduino, the AR-15, electronic cigarettes, or any other thing that has a forum associated with it. One thing I notice is that other forums almost always have a 'Getting Started' or 'newbie' sub-forum, with stickied topics covering the essentials. We don't have that here. Anytime I hit a new forum, that's always what I look for.
I wonder how many newbies read the Getting Started pages before posting. Might be interesting to see some site statistics on what pages here, other than the forum, get the most traffic.
I believe that zombies are vulnerable to blunt impact trauma, provided it is directed at the cranium, and delivered with sufficient force.
The information backed by Day of the Dead ,Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Night of the Dead......Endless other classis American Zombie movies i have watched.
Good idea NI$HANT, the more specific hardware will depend on local suppliers too so I wish there were lists for parts suggestions say USA/UK/Australia/India/... where lots are playing with Arduino.
In places like India the main big distributors are not only distributing Arduino but also distributing stuff after importing from SparkFun so in nutshell everything is in reality American ,USA made or made on the same platform of the US developers, Hardly things are unique.