Hello everyone!
I am new to the Arduino world, but I've always been interested in it. I can finally spend some time with Arduino and I can't wait to start...
I have a basic experience in electronics, I worked with some programming language (C, C++, php, ...) and I love the world of telecommunications (communication standards, signal processing, electromagnetism, ...).
I would like to buy the "Kit Workshop Base with Arduino Board" or "The Arduino Starter Kit" to start my own experience, which of these two is most suitable?I also want to do some experiments in wireless communications, can you suggest some component or kit for this purpose?
I have a basic experience in electronics, I worked with some programming language (C, C++, php, ...) and I love the world of telecommunications (communication standards, signal processing, electromagnetism, ...).
Look over these experiments:
Do they hold your interests? If not and if your location provides access to electronic parts, you may bed better off doing an ad hoc kit on your own. That is, pick your board from the many available http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Products and but your parts separately. The elementary experiments may not hold your interests too long since you have already been exposed to electronics. The web is full of experiments and projects if your personality is of the self-started kind.
Whatever you decide, try to stay with mainstream hardware so that research and support is available. For example, buying a real Xbee over a similar no-brand clone.
The best way I recommend to learn about something is to use it to do something that interests you. I mean a real project that does something useful or amusing for you, not just a tutorial project that you'll put together, get working and then put back in the box.
Short range radio comms is easy and cheap using nRF24L01+ transceivers, and there are other options that give you longer ranges. You can even use Ethernet, WiFi or GSM if you want. The things that Arduino enables that plain old PC based applications don't is the ability to interact with external electrical/electronic devices.
I would suggest getting a UNO or equivalent standard Arduino as a starting point, because this enables use of a huge range of hardware shields and software libraries which speeds up prototyping. However, they're relatively big and expensive and if you are planning a permanent or semi-permanent project installation there are much, much cheaper and smaller clones available and a lot of options to have additional hardware devices (network interfaces, SD cards, motor driver circuits etc) integrated on the same device.
ilgenzo:
I have a basic experience in electronics,
In view of that you are likely better off getting individual parts that you actually want rather than a kit of parts that you mostly don't.
A plain Uno or Mega provides the best bang for your buck, is the most popular, and well-supported on this forum. My first Arduino had ethernet and SD card built-in. I needed both but it was not such a good idea. A plain-vanilla Uno plus an ethernet shield with SD can be had on eBay for half the money.
Thank you all for your quick replies! I'm going to buy one of the board that you suggested me and then the parts that I need.
For now I draft my first project!
A suggestion. I had the sad experience this morning of telling an Op that he had bitten off too much to chew with his project at the level of his current knowledge. So, be realistic with the first one or two projects. Educate yourself in all aspects of using a sensor before you move on to using multiple sensors! You'll be a happier person.
When you do come back with questions, remember that most of us forum members want to see code and that code should be formatted corrected and posted with code-tags! So, review the forum stickies first and everyone will be happier.
