January 13, 2012
Today I’ll attempt to teach you a little bit about Shift Registers. These are a fairly important part of Arduino programming, basically because they expand the number of outputs you can use, in exchange for only 3 control pins. You can also daisy-chain shift registers together in order to get even more outputs. This is a significant jump in difficulty from previous tutorials.
December 11, 2011
This is the next part in our learning Arduino series, and this time we’ll be learning about and using Arrays to make a little Christmas tree ornament with various flashing sequences. This would be an ideal project to keep the kids occupied if you’d like to teach them basic soldering – just mount the LEDs on a piece of card, and you can get power from a standard 9v battery.
December 7, 2011
Last week, we learnt about the basic structure of an Arduino program and took a closer look at the ‘blink’ example. Hopefully you took the opportunity to experiment with code, adjusting the timings. This time, we’ll be writing something from scratch. In fact, let’s make a traffic light.
November 27, 2011
Last time I left you having set up your Arduino to work with Mac or Windows, and having uploaded a simple test app that blinked the on-board LED. Today I’m going to explain the code you uploaded, the structure of Arduino software, and a little more about the electronic bits on the board itself.
November 25, 2011
So, you’ve bought yourself an Arduino starter kit, and possibly some other random cool components – now what? How do you actually get started with programming this Arduino thing? How do you set it up and upload some code? Read on and I’ll explain all. I’m going to assume you have an Arduino Uno board.
November 20, 2011
So, you’re thinking about getting an Arduino starter kit, but wondering if some basic LEDs and resistors is going to be enough to keep you busy for the weekend? Probably not. Here are another 8 cool electronic components you might want to just add to your basket, along with some great ideas for what you could do with them.
November 16, 2011
I have previously introduced the Arduino open-source hardware here on MakeUseOf, but you’re going need more than just the actual Arduino to build something out of it and actually get started. Arduino “starter kits” are bundles of common but useful electronic components you can use to make a good number of beginner projects, but what exactly does a starter kit usually consist of?
October 7, 2011
Despite sounding like an alcopop, Fritzing is actually an incredible bit of free software you can use to create circuit and component diagrams for use with rapid-prototyping electronics boards such as the fantastic open-source Arduino. As such, it’s open source, entirely cross platform and well supported – you can almost guarantee that it can be used on any Arduino project to show you how to wire things together using it.
October 2, 2011
Having recently had my first taste of Arduino electronics, I must admit the idea of open hardware and the maker ethos has really made a mark on me. Today I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the most promising, exciting, or downright cool hardware projects on KickStarter – most of which you can fund in return for one of the prototypes or finished projects.
September 25, 2011
If you’re like me, tinkering with electronics is something you’d really like to be able to do – in theory at least – but the realities of time constraints, lack of knowledge and few rewards inevitably prevent you from making a start. The Arduino is the answer to all that, and frankly anything that can be considered fun while learning is a truly revolutionary device in my opinion.
