Board index › Topical Discussion › Computers, Math, Science, and Technology

What Is An Arduino?

Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

Blake_be_cool
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Posts: 860
Location: Australia, NSW, Sydney

19 Jan 2011, 6:00 pm

All The Time When I'm Looking At Electronic/Programming Based Projects (The Thing I want To Do). They Always Speak Of Some "Arduino Board".
What Is It And What Is It's Purpose?
Can You Program Electronics With-out It?


_________________
"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal', must necessarily be 'inferior'."
- Hans Asperger (1938)


mcg
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jan 2010
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 538
Location: Sacramento

19 Jan 2011, 6:39 pm

It's a control board based on Atmel's AVR series of 8-bit microcontrollers. Yes, you can program controllers without one, they just make it easier for beginners because they include a lot of the support hardware (such as clocks, voltage regulators, filter and decoupling caps, ISP and JTAG headers, etc) in one easy to use package.

There's also the Basic Stamp which is the same sort of thing but with a PIC microcontroller instead of an AVR.

Personally, I tend to avoid things like this altogether because they are expensive. Just a plain controller is a fraction of the cost, and it's really not that hard to set up the support hardware. Pretty much all you need is a voltage regulator, a few capacitors, and a canned oscillator (there should be schematics in the datasheets).



Wallourdes
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jul 2010
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,589
Location: Netherlands

19 Jan 2011, 6:40 pm

I just googled Arduino board and found this...

http://www.arduino.cc


_________________
"It all start with Hoborg, a being who had to create, because... he had to. He make the world full of beauty and wonder. This world, the Neverhood, a world where he could live forever and ever more!"


Blake_be_cool
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Posts: 860
Location: Australia, NSW, Sydney

19 Jan 2011, 7:00 pm

mcg wrote:
It's a control board based on Atmel's AVR series of 8-bit microcontrollers. Yes, you can program controllers without one, they just make it easier for beginners because they include a lot of the support hardware (such as clocks, voltage regulators, filter and decoupling caps, ISP and JTAG headers, etc) in one easy to use package.

There's also the Basic Stamp which is the same sort of thing but with a PIC microcontroller instead of an AVR.

Personally, I tend to avoid things like this altogether because they are expensive. Just a plain controller is a fraction of the cost, and it's really not that hard to set up the support hardware. Pretty much all you need is a voltage regulator, a few capacitors, and a canned oscillator (there should be schematics in the datasheets).


Thanks


_________________
"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal', must necessarily be 'inferior'."
- Hans Asperger (1938)


billmeister
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 5 Mar 2011
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 51

11 Mar 2011, 11:52 pm

A friend of mine bought a couple Arduino Duemilanove units a few years back. I got one for CAN$30. Essentially, with some programming you use it as a programmable logic controller for a fraction of the price. I'm finally putting mine to use as a LED gear indicator for an automatic transmission.



gtg556h
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jan 2011
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 9

12 Mar 2011, 1:15 am

Arduinos are super cheap, versatile, and if you don't want to buy a prefabbed one, the schematics to make your own are freely available (it's classified as open-source hardware). Beyond the low price, the best part of them is that thousands of people use them, and share their code online. So if you are at all interested, it is incredibly easy to use and learn because you can find programs for hundreds of projects and tweak it to your preferences. The compiler is cross-platform, free, and also comes with around 40 tutorial programs. Buy a microcontroller, some LEDs, perhaps a display or some motors, and you can entertain yourself for hours.