Hopefully you're here because you've heard about this new-fangled "Arduino" thing, and you'd like to know more. Maybe you know your way around a soldering iron, maybe you want to relive your glory days troubleshooting college lab circuits, or maybe you just like looking at pictures of circuits. Hopefully, some or all of this will help whet your appetite to play around with the Arduino and discover what it can do.

Arduino describes itself as an "open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software." If you're interested in maker projects, circuit boards, or just goofing around with a soldering iron, Arduino may be worth your time.

Arduino hardware is available in a number of form factors, so you can decide whether you want to spend a lot of time assembling hardware or build the boards by hand. The hardware can receive input from a "variety of sensors" which can be used to turn on motors, lights, and "other actuators." Programming is accomplished via the Wiring-based Arduino language. Best of all, everything is offered under an open source license.

This article marks the start of my journey—one from a guy who has some basic circuit knowledge and some (rather outdated) technical training, to a guy who decided to get off his butt and figure this Arduino stuff out. This specifically is the small start to a greater project I have in mind—ultimately driving a color, multipixel display by means of an Arduino processor. Before we get to the whiz-bang cool stuff, today we start from the absolute bottom of the barrel.

Finding parts and tools (Like an Arduino to play with! And wires and stuff...)

First things first: commit to actually making a purchase. But what to get? Well, try an Arduino prototype board first. Next comes some stuff to actually USE with it. Fortunately, I found a pretty nice kit online from the folks at MakerSHED. It's called the "Ultimate Microcontroller Pack," it even comes with the option of an Arduino board.

Removing all the stuff from the box, I'm pretty sure this is more than enough to play around with in order to get a good handle on what the Arduino can do. MSRP for the Arduino on the 'net is around $29.99 for the actual unit. MakerSHED offers the kit I selected it for $120 (shipping, naturally, not included). It seems expensive, but I opted for the "uber" kit. In my experience, it's more useful to have available parts that I can use to help with inspiration, rather than trying to be inspired then finding parts later. This is all about making it easier. Too many parts has rarely been any hobbyist's bane.

As you can see, the kit has some handy stuff. Again, my initial ideas are limited (I just want to drive a display, so I'm primarily thinking of projects having to do with LEDs, LCDs, and finally a color LCD). But there are a TON of parts in here that I can already think of other projects for. The kit comes with a couple small servos, multiple resistors and LEDs, a small LCD display, assorted surface-mount buttons and switches, a prototype board, and multiple pre-terminated wires of various colors and lengths.

Oddly enough, the pre-terminated wires may prove to be the handiest aspect. They are essentially small pins that slide VERY nicely into the holes on the prototyping boards—ensuring a good connection plus ease of installation and removal. I have many rather frustrating memories from college labs dealing with thin, soft copper wire that kept bending unless I could stick it in the board hole just right. It sounds crazy, but it's the little things that make your projects go easier.

Sooner or later soldering gets involved, so I went and dusted off my old desk soldering pencil. You don't have to get THIS one (it's kinda old anyway). Use any soldering pencil that can handle lead-free solder for electronics; ideally coming with a means of controlling the heat. Now I've got all the STUFF I need. What do I do with it?

Getting some sort of guide

Start by finding a book that you can work through, so you can figure out how to make this Arduino work. I, quite literally (though not valley girl literally), went to the nearest bookstore, looked over the shelves in the Engineering/Robotics section, and saw one that struck my eye. This title contained two very important words: "Beginning" (because I am new to this) and "Arduino" (might be relevant). Michael McRoberts wrote this particular text and I can't yet say if it's a good, useful book. Nor can I say if there are better ones out there. I grabbed it in a fit of ignorance, out of the clutching desire to have some sort of reference. This fit the bill.

I have my Arduino. I have my tome of learning. I have my stuff to use with the Arduino. Now, the easy part. How do I make a program and how do I load it onto the Arduino?

Installing and connecting an Arduino for the first time

Whew! Things could get complicated here, but I'll try to keep this FIRST part succinct. My next step was to install some sort of development program on my computer, in order to create my programs then load them onto the Arduino. Fortunately, the folks who made the Arduino were very astute. They knew there'd be some demand for this.

I moseyed over to the Arduino home site and, lo and behold, there's a development environment available. It runs on Windows, OSX, or Linux. The download/installation is a snap. I have to admit, the introductory screen was a bit anticlimactic though:

Once you've installed the Arduino utility, it's time to hook it up and see if anything cool happens. As I have found, a couple LEDs do turn on but that's just about it. You'll see a small status line appearing at the bottom of the Utility screen saying the Arduino is connected. Well, it's a start.

Recap and What's Next

So, we've acquired all the physical stuff necessary to really start a project: an Arduino, related parts, a guidebook, and a whole lot of can-do spirit. The next step is to take all that and actually create your first program, load it onto the Arduino, and execute. We'll cover that in another installment.