I'm a computer programmer familiar with Python and C as languages, and computers in general (Linux, Windows, OS X, terminal).
I've done nothing serious with hardware, and know essentially as much about circuits, but will learn more about that soon.
I'm in college and in the next year or so will take classes on circuits and such, but in the mean time I'm curious what I should get to get started cheaply and simply. I really want to interface with hardware, especially something portable.
A few things I don't understand able Arduino:
Are all models battery powered? Are only some? Can any of them be easily modded to be portable?
What amount of space is available for storage of programs?
Will I likely be getting extra pieces as well as a main piece, or is there a lot on the main piece?
If there's some site that has a lot of this, and I haven't seen it, I apologize, but I'm very excited and haven't come across anything, and the online stores I've looked at are tedious to read through.
All models can be powered either from the USB cable (i.e. from the Pc USB port) or fom an external powersource. At least all the "official" models, but i think this is valid for all the clones as well.
The memory size depends on the model.
Standard Arduino boards are based on either the 168 or the 328 processor here are the memory sizes
ATmega168 has 16 KB of flash memory for storing code (of which 2 KB is used for the bootloader). 1 KB SRAM for data (variables in your program etc.) and 512 bytes of EEPROM memory.
ATmega328 has 32 KB flash memory for storing code, (also with 2 KB used for the bootloader) 2KB SRAM for data and 1KB EEPROM memory.
The Arduino Mega is based on the ATmega1280 processor and has 128KB FLASH ram, 8KB SRAM and 4KB EEPROM.
I don't qiute understand what you mean by:
"Will I likely be getting extra pieces as well as a main piece, or is there a lot on the main piece?"
The Arduino itself has very little (typically one LED and the port to talk to the PC.) Almost everything you do will involve attaching other pieces. (in some cases, those "other pieces" are very trivial, like a switch. In other cases, they can be modular units that exceed the Arduino itself in complexity, size, and cost...)
@MikMo: Thank you for that information. I'm going to have to change my idea of what's acceptable in terms of memory!
Sorry about the question you were uncertain about; I'm very ignorant about everything Arduino and haven't yet figured out how to learn (other than by buying books, which I haven't done yet).
Between the three of you, you've almost completely answered all my questions. But one still remains.
Where do I get started? Is there a good starting Arduino to choose? Is there any concise but inclusive summary of different parts?
I must apologize, I feel like I don't even know what questions to ask but here it goes again.
Would it be fine to get just a main piece* and play around with that, and as I find more things I want to do, get external pieces? My budget isn't enormous.
The easiest "main piece" to get is the bog-standard Arduino Duemilanove, like this one:
Gotta love the PID (product ID)!
Anyhow, this is really the "basic board" that you can start with (comes with the 328 - you don't see many boards out there anymore with the 168 or 8).
Most shields and such are designed to work with this board; as your skills progress, you can look into offerings in smaller packages (like the Pro or Nano, or even the LilyPad).
If you like a lower profile (and don't mind having a non-removable version of the ATMega on-board), check out this one - it uses a mini USB connector, and all smt parts to keep things low to the ground, so to speak (the small USB connector is kinda nice; some shields have components placed over/near the standard USB port on the Arduino, and you have to put a bit a tape over it to keep it from shorting):
It also has other features that can be handy to users.
There are plenty of other variants available that incorporate different things on-board instead of on a shield (on-board wi-fi and ethernet are becoming a popular thing), but the standard Arduino is still what I think most people use and develop with.
@gbulmer - I made sure to order what I didn't have along with a couple Seeeduinos. Thank you guys! As soon as my shipment arrives, I'm going to be very unproductive in regard to non-Arduino (Seeeduino) stuff!
In regard to a Hackspace, I'm actually at UC Davis in California, and the nearest one appears to be in San Francisco (relatively far, although right where westfw is. I'm from Los Angeles though and there is one there, which I may check out come summer. I'd expect the university here and the one in LA to have them but I've yet to find them. I'll keep looking though, thank you for the advice!
