Arduino! Where to buy?

[NightrainSrt4]

Thinking about getting an Arduino to play around with for my birthday?

Anyone know the best online shop for prices and selection on them and accessories? Specifically looking for the DIY kit, where you put it together and solder it yourself.

Thanks.

Edit: Looks like there are too many surface mount components on the Duemilanove for me to deal with, and I don't really want to start out with one of the clones. So maybe the $30 assembled one is the best start?

[BuzzKillington]

I would spam a few e-mails out to some youtube users with demo videos posted. They would be my go to source anyway.

[Oneslowz28]

The freeduino kits from http://Seeedstudio.com are all through hole and easy to solder. I dont remember if they have the FTDI chip on them for USB though.

I would get a pre made one though and buy a proto shield for it to learn to solder. I have the Seeeduino 128 from them and can say that their customer service is second to none.

The seeeduino runs about $22 and is 100% Duemilanove compatible. The arduino protosheild remixed runs $12 and the mini breadboard for it will run about $3. I actually have a soldering tutorial coming up that I used the Arduino protoshield remixed in.

I have a post with some pics here http://themakersworkbench.com/?q=node/238

[Oneslowz28]

I would spam a few e-mails out to some youtube users with demo videos posted. They would be my go to source anyway.

There are several of us here with Arduino boards. (Ovride, Crenn, x88x, Rendermandan, Myself) Crenn would have to be the most versed in Arduino knowlege out of us all barring what I do not know about RMS.

[NightrainSrt4]

Ya, I knew a few of you guys had worked with them which is why I asked here.

I can solder fine (through-hole), I just don't have the tools for surface mount stuff. I'll check out the freeduino kits.

[SXRguyinMA]

yea I think I'm going to get one soon too. specifically this one from spark fun (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=666)

[NightrainSrt4]

That was the one I was looking at too. I might grab that and one of the $20 clones that you build yourself.

Question: These are designed for development, no? Is there a cheap minimalist board designed to use for the finished product?

[Oneslowz28]

The idea behind arduino is to dev your project and then use it to program the atmega you you will use in your finished design. Arduino is not just hardware though. It is also software and user created library's. The support community behind arduino is what makes it stand out from other uC dev kits.

All that you will port to your final project is an atmega chip, a couple of caps, 1 inductor and a 16mhz oscillator. The rest of the stuff on the arduino board is for USB communication and power supply.

If you want a simple duino to put in your final project there are a few minimalist boards like the
Bare Bones Board \ (http://www.moderndevice.com/products/bbb-kit)
Really Bare Bones Board (http://www.moderndevice.com/products/rbbb-kit)
Solarbotics Ardweeny (http://www.solarbotics.com/products/kardw/)
Arduino pro mini (http://www.solarbotics.com/products/50725/)


Also there is an Australian company. Protostack (http://protostack.com) that sells an atmega dev kit (http://www.protostack.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=45) for under $20. Crenn and myself have one of their boards.

Atmega 128 uC usualy run about $4 and can be programed with your arduino. Another $2 in caps and crystal and you are good to go.

[burntheland]

Ok. I'm not very software oriented. So the mfg's desc. of this product didn't really clear anything up for me. Can anyone give me some examples of what this might be used for? Looks like something I would enjoy tinkering with!

[Oneslowz28]

You can use it for everything from making a single led blink to a full auto pilot for an RC plane. It has been used in robots, midi devices, and almost any other electronics project you can think of. Check out the official Arduino site (http://arduino.cc) and the arduino tag over at Hack a Day (http://hackaday.com/category/arduino-hacks/).

You will have to learn to code a little though if you want to play with one. The arduino language is a derivative of C though so its not that complicated. I can do it and that says a lot.

[burntheland]

I practiced in C++ for a while, but it wasnt for me. I could definitely see myself getting into it enough to learn to get it to do what i want it to do though. Thanks for the info oneslowz!

[NightrainSrt4]

Ok, sweet. I figured it was just the uC and some power circuitry, but after reading a bit you need a cheap external crystal as the internal one isn't that accurate.

I was looking at this kit. $60 shipped on ebay for the Arduino Mega, lcd, wires, leds, etc. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Arduino-Starter-Kit-Arduino-Mega-ATmega-1280-LCD-1602-/280484576596?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414e2efd54)

Just the board itself is $65 at sparkfun, plus shipping. Assuming I can deal with the wait from Hong Kong, does this look like a decent deal?

[SXRguyinMA]

Thanks for the explanation of how an arduino works CJ! I'm kinda on the same path and NightrainSRT4 though, I'm not looking to keep the board and use it, I just want one thing I can use one time to do one specific thing and thats it.

I want to make a setup like rendermandan has in Dark Carbon. When you turn the computer on, a servo opens something, and when you turn it off it closes it. I think the arduino may be a little over kill for that, but then again I may be completely wrong.. I'm going to do some research and poke aorund the arduino forums and see what I can come up with

[NightrainSrt4]

Well, I want to have one to prototype and build, test, debug on, but when I'm ready to move on to another project I didn't see the point in buying another arduino if I wanted to keep the first project alive. So I wanted to make sure there was a cheap alternative that I could copy the program over to, wire up permanently, then move on to my next project.

Edit:

As for the programming part, I don't see myself having too many problems. I mostly code Java, but I've worked with C, C++, C#, VB, Python, etc. So it's just a matter of syntax and figuring out what I've got available in its libraries, and what I have to implement myself.

[NightrainSrt4]

Hmmm... Although the Ebay Mega kit I linked to above, it seems like most of the current shields around are designed for the standard Arduino. I'm probably going to want one with SD capabilities, and the Ethernet might be nice, so looks like I should probably start with the standard one.

The extra PWM's on the Mega were looking pretty sweet, especially if I wanted to tinker with a robot. Hmmm. . .

Too much to take in, lol.


EDIT: WTF? Now every single ebay listing is redirecting to Myspace. This has happened before with entirely different websites. Hey, what do you know? Change from Comcrap's auto DNS to opendns and no more crappy redirects on things that should work fine.

[Oneslowz28]

Honestly I would get a normal arduino now for the shield compatibility. There are cheap motor and robot shields that expand its pins.

I highly recommend the the Seeeduino from seeedstudio as I have it. It is nothing more than clone of the official arduino with a few tweeks and extras that will come in handy. Their seeeduino Mega is also more robust than the official mega and has many more pins to play with at almost 1/2 the cost of an official.

[NightrainSrt4]

I like the extra tweaks the Seeeduino has, but I don't like the removal of the dip uC. I like the idea of tossing a dip in, programming it, then popping it out and set to go with a crystal and a bit of circuitry. So I will probably get the standard one, and maybe a solder yourself one just for kicks.

I wish I could get a huge box (relatively) of components for a decent price that would have tons of different resistors, sensors, leds, etc to keep on hand. Ordering things individually isn't cost effective, and to have to wait for things to arrive every time I want to work on something new isn't very appealing. Just want a huge box of random parts so I have pretty much anything I could want or need to play with.

[NightrainSrt4]

Picked up a 3LB component grab bag from Jameco. Not sure if there are cheaper places but it seemed like a decent deal to get a range of stuff I might need.

Jameco Grab Bag (http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=135263)

Contains:

# Axial and radial electrolytics, monolithic, dipped silver mica and mylar capacitors, connectors, sockets, thermistors, LEDs, resistor networks, diodes, IC's, standoffs, transistors, oscillator/resonators, inductors, crystals, resistors, pots and switches ( approximately 1075 pcs).
# 3.0 lbs.

[Oneslowz28]

I like the extra tweaks the Seeeduino has, but I don't like the removal of the dip uC. I like the idea of tossing a dip in, programming it, then popping it out and set to go with a crystal and a bit of circuitry. So I will probably get the standard one, and maybe a solder yourself one just for kicks.

I wish I could get a huge box (relatively) of components for a decent price that would have tons of different resistors, sensors, leds, etc to keep on hand. Ordering things individually isn't cost effective, and to have to wait for things to arrive every time I want to work on something new isn't very appealing. Just want a huge box of random parts so I have pretty much anything I could want or need to play with.

Actually you can not just pop the Atmega in and program it unless the fresh atmega already has the arduino boot loader burnt in. You can burn and program fresh atmegas with an arduino though. I know crenn knows how to do this. Maybe he will chime in.

[NightrainSrt4]

All the standalone ATMega's I had looked at already had the bootloader in it, so it should just be a case of swapping and programming.

I ordered my birthday presents from Adafruit as the Sparkfun protoshield was OOS.

So I grabbed:

The 3LB 1075pc component grab bag above from Jameco.
Arduino Duemilanove
Ethernet Shield
Proto Shield
20x4 LCD
Tiny breadboard
9V holder
breadboard wire bundle

Some of that wasn't really necessary, but I figured a little splurge for my B-day to get me going would be sweet.

I can't wait to make a physical implementation (handheld/to-go) add-on for the application I've been working on. But, I'm going to need an SD card shield for that, so I will get some tinkering under my belt first.

[NightrainSrt4]

Sweet! I went down to the apartment basement to do laundry, and someone had left out a Billy Bass robot thing for free.

Took it all apart, and now I've got a 4xC Battery circuit, bunch of resistors and capacitors, power jack, push button, motion/light sensor, power switch, and 3 decent looking motors. Sweet!

[Oneslowz28]

awesome!!!

[Oneslowz28]

you can interface those with arduino too there are a few of them on hackaday

[NightrainSrt4]

Cool! I hacked it into individual pieces, as I find the fish itself to be creepy yet annoying. I figured the individual components would be of more use to me than changing what Billy says or something, hehe.

[x88x]

I wish I could get a huge box (relatively) of components for a decent price that would have tons of different resistors, sensors, leds, etc to keep on hand.

Another source for something like this is the 'Electronic Surprise' boxes from Electronics Goldmine. The have them in three different sizes, in prices ranging from $5-13. They can fit bigger stuff in the bigger boxes, so a 'Super' won't necessarily have all the stuff that a normal one will.
normal (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G2200): $5
'Super' (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G9321): $8
'Ginormous' (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G17225): $13

I have one of each on their way in an attempt to fill out my rather meager stores.

[Oneslowz28]

Another source for something like this is the 'Electronic Surprise' boxes from Electronics Goldmine. The have them in three different sizes, in prices ranging from $5-13. They can fit bigger stuff in the bigger boxes, so a 'Super' won't necessarily have all the stuff that a normal one will.
normal (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G2200): $5
'Super' (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G9321): $8
'Ginormous' (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G17225): $13

I have one of each on their way in an attempt to fill out my rather meager stores.

Dont expect much useful stuff.

I got a regular and super last month http://themakersworkbench.com/?q=node/308

[NightrainSrt4]

That's why I grabbed the 1075 piece bag from Jameco, as it looked like it would include more things that I would find useful as it laid out what could be inside.

I didn't want one of the grab bags that were anything from their inventory, as the inventory included things I might not have any use for.

[x88x]

Dont expect much useful stuff.

There's no such thing as a useless component...just components that aren't useful right now. ;)

Good to know though, I'll keep that in mind.

[crenn]

This is the kit I have:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Arduino-Mega-ATmega1280-16AU-AVR-USB-Power-Kits-/280482706355?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414e1273b3
The mega will accept all normal arduino shields and still have I/O left over.

I'll add more to this post in a few hours, so keep your eyes peeled.

EDIT:


Thinking about getting an Arduino to play around with for my birthday?

Anyone know the best online shop for prices and selection on them and accessories? Specifically looking for the DIY kit, where you put it together and solder it yourself.

Thanks.

Edit: Looks like there are too many surface mount components on the Duemilanove for me to deal with, and I don't really want to start out with one of the clones. So maybe the $30 assembled one is the best start?

The best Arduino to start out with is the Arduino Duemilanove, whether it has SMD or through-hole components, it doesn't really matter functional wise. Just some shields are designed for the SMD board. I wouldn't recommend SMD if you're going to solder it yourself unless you've got the tools or a very steady hand and nerves.


The idea behind arduino is to dev your project and then use it to program the atmega you you will use in your finished design. Arduino is not just hardware though. It is also software and user created library's. The support community behind arduino is what makes it stand out from other uC dev kits.

...

Also there is an Australian company. Protostack that sells an atmega dev kit for under $20. Crenn and myself have one of their boards.

Atmega 128 uC usualy run about $4 and can be programed with your arduino. Another $2 in caps and crystal and you are good to go.

My understanding of Arduino was to make an environment so that people with knowledge of C/C++ could interact with a microcontroller.

For a beginner, I wouldn't recommend a stock ATMega dev kit, however, it's not too hard to pick up, you just need to know the basics and how to safely set registers. They're cheap and easy to re-use multiple times, there is also an advantage of having a dev kit such as the one sold at Protostack, and that is that you can buy a plain ATMega chip and burn the Arduino bootloader onto the chip yourself.


You will have to learn to code a little though if you want to play with one. The arduino language is a derivative of C though so its not that complicated. I can do it and that says a lot.

There isn't really an 'arduino' language as it's just C++ compiled down to ASM (from my understanding) with base classes providing interaction with the various pins and ports.

[NightrainSrt4]

Thanks Crenn. I will keep an eye out for your posts.

Arghh, that was one of the kits off ebay I had seriously considered. Eventually I am probably going to wish I had gotten the Mega. The extra I/O looks quite nice now.

I'll just have to see how much use I really get out of this one. What really drove the price up on what I had purchased was the ethernet shield. Damn thing cost 1.5x the Arduino itself.

I got some more parts out of 2 early 2000's cameras. Buttons, caps, resistors, diodes, 4xAA retainer, etc. Got a ~1.5" LCD out of one, but can't find any information on it at all, so doesn't look like it would be as easy (if possible to use) as a nokia screen. Have a couple old Samsung cell phones too, but doubt I could get the screens going.

[crenn]

Look at it this way, it is possible to at a later stage save up the $60 or so and buy the kit, I doubt it's going anywhere. I'm moving away from the arduino due to it's limitations. For the systems I need, I need something like an arm processor. 32-bit computing with less than 2 amps to play with. A concept system/UAV I'm working on uses 3-4 microprocessors in tandem. Interesting but not really helpful for you. I'll update the post shortly, been a little distracted getting embedded linux to do what I want

EDIT: Updated the previous post now.


Arghh, that was one of the kits off ebay I had seriously considered. Eventually I am probably going to wish I had gotten the Mega. The extra I/O looks quite nice now.

I'll just have to see how much use I really get out of this one. What really drove the price up on what I had purchased was the ethernet shield. Damn thing cost 1.5x the Arduino itself.

I got some more parts out of 2 early 2000's cameras. Buttons, caps, resistors, diodes, 4xAA retainer, etc. Got a ~1.5" LCD out of one, but can't find any information on it at all, so doesn't look like it would be as easy (if possible to use) as a nokia screen. Have a couple old Samsung cell phones too, but doubt I could get the screens going.

The funny thing is, you'll have problems using all of that I/O unless you need to do a lot of parallel data lines.

You'll get out a lot of use, you can actually use the analog inputs as digital I/O, just a little hint for later. It's best to use that ethernet shield as it will protect your micro in the event of a surge.

It's possible that the phone LCDs are only getting power and SPI, you might be able to find a data sheet for the LCD module itself rather than a LCD module for a specific phone.

[NightrainSrt4]

I tried googling the numbers on the back of the lcd itself and found nothing. It's alright though, as I didn't expect to be able to do anything with it. Just felt like tearing up some old crap, crap that had been sitting around in the closet forever, for some parts.

I'm probably going to end up going through a tinkering phase for a while, as right now I have no ultimate goal or project I want to do. Well, making a small portable box for the application I've been working on would be nice, but that is down the line.

I really just wanted to get into something I don't know too much about. Something to work on during a rainy day inside. Modding is great and all, but I needed something, a hobby, that could be done inside without a mess. I had fun the few times I had to repair LCD screens, and soldering components, and trying to get things to work, so I thought I could get some use out of this. Especially as I've got the software side handled relatively well.

[BuzzKillington]

http://labs.ideo.com/category/open-source/

May be a good app to have for the Arduino.