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  • Author Author: gsgill112
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Best Kit for starters and hobbiest till now !

Hi Folks, How r u guys doing.

Their have been countless people/student who want to get their hands dirty and build something fun or people who just want to learn electronics, but, they don't know which kit to go for. This is where our experience comes handy image So I would like you all to participate in this pool to vote the best startes/hobbiest kit available in the market image

 

What I intended to ask is for a community opinion for the best GENERIC board for starters to electronics. Asked differently, Which board did you first got your hands on which actually helped you learn Embedded and do those coolll things you ever dream to do.

 

Things to consider

-> Cost

-> Support

-> Community

-> Features

-> Ease to use

-> Online workshop/e-learning

-> and whatever you guys can think of image

 

Thanks a lot image image

  • I don't really believe any one of these are better than the other.

    It really depends on the type of application you wish to achieve, each one has many different applications, and the Arduino and Pi for example have almost infinite possibilities.

     

    Albeit, simply based off your "things to consider list" I chose the the Raspberry Pi, and here is why.

    • Cost, the raspberry pi cost no more than a night out at dinner. Even a Pi kit is pretty cost effective.
    • Support/ Community, there is a very wide range of support and tutorials for the Pi as well as plenty of communities online that shed light unto ideas and delve more and more into the possibilities the Pi has to offer.
    • Features, Multiple options for the Pi itself including, Model A, B, B+ and now A+, each giving different features and a wide array of options. Multiple options for video/ sound output, camera options, GPIO's, multiple power options, wide array of operating systems, USB, SD card, and much more. Hard to beat the Pi in this subject.
    • Ease to use, the Raspberry Pi is simple and fun to use whether you are a "noob" or an expert. There are many tutorials out there with many different ways to get started, and with the available option of purchasing the Pi with an already fully loaded SD Card makes the Pi usable right out of the box if you want, or you can simply get your own SD Card and set it up ever you feel most comfortable. That is not to mention  "noobs" which is meant for ease of use.
    • Online workshop/e-learning, as mentioned there are plenty of tutorials, videos, webinars, documents, communities, etc that delve into the Raspberry Pi and its many options.

    I would also like to mention the many possibilities for customization with the wide array of accessories you can get for the Pi.

     

     

    Don't let my opinion fool you however, all the options in this poll are great and I enjoy each one in many different ways.

  • I would add SiliconLabs EFM32 ZeroGecko starter kit with weather station

    really great!

  • Dear: Gill

    I obviously choose rasbeary PI because it is so fun to make robots with it.

    From: Noah

  • I agree with Mark ( ) it really depends on what you want to achieve.

    Currently I'm using Raspberry Pi, several flavours of Arduino, Sparki robot (Arduino), MBED, and currently starting with spark.io, which is not on the list. I voted for NXP lpc, because I have some really good experience with MBED (mbed.org). In my opinion this platform deserves more attention than it has now. By the way also the freescale board is supported by mbed.org.

     

    Gerrit.

  • Actually, even the Ardiono IDE (Based on Wiring) is very easy to use and actually also hides you from the details of the board, So much so that alot of programs written fo the ATMEGA328 will work on almost every other Arduino from the mega series boards. Additionally with little to no changes on some, the code will also port to the equivalent Texas Instruments dev boards in the form of launch Pads and Booster packs. The Energia IDE is actually almost identical to the Arduino with the exception it is red to match the TI boards image  vs green for the ardiuino.

     

    To the user they are to to all intents and purposes the same and you can then be free to choose from an even bigger pool of play things

     

    It is only when you start coding directly to the hardware that you need to start to know the actual details of the underlying chip

     

    Awesome I think.

     

    Peter

  • As mentioned I think it depends on what you hope to achieve, there is no one board that is "best" it just depends what you plan to do with it and where you want to go next. It probably also depend on the level of expertise you are starting with.

    However I think you also have to consider the tool chain you want to use, if you don't have a clear idea of a project and just want to learn then you perhaps don't want to tie yourself to a single board or tie yourself to a particular vendors tool chain. Environments like MBED are very easy to get started with and don't tie you to a particular board. MBED in particular has a lot going for it, it abstracts a lot of the low level detail away making it quick and easy to write code. This is good if you want to get something working quickly but for learning sometimes it's better to start with the basics and learn the details.

     

     

    Colin

  • Hi Gurinder,

     

    I did understand the question as I didn't over look it, generally the Arduino is a good starter not just for simplicity but for community involvement. The Mikro Electronika PIC though has a good layout. After they have gain some experience then they can look further into other options and development boards.

     

    Malcolm

  • Hi @ All, Firstly thanks Peter Oakes, mcb1, Malcolm Whinfield and vsluiter for the truthful response. I duly and respectfully agree with all of you that a single dev board cant be used for a single purpose, you indeed choose multiple for various purpose. But, what i did intended to ask was an community opinion for the best GENERIC board for starters to electronics.

     

    Asked differently, Which board did you first got your hands on which actually helped you learn Embedded and do those coolll things you ever dream to do.

     

    I will change the description of the question image

     

    Thanks & Regards

    Gurinder

  • Hi there , this question / poll has been asked several times over the last few months with the same resulting feedback

     

    It is indeed very difficult to pick one as the best as you have already read, it all depends on the project you intend to use it with. I probably have over 15 different boards from the ATTiny through to TivaC based boards in the micro controller category and then several variations of Linux boards including RIoT and RPI. none are better than the other overall and they all have their place. A question lightly to get a more factual response may be "Which do you use most often" or "what is your current project using."

     

    All the previous attempts to illicit a favourite has resulted in this same response and unfortunately, correctly so.

     

    Hope I have been able to clarify the reasons for the responses your lightly to get

     

    Regards

     

    Peter

  • I wouldn't choose a single one, mainly because it depends on the application.

    For instance I have used Arduino UNO for some projects (despite the sometimes troublesome driver issue) and for a small robot the Arduino mini.

    I even used the Digispark for my illuminated Beer Tap and the other part used a Raspberry Pi.

     

    So it depends on what you want to achieve.

     

    Mark