Arduino Power Supply + Breadboards

Hopping on the bandwagon here.

I am fairly new to Arduino and E14.  I will attest to the success of the recommendations that the other guys have put forward.  First, I had the same question regarding power.   I have used a simple 5v battery pack, as well as a 9v and a 12v power supply from other cast off equipment, such as old cell phones.  The on-board voltage regulator works as advertised and I see no difference in operation so far.

Also, I agree with your approach starting with a Starter Kit, which is what I did.  I too have been working through some examples by Blum, as well as others.  There is a wealth of information on various sites and on Youtube.  The only other thing I did was to get a couple of book and one app.  I bought the, "Arduino Cookbook" by Michael Margolis.  It's an O'Reilly book.  This is very helpful on the programming side.  There are a number of very helpful books, including ones by Jeffrey Blum as well.

I have been having fun working on simple beginner projects with my little 8-yr old grandson.  I couldn't resist jumping ahead a couple of times and working some more complicated things.  This is a great hobby.  There's no end in sight!

Have fun!

Cool - That's what it's all about!

Most of the books out there are actually great - Jeff Margolis' "Arduino Cookbook" (make sure to get the 2nd Edition for Arduino IDE 1.0 and later) and Jeffrey Blum's "Exploring Arduino" are outstanding for their accuracy and information.  Massimo Banzi's "Getting Started..." guide is a great place to begin to get a feel for Arduino, if someone hasn't worked with it before.  Those are all O'Reilly books.  If you get the electronic version O'Reilly regularly updates them with changes based on Errata and coding/libraries.  That said, I usually get the Ebook and print versions, as I like having a paper book (if you interested in that "debate" read Scientific American this month).

The only rules are constraints of phsyics!  It really is a great hobby that can take you places most people never think of; let alone do.  I work with microcontrollers professionally; and I love the whole Arduino universe.  I once made a schematic of the components required to make a blinking LED (using 555 timer, etc.).  That would've taken at least a couple of hours to make on a perf board.  With a $30 Arduino it took about 2 minutes...and I could make it blink in different patterns without potentiometers, etc.

Have fun yourself!

Cool - That's what it's all about!

Most of the books out there are actually great - Jeff Margolis' "Arduino Cookbook" (make sure to get the 2nd Edition for Arduino IDE 1.0 and later) and Jeffrey Blum's "Exploring Arduino" are outstanding for their accuracy and information.  Massimo Banzi's "Getting Started..." guide is a great place to begin to get a feel for Arduino, if someone hasn't worked with it before.  Those are all O'Reilly books.  If you get the electronic version O'Reilly regularly updates them with changes based on Errata and coding/libraries.  That said, I usually get the Ebook and print versions, as I like having a paper book (if you interested in that "debate" read Scientific American this month).

The only rules are constraints of phsyics!  It really is a great hobby that can take you places most people never think of; let alone do.  I work with microcontrollers professionally; and I love the whole Arduino universe.  I once made a schematic of the components required to make a blinking LED (using 555 timer, etc.).  That would've taken at least a couple of hours to make on a perf board.  With a $30 Arduino it took about 2 minutes...and I could make it blink in different patterns without potentiometers, etc.

Have fun yourself!

Thanks for the push Larry i'll be ordering one once i get paid for going some Exchange SSL stuff for a friend   Already got a few ebooks ready and going to buy Jeremy Blum i think.

Was going to get my kids involved as well.  They love Lego was going to do some projects on that.

Can't wait now............. Like a kid at Xmas

Well i've only gone and ordered a "Ultimate Kit"

Should be here mid next week, the wife is off on a Holiday with Friends the following Saturday for a week so i can play with the Arduino and Lego all day while the kids are at school lol

Excellent Neil!

That's a great kit to start with.  I really like the stuff that MakerShed puts out.  Sparkfun has their "Inventor's Kit" with a list of projects and required components.  They also have a guide that comes with it: SIK (Sparkfun Inventors Kit-Pun quite intended).  It's got 15 projects that have instructions, code, schematics; and templates to lay out on a breadboard.  I've steered a couple of people to this who were quite pleased.  You can get a free PDF of the book at https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11976 .  You might find slightly different specs on the LCD screen and DC motor/servo in the "Ultimate Kit"; but it should all work.  If you're not accustomed to building from schematics this is an excellent way to learn.  I still like to draw what a PCB/ckt will physically look like when working from a schematic, sometimes.

In electronics, always remember, you've never "broken" anything...Always state, "The magic smoke all went away".

I always like it when people get into microcontrollers.  A person has to be reasonably intelligent to build a level of exptertise up; but one doesn't have to be an Einstein.  I'm still impressed by what people can come up with when they get a chance to work with these.

Anyway - I hope you have a great time with the kit!  If I can help with something, or you just think something you made is just too cool, hit 'Reply'!