I have several ideas for arduino or raspberry pi type projects for the layout but need to get more familiar with details. Does anyone have suggestions for a starter kit and good book or web site?
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Hokie 71: If you don't mind watching videos, YouTube has a lot about the Arduino.
Here's a good one for an introduction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...34zDTPkcs&t=521s
It moves pretty fast but is complete and is reasonably valid.
This guy has a whole series on the Arduino and takes it much slower. It's more of a step by step guide if you like that sort of tutorial. Here's a link to his latest series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...WR7dBuc18&t=147s
Amazon has a fair variety of starter kits in various price ranges. I would spend some time reading through the reviews to see what suits you. There is no need to spend very much to get started. I have no particular recommendation.
There are some books that may be helpful but I get everything I need to know online. Again you may narrow in on a particular book by reading through reviews.
I'm a strong believer in immersion; deep mental involvement. Jump in and do not be discouraged by mistakes. It goes with the territory. You'll do just fine!
-- Leo
The Arduino web site is a pretty good starting point for the basics; I always have the language reference page bookmarked. If you want more information about programming in C++ this is a good site. The forums there are excellent for advice on specific questions.
As far as hardware, I'm a big fan of the Pololu A-Star versions. It doesn't come as a starter kit, but the full-size (Prime) versions have a buzzer, pushbuttons and LEDs integrated on the board so you can experiment with simple input and output without needing anything else. There are also versions with attached LCDs or SD storage.
Unlike the conventional Arduino, the A-Stars have two UARTs, which is useful if you're talking to another system like a Legacy base over serial. The micro versions, at $5 a pop, are great once you're experienced and you want to integrate your project into a piece of rolling stock or another board. You do need a USB-TTL Serial interface for those.
Thanks guys, I plan to watch videos in the morning and check the arduino site.
I had not heard of the astar kit and will check that too. Funny, I expected to hear comments about elegoo and kits from arduino.
I am sure I will be back with questions.
@Professor Chaos posted:The Arduino web site is a pretty good starting point for the basics; I always have the language reference page bookmarked. If you want more information about programming in C++ this is a good site. The forums there are excellent for advice on specific questions.
As far as hardware, I'm a big fan of the Pololu A-Star versions. It doesn't come as a starter kit, but the full-size (Prime) versions have a buzzer, pushbuttons and LEDs integrated on the board so you can experiment with simple input and output without needing anything else. There are also versions with attached LCDs or SD storage.
Unlike the conventional Arduino, the A-Stars have two UARTs, which is useful if you're talking to another system like a Legacy base over serial. The micro versions, at $5 a pop, are great once you're experienced and you want to integrate your project into a piece of rolling stock or another board. You do need a USB-TTL Serial interface for those.
Thanks for all of the useful information. Arduino use is another one of those back burner projects that I keep wanting to get to.
One comment / question - Both links in the first paragraph point to the same URL (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage) - did you intend for the C++ link to point somewhere else?
If you just go to Google and search for "C++ tutorial", you'll find more than you could ever consume. And while Arduino is written in C++, not all features of the language are supported.
You will quickly run into the "cout" construct that is used by many C++ programs to print text to the Serial monitor. Although it's part of the standard library of C++, it is not generally used for the Arduino. Instead, you should learn about the "Serial" class for output to the screen.
So when you study C++, be aware that some of what they expose may not apply to the Arduino. If you stick to the basics of the language, you will generally be okay.
Here's a video about the Serial port and printing to the Serial monitor:
You'll need to know this.
Here's a link to some more about the Arduino that will help you to understand some of the terminology and layout of the whole process. It's part of the Arduino Foundations tutorials.
Oops, C++ link should have been this.
Finally got to view the videos and recommended web sites, great stuff and thanks for the links. I need to buy a kit. Since I don't have much but a few resistors and capacitors around, I need one of the kits with breadboards and other gizmos. Seems the two main choices are the Arduino starter or one of the Elegoo kits recommended in the Paul McWhorter videos. Here is the more expensive elegoo. Any thoughts on pros or cons between these?
Prof chaos, the Pololu site had a ton of good things but it seems I need to start with one of these kits to get the extra stuff to get through the tutorials.
Hokie 71: I'm confused that in the Paul McWhorter videos he says that the Elegoo super starter set is only 35 dollars but then the link takes you to the one for 65. If you like the series, it makes sense to have what he recommends to work with. But many of these starter kits have a bunch of things that you may never use. So I would go with this lower price set and if he uses something that you don't have, you can either buy it separately or skip over it. His demonstrations are very well done.
Leo, Right there are two prices, sorry I confused the posting. They are called the MEGA ($69) and the SUPER (this is the $35 version). Apparently the MEGA covers 35 lessons (compared to 22 for the SUPER) and has a 2560 series board with a few more bells and whistles than the R3 in the Super. The Pololu board mentioned by professor chaos is similar to the 2560 it appears.
Why not save some $? Thanks.
Not sure if you're new to electronics or not. If you are, a good reference book could be very helpful. I have a copy of this one and its pretty good at covering both theory and practice.
Not so new to electronics but a bit rusty! That does look like a very practical book. An example that stood out when scanning through, when did you see a standard text book cover common ground concepts like this does? Super recommendation.
