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Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

thimble.io

21–30 of 117 posts

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#21
post #11

So I subscribed, but the site says the next kit ships in November 2016. When do new subscribers expect to see their kits?

One of the devs here... looks like that was caused by an A/B testing template from the people dealing with marketing. It's been fixed.

edit: Just to be clear, the next kit does ship in January 2017.

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#23
An alternative which I subscribe to is Hackerboxes[0]. It's a bit cheaper at $44/month and each month's box comes with all of the required hardware. You can check out the instructions for past boxes here[1].

I've followed both thimble.io and Hackerboxes prior to launch and thimble.io definitely has more thorough instructions and a nice learning platform[2] which may be less intimidating for beginners.

I ended up going with Hackerboxes because the kits include all the parts, use of open source hardware, the lower price, and they've already shipped a year's worth of kits.

[0] http://www.hackerboxes.com/

[1] http://www.instructables.com/member/HackerBoxes/instructable...

[2] https://learning.thimble.io/

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#24
post #23

An alternative which I subscribe to is Hackerboxes[0]. It's a bit cheaper at $44/month and each month's box comes with all of the required hardware. You can check out the instructions for past boxes here[1]. I've followed both thimble.io and Hackerboxes prior to launch and thimble.io definitely has more thorough instructions and a nice learning platform[2] which may be less intimidating for beginners. I ended up goin…

Is there a subscription box that sends you just the parts for a project that uses an Arduino? Basically, I want to save cost by not having to get the (usually) most expensive part of the kit. I don't mind dismantling each month's project to reuse the core components.

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#25
post #23

An alternative which I subscribe to is Hackerboxes[0]. It's a bit cheaper at $44/month and each month's box comes with all of the required hardware. You can check out the instructions for past boxes here[1]. I've followed both thimble.io and Hackerboxes prior to launch and thimble.io definitely has more thorough instructions and a nice learning platform[2] which may be less intimidating for beginners. I ended up goin…

Is there a subscription box that sends you just the parts for a project that uses an Arduino? Basically, I want to save cost by not having to get the (usually) most expensive part of the kit. I don't mind dismantling each month's project to reuse the core components.

From I can tell this is the model thimble.io follows though it is more expensive. I'm not aware of any other subscription box which offers this.

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#26

The price is a bit steep. I could probably justify it if I saw more project examples with a parts list. I can get an arduino uno knockoff from Amazon for about $5, so I'd want to know what is included to justify the price. Of course a major part of the price is coming up with kit, sourcing all the parts, etc.

Arduino kits have never been a good value proposition from a parts list perspective, you tend to hope it's the ease of access and guided learning that make it worthwhile.

Starter kits with pennies worth of a few passive components and a few "interesting" sensors on breakouts sell for 50$+. Taken at their parts list you could get a thousand assorted pieces of most of the passive components for a few bucks on eBay, and you could get the breakouts on AliExpress for a few bucks too.

But the time it'd take to wait for a packet from China, or even from the US for a small premium, can disrupt someone who's just learning. If you forget a part, that can be a week of waiting. The kit promises everything you'll need.

And the guided nature helps beginners not get caught up in the minutiae of designing things. Google "turn on LED with Arduino" and you'll get answers ranging from "just stick it in series with an IO pin(not a great idea imo)", to "use a NPN transistor (which leads down its own train of learning as to how it works and why it's needed)" and a bunch of stuff in between".

I know some basic electronics (I think), and felt I was better off "splurging" on AliExpress and eBay once and filling a drawer with an assortment of passive components and breakouts to sensors I thought might be interesting and just building stuff as it came to mind.

A handful of ESP8266s and some assorted sensors can make for some pretty interesting projects by themselves

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#27
post #21
post #11

So I subscribed, but the site says the next kit ships in November 2016. When do new subscribers expect to see their kits?

One of the devs here... looks like that was caused by an A/B testing template from the people dealing with marketing. It's been fixed. edit: Just to be clear, the next kit does ship in January 2017.

A/B testing doesn't mean 30% get this bug, 30% this one, yada yada.

J/K your kit seems awesome and I think I'll subscribe myself. Want to up my electronics game so something like that might keep me on pace.

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#28
post #13

This is exactly what I need. I got an undergraduate education in CS and biochem, and now that I'm employed it felt impossible to devote time or energy to studying electronics. The subject is simply too deep. I was worried the only way I'd ever be able to learn would be to go back to university. This looks like a solution to my problem! The only thing I worry about is a lack of mathematical rigor, but I suppose as lon…

Check out Contextual Electronics, too, by Chris Gammel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEbu3h5FBZI

https://contextualelectronics.com/

I've heard good things about it. He tries to create a middle ground between the opposite ends of heavy theory with nothing to build and tinkering without conceptual understanding.

Re: Show HN: Learn how to build electronics with monthly kits

#29
post #8

50 bucks is pretty steep for a student like me. If something in the $20 range (that included no arduinos, just really shitty and cheap stuff off the "Shenzhen market" as Dave would say). No brand name stuff and I'd be fine with crappier instructions. The cutoff for college student involvement is pretty much $20 and that's where the bread and butter market for something like this is. EE/CE/CS student's who want to be…

Presumably you have access to EE labs and don't need a kit at all? You're probably paying a lot more than $50 for access to EE labs.
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