arduino uses ?

[IanTParticipant @iant]

The reason I suggested buying from an 'authorised' dealer – is that as far as I can see the price is pretty much the same but the quality is a lot more certain. If you look on Amazon for instance – you will see reviews where people thought they were buying the "genuine" Uno R3 – but it was in fact a clone and there are comments about the differences in components being used and the poor quality of soldering.

I'm not sure what is in the Maplin 'kit' but it sounds expensive (£80?). The kind of 'breadboard' I'm talking about can be purchased for very little money, as can the jump leads. Something like this…

**LINK**

If you need guidance, then there is plenty online for free but once you get beyond a certain point then perhaps a reference book might be useful – I have this one and find it very useful:

**LINK**

I don't have any 'Shields' at this point – so my total 'hardware' costs are about £25 (£30 tops) – plus the book when I wanted something handy to have on holiday (no Internet available) at under £20 at that time. So my 'Starter' kit has cost under £50 and has been purchased in stages.

My suggestion would be to get the Uno – do the basic programming exercises, then start to connect it to simple circuits (via the breadboard) and learn a little simple electronics. Then once you are really up and running – decide what kind of more sophisticated connections you might want/need and whether the Uno is up to the job. Maybe you might decide you need a "Mega" or something else more powerful – and the accessories that go with it.

Regards,

IanT

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I'll just mention the Raspberry Pi again. If you were experienced with the BBC Micro and/or the original Acorn RISC OS, you will find that Python and RISC OS are familiar environments. This shouldn't be a major surprise, as they were all developed in Cambridge (UK) and share significant chunks of DNA.

The main difference between the Arduino / RB Pi etc and the professional Dev / EVB kits (Atmega328, MSP430, PIC etc) is the free and open development environments and innumerable programs that are available for free (or for peanuts). The whole aim is to get a new generation (and an older one!) up and running, unlike the professional kits which require lengthy and expensive software development (engineers, compilers, debuggers etc). This seems to mirror the way a lot of CAD/CAM software and CNC hardware is coming into the free / hobby environment – can't be a bad thing!!

The Arduino has been around for longer but the flipside of that – and the upside of the Pi – is that the Pi has been designed and developed very recently and takes the single board micro a whole generation step further on (faster processor, more memory, on board GPU etc). If you are looking at buying a Pi, you'd be advised to get the latest B+ model which has more IO and 4 USB ports. The power of a Pentium II in a credit card sized board…

Check out the website, the app store and some of the suppliers.

Murray

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Don't be put off buying a clone of the arduino uni, the board is open source so anyone can produce them. They probably all come from the same factory in China anyway. I picked one up via ebay for £4.25 and is actually better than the one I got in the Franzis tutorial kit. Don't be misled by tales of bad soldering etc ebay has lots of boards many direct from China, Hong Kong etc and most things I have bought from there have only taken about a week to arrive ( where do you think the uk suppliers get their stock from?) most are post free as well.

I have bought lots of add on boards including shields, various sensor/timer modules for peanuts compared to uk prices (although some uk prices can be as cheap – an example 4×4 membrane keypad for less than £1.00 inc postage)

dive in and have some fun – a little advice – if the sketch (software) won't compile and gives strange error messages, first place to check is the library………. Enjoy!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Howard,

I'm not arguing against your recommendation, but I would just mention this page.

For what it's worth … it appears that the "genuine" boards are made in Italy, and identifiable by a [custom made] gold-coloured component.

Interestingly, the Uno that I bought on ebay was pictured as a "real" one; but what arrived was "Designed in Italy". The U.K. seller told me that his supplier had provided the photo.

The price was right, and it seems to work fine.

MichaelG.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Gentlemen,

Thank you again for all of your input, I'm going to purchase a UNO R3 and go from there, I've got plenty of spare time as I'm laid up with an AirCast boot on my right foot with a suspected broken/fractured right foot, a side effect of Diabetis, so cant do much else but play with my computers

Martin P

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by martin perman on 12/11/2014 08:46:19:

… cant do much else but play with my computers

.

Sounds like a good plan, Martin.

Some very good Arduino project ideas, here.

Controlling LEDs with a Mouse might be developed into something useful.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: You will see some reference to various Grove modules

… here is a UK supplier.

 

 

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/11/2014 12:42:29

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/11/2014 18:29:30:

Howard,

I'm not arguing against your recommendation, but I would just mention this page.

For what it's worth … it appears that the "genuine" boards are made in Italy, and identifiable by a [custom made] gold-coloured component.

Interestingly, the Uno that I bought on ebay was pictured as a "real" one; but what arrived was "Designed in Italy". The U.K. seller told me that his supplier had provided the photo.

The price was right, and it seems to work fine.

MichaelG.

Hi Michael

If the circuits of these boards are open source then I cannot understand the use of the word counterfeit, also a gold coloured component doesn't mean it will work any better than a standard coloured one. These boards are relatively simple to produce with no real critical components, so I do not see why a Chinese clone for 1/3 the price will not work as well as the Italian made one. The components in the Italian original are not likely to be any different from those used in the Chinese clones.

The only ethical reason for purchasing a "genuine" board is to support the development of the Arduino platform, but again it is generally open source – despite some software authors keep their code secret, which to me and a lot of others, goes against the basic principles of open source.

I'm a bit of a cheapskate (have to be on my pension!!!!!) so will source based on perceived best value ( not necessarily the cheapest.

The Arduino is a great platform and relatively easy to use, it is not expensive and you can have a lot of fun for not a lot of pennies.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

The Arduino is certainly open source Howard and you can obtain 'Arduino' compatible products from various other manufacturers in different formats and with different specifications. However, I think I am correct in saying that the "Uno R3" is a specific Arduino product only produced in Italy by the Ardunio organisation – it is in effect their "Branded" Arduino product.

So what you call "clones" are really products that are 'passing themselves off' as being (not just "Arduinos" ) but also "Uno R3's" – when they are in fact not.

Now this may not be a problem in practice for many people who buy these clones but it does appear to be the case that not all "clones" are built to the same quality (this is according to user comments elsewhere) and there is no real way to know exactly what you will get when you order a "clone".

So I stand by my statement that if you are buying from a UK supplier, then use one of the official Arduino ones – or you may get a clone when you could have had the genuine article. Of course, if you decide to buy directly from HK, then you can be very sure that it will be a clone and you pays your money and takes your chance.

Regards,

 

IanT

Edited By IanT on 12/11/2014 18:38:12

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Howard Winwood on 12/11/2014 16:30:26:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/11/2014 18:29:30:

For what it's worth … it appears that the "genuine" boards are made in Italy, and identifiable by a [custom made] gold-coloured component.

Hi Michael

… a gold coloured component doesn't mean it will work any better than a standard coloured one.

The only ethical reason for purchasing a "genuine" board is to support the development of the Arduino platform

.

Howard,

Forgive the drastic editing, but I think that sums-up the situation quite well.

The gold coloured component is there simply as a marker [until someone "clones" that too].

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 12/11/2014 12:15:10:

Some very good Arduino project ideas, here.

Controlling LEDs with a Mouse might be developed into something useful.

.

By the way … if you want a bargain-price Optical Mouse with Scroll Wheel: Poundland is selling one [Signalex], which seems perfectly serviceable; and it looks very easy to remove the circuit board for experimentation.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/11/2014 20:51:53

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I must admit, I want to have ago at using an optical mouse chip as a simple camera, but all the mice I have have the very basic chips, some of the 'gaming mice' have 32×32 resolution and quite sophisticated control. They use SPI communication and would be ideal for implementing simple 'robot vision' and motion detection etc. using the built in features.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Neil,

I just took the top off the £1 Mouse … obviously built down to a price, so the wires are soldered direct to the board, but there are three proper microswitches, a scroll-wheel assembly and a big red LED, plus [the important bit] a square chip with 12 legs, marked Simeau S8316. [not a name I recognise]

Definitely a bargain for the tinkerers amongst us.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Neil,

Here is an interesting [historic ] paper from Xerox

MichaelG.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

IanT and Gentlemen,

I ordered my UNO R3 yesterday and this morning it arrived in the post, Total including postage £22.15p, no lead supplied but that's not a problem as I have one, whilst my Daughter takes her Mother shopping on Sunday I shall put my Notebook next to my Laptop and download the necessary software and read the instructions on the Notebook and then start "playing". Looking at the R3 board I can relate to all of the connections so let the fun begin.

artin PM

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 12/11/2014 20:46:00:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 12/11/2014 12:15:10:

Some very good Arduino project ideas, here.

.

I've finally found a little time to have a look at his Serial Communication pages

Part 2 has introduced me to the Processing IDE … which I now realise is the foundation of the Arduino "sketch".

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 15/11/2014 21:36:00

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Haven't seen this site before Michael – so I will look at it when I'm a bit more awake (it's past my bedtime).

But yes – I understand 'Processing' was the basis for the Ardunio 'language' and it seems to be a very useable (PC based) system for interacting with them (to build graphical and audio interfaces for instance). However, I think any high level language could probably be used to talk to an Arduino system via a serial (USB) link. I used Forth (Win32Forth) but others may prefer using C or Basic – whatever their preferred programming language is.

Regards,

ianT .

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

If you can cope with the hyperactive presenter:

This video tutorial is well worth a look

As an introduction to programming, for non-programmers, it is quite an achievement.

… Not just a video! … It is fully interactive.

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I've got a bundle of very simple utilities in BBC Basic for Windows to talk to AVRs. I either use a USB-serial lead, or put an FTDI chip on the board.

Neil

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Gentlemen,

I down loaded the software into both of my computers, running windows 8 and found I didn't have to mess around with the drivers etc as per the Arduino instructions, I then spent a good hour +, daughters taken wife shopping poking around and modifying the example programs, I ordered some parts so that I can learn how stuff works.

I found the programming language largely understandable for a mechanical engineer with electrical knowledge so there is hope yet.

Martin P

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

For the original poster, this thread on another forum seems to answer the question quite well:

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?126992-10m-Air-Pistol-Turning-Target-Project&highlight=arduino

On another topic, I got into fiddling with old clocks a little while ago with the idea I might make my own.

I completed my first prototype clock today – not quite the mechanical engineering project I imagined but it is probably far more accurate. Only works outside where you can get a GPS signal though:

(all cheap non-official-arduino components)

Edited By jaCK Hobson on 16/11/2014 13:35:19

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

That clock looks interesting. I'm still struggling with the language. Is it possible to get actual drawings, or circuit diagrams ? I've spent some time looking, got downloads for programming etc. but no "pictures" I suppose what I need are " connect pin 2 to pin3 "sort of level. Thank you for your patience.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 15/11/2014 21:34:20:

introduced me to the Processing IDE … which I now realise is the foundation of the Arduino "sketch".

.

For info.

1. Processing 2.0.3 is the final Mac version for users who are still using Snow Leopard (because it used Java 6)
2. The 'Getting Started' book is available as a PDF, here.
3. The example Sketches, for the book, are available in the IDE

• Menu
• Examples…
• Books
• Getting Started
• [then organised by Chapter]

Fascinating stuff … I didn't realise what I had missed in the last few years!

MichaelG.

.

Edit:  in case anyone thinks this is going off-topic … skip to p168 of the book.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/11/2014 09:43:14

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Gordon W on 17/11/2014 09:23:17:

I'm still struggling with the language. Is it possible to get actual drawings, or circuit diagrams ?

I suppose what I need are " connect pin 2 to pin3 "sort of level.

.

Gordon,

From the site that I mentioned earlier …

here is a very simple example, with excellent pictures.

Hopefully that should get you started.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/11/2014 10:04:52

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I've just downloaded the free Processing book (as a PDF) Michael – very interesting intro to the language (and how to use it to talk to an Arduino too).

Thank you for the link.

Regards,

IanT

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

IanT,

Could you point me in the direction of the Processing book as I cant see it for looking.

Martin P

[Author]

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