A Good Essential Starter Kit for Arduino

Hi. I have the exact same question. I want to create something easy enough I'll finish it, but magic enough that I'll want to do more. I am not sure what to puchase...

Smag and Thomas

I would suggest grabbing an UNO (DIL not smd version), along with a proptype shield and the headers to allow stacking.

There are small breadboards with 170 points http://https://nicegear.co.nz/prototyping/breadboard-mini-selfadhesive-white/ similar to these that you can attach to the shield and fit nicely in between the headers.

I would suggest a backlight LCD, and if you find one with the connectors on the edge, it saves having to use a cable.

The Dallas 18b20 one wire temperature chips are great, but don't forget the pullup resistor.

Whatever you do, make sure you use a series resistor with LED's. There are some guides that say the output is current limited (and it is) but increase the number of leds and you can expect trouble.

I've used a piece of discarded Cat 5 cable for links, but look around for some leads to suit the breadboards, if the wire thing doesn't work for you.

In my opinion kits are usually full of lots of stuff you will never use, and in NZ Element14 do not have any kits listed.

This will certainly get you started. (sorry I can't give all the codes as we might have them in NZ)

For larger and faster options the Chipkit UNO is an 80MHz version that will accept Arduino shields, and uses a slightly modified IDE, that can use the Arduino code, and will program Arduino's as well.

There are other versions of boards, and one made by Seeedstudio that incorporate RTC and micro SD on the board, but the UNO will allow you to remove the 328 chip and install it into a project if you desire.

Mark

Hi,

I've heard good things from several friends about the SparkFun Arduino starter kit:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10173

If there is a MicroCenter computer store near you they seem to carry it, too. (http://www.microcenter.com/)

I'm sure the Adafruit one would be good, too, as they do an outstanding job with educational material, and I've been happy with everything I've ordered from them.

Finally, many RadioShack's now carry Make Magazine's Arduino starter kit which was created to go along with the Getting Started with Arduino book written by one of the co-creators of the Arduino.

Starter Kit:

http://www.makershed.com/Getting_Started_with_Arduino_Kit_V3_0_p/msgsa.htm

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12326251

Ultimate Kit:

http://www.makershed.com/Ultimate_Microcontroller_Pack_p/msump.htm

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12353398http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12353398

Book:

http://www.makershed.com/product_p/9781449309879.htm

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12264446&clickid=prod_cs

Cheers,

Drew

I second Drew's suggestion on the sparkfun kit!

It's actually from Oomlout: http://www.oomlout.co.uk/arduino-experimentation-kit-ardx-p-183.html

and Sparkfun is one of their distributors, here's the list if you live elsewhere: http://www.oomlout.com/a/distr/

I bumped into the Oomlout study guide after I already had my arduino and a bunch of pieces, and I found it really easy to follow along with - very clear instructions, with complete code and variations for each experiment. And it explains how and why things work. You can check out the study guide before committing to buying the kit too: http://www.oomlout.com/a/products/ardx/

If you think about it, the 100 bucks is a great deal considering you get all the hardware in one easy package, and then on top of that think of how much courses and books can cost!

If you're on a budget you can find the pieces separately on eBay or by taking apart some old electronics (which in itself can be very educational). A quick search for "arduino kit" on eBay shows many different kits available at various price points, but they don't provide any instructions along with them, except that they refer you to arduino.cc for the tutorials there (which are good too).

Good luck, and enjoy!

Cheers,

-Nico

And since we are on the element14/Newark page here, let's give them a plug too!

This is the kit they have: http://canada.newark.com/arduino/a000010/arduino-uno-board-w-workshop-starter/dp/13T9277?in_merch=Popular%20Products

But it's out of stock and doesn't give much information about what is in there.

Cheers,

-Nico