Personally, I think the (alleged) superior solderless breadboard compatibility of the Boarduino is worth a bit, especially for beginners.
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 10:06 PM, Jon Dugan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Excerpts from Lion Kimbro's message of Tue Sep 09 17:31:36 -0700 2008: > > > > Great! > > > > I just called Jon Dugan; > > > > He said he'll post something by Thursday about dates & ordering; > > I've penciled in the 20th, 27th, and 4th (following 3 Saturday Houses.) > > I have been kicking around doing something like this at Saturday House for > the > last six months or so, but I've been too busy to actually get off my arse > and > suggest it. Thanks everyone for bring it up! > > With an eye towards doing in addition to discussing here is my suggested > plan > of attack: > > The Arduino platform provides an excellent, inexpensive starting point for > exploring electronics and microcontrollers. You can find an introduction > to > the Arduino platform at: http://www.arduino.cc/ > > In particular Arduino is a nice abstraction layer which hides a lot of low > level details so you can get your feet wet in a hurry. But when you're > ready > to do more low level stuff you can easily jump in at a deeper level. The > Arduino uses an Atmel AVR microcontroller as it's hardware base and GCC > with a > very nice library as it's software base. > > There are several options for nice Arduino kits. For our purposes I think > the > iduino ( http://spiffie.org/kits/iduino/ ) is the best bet, for the > following > reasons: > > * You can program it from any computer with USB and one of Mac OS X, Linux > or Windows > * It's pretty cheap (about $18) > * It has good instructions online > * It's pretty easy to assemble > > Lady Ada has a similar board Boarduino: > > > http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19&products_id=91 > > But it's a bit more expensive for no real gain. There are several other > similar boards but most of them require a USB to serial adapter cable which > adds cost. > > Tentative outline: > > September 20th: Introduction microcontrollers and soldering > > * Suggestions for good materials for learning basic electronics > * Introduction to microcontrollers using the Arduino platform > * Tutorial on soldering and basic electronic assembly > * Hands on: Assemble your own Arduino kit > > September 27th: Programming microcontrollers > > * Introduction to the Arduino environment > * Hands on: program your own cylon raider/knight rider LED blinker > * Hands on: make noise with your Arduino > * Hands on: color mixing with an RGB LED > * Alternative development tools > > October 4th: Arduino workshop > > * Free form brainstorming > * Bring current projects to share > * Bring things you're stuck on > * Bring ideas > * Bring questions > > My hope is to make this a fun, discussion, hands on, exploration and > discovery type thing. I think we'd probably need 2-3 hours for each > session. I will commit to putting a few hours of work into each session > to > create a reasonable "curriculum" but I welcome input and suggestions from > everyone else. > > Parts list: > > $17.82 iduino http://spiffie.org/kits/iduino/ > $ 4.50 breadboard http://www.elexp.com/bb_101.htm > $ 5.00 LEDs, resistors, button, speaker (approx cost) > > I am willing to coordinate a group buy to get a bunch of these and save on > shipping. I think we can put together these little kits for about $30. In > order to get everything here by the 20th I'd like to place the order Monday > morning if not sooner. If I get enough response quickly enough I may go > ahead > and place an order Friday morning. > > == ACTION REQUIRED == > > If you are interested in this kit and are willing to spend about $30 and > want > in on the group buy do the following: > > Send an email to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with an interesting variation on > the > following text: > > Yes, JON!, I'd like to take part in the GREAT ARDUINO Saturday House > Extravaganza! Please count me in for ____ lovely Arduino kits. I'm > already a bit of a elecronics fiend and have access to ___ soldering > irons > and ___ wire cutters I can bring on the 20th. > > With my kindest regards and greatest hopes of inventing the next viral > widget, > > Guiglielmo Tesla XXXVII > > (Or if you're not feeling up to that a simple, to the point email will > do.) > > Please include "Saturday House" and "Arduino" in the subject. Please > don't > send all of these to the list -- I will summarize them and send out an > update to the list. If you do send it to the list I might add $1 to the > cost of your kit... ;) > > Jon > > PS: This is _not_ intended to usurp the discussion on Saturday but rather > an > attempt to get us all hands on a week from Saturday. > -- > Jon Dugan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Website: http://saturdayhouse.org/ Post: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
