Published on Dec 30, 2012
Ben teaches you everything you need to know to start using Arduino microcontrollers in your projects
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SparkFun is an online retail store that sells the bits and pieces to make your electronics projects possible. Whether it’s a robot that can cook your breakfast or a GPS cat tracking device, our products and resources are designed to make the world of electronics more accessible.
In addition to products, SparkFun also offers classes and online tutorials to help educate individuals in the wonderful world of embedded electronics.
What Is The RedBoard?
Arduino is one of the most popular physical computing platforms available today. It’s an amazing tool for both experienced and budding electronics enthusiasts. It’s part hardware, part software, and part community; all of which come together to create a well-supported, solidly-designed electronics platform.
The best part: the entire Arduino project – both hardware and software – is open-source. The schematics, hardware design files, and source code are all freely available for viewing and modification. Released under a Creative Commons Share Alike license, anyone is free to riff on the hardware design and produce their own version. That’s what we’ve done with the RedBoard. It still looks and acts just like an Arduino Uno, but is slightly modified to make the board better-suited to our purposes.
Description: If you’re new to electronics and programming, the RedBoard Starter Kit is a great way for beginners to get their foot in the door. This little guy is essentially a mini SparkFun Inventor’s Kit (minus the manual which you can find below) and can be taken straight out of the box to help you make a slew of basic circuits, including:
- Blinking LEDs
- Making (bad) music
- Responding to buttons
- Twisting a volume knob
- Detecting ambient light
- Reading temperature
- Mixing LED colors
- And more!
This version comes with our newest SparkFun RedBoard! Also included is a multitude of parts and sensors so you can start messing around with projects.
Here’s a few simple tutorials to get you started:
And here’s some more advanced tutorials, if you’re ready to take on more of the Arduino world!
Resources
For more information on the SparkFun Redboard, check out our product page. We’ve also got:
- Schematics – A PDF of the schematic.
- Eagle Files – The PCB design files. This design is completely open-source!
- FTDI Drivers – Though they’re included with Arduino installs, this is where you’ll find the most up-to-date FTDI VCP drivers.
- Product Video – A video introduction of the RedBoard.
Description: The Digital Sandbox (DS) is a learning platform that engages both the software and hardware worlds. It’s powered by a microcontroller that can interact with real-world inputs – like light or temperature sensors – while at the same time controlling LEDs, motors, and other outputs. The Digital Sandbox is equipped with everything, on board, that you will need to complete 13 experiments including controlling an LED, measuring how loud things are, detecting what the temperature is, and more. Think of this as a SparkFun Inventor’s Kit all in one board!
By interfacing the Sandbox to your computer via a USB cable, the Sandbox can be programmed using the popular Arduino programming environment. To further simplify the learning experience, we’ve designed the Sandbox and its guide around using a simple, “blocky”, programming add-on to Arduino called, Ardublock. Using ArduBlock – a simple, graphical version of the popular Arduino programming language – you will be able to program all of the experiments with a simple graphical interface instead of writing code.
The full-color Digital Sandbox Guide (included) contains step by step instructions of how to connect each circuit with the included parts. Full example code is provided and explained and even includes troubleshooting tips if something goes wrong. The kit does not require any soldering and is recommended for beginners ages 8 and up.
Published on Jul 14, 2014
Get your first look at the new Raspberry Pi B+ and find more information on element14 http://ow.ly/z7GKy
The Raspberry Pi Ultimate Kit has everything the Pi enthusiast needs or wants. This kit even includes a drawstring bag and mouse mat. This kit has a fantastic Raspberry Pi USB hub and the translucent case that you can hang on the wall or sit on your desktop.
Continue reading “Arduino microcontrollers”
