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Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

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Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#11

Post by poulpy123 »

zild3d wrote: post #9
poulpy123 wrote: post #8

My issue with these kits is that you learn Arduino programming, not really electronics

I think it's actually a fantastic intro to electronics. There's nothing you can really do with "just arduino programming", the whole point is it lets you interface with the real world and therefor encounter electronics problems by default The article even touches on that in the first hello world > This simple exercise it by itself incredibly interesting that opened a series of questions: > Q: Why is a resistor needed…

I had a look at the document of the kit, and it's like the one I have: it doesn't even explain what is a current and a tension, or what is the relation between resistance, tension and current, althought it is the basic of the basic of electronics

The fact that the author uses the word heterojunction that is at the same time not useful at the first level for a beginner and not used or explained in the document shows that he was either already knowledgeable or spent a lot of time with other ressources to learn.

I'm not saying that these kits are bad, or that nowaday you cannot do many great thing with just an arduino and plug and play components, but they don't teach electronics.

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#12

Post by rs186 »

My biggest problem is that you get excited for the first few days, then you realize that there is very little you can learn from these toy projects, and then there isn't a project that is meaningful (to yourself) enough to persue. If you look at all those motors and sensors -- you need to think hard enough to come up with a project that makes good use of them.

I browsed maybe 50 of the most viewed project on arduino website to get inspired. There are may be 1 or 2 that somewhat interest me.

Based on impression coming from secondhand marketplace listings, my very uninformed guess is that 70% of Arduino kits and raspberry pi units purchased by amateurs are sitting in their home gathering dust, including mine.

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#13

Post by crashabr »

poulpy123 wrote: post #11
zild3d wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's actually a fantastic intro to electronics. There's nothing you can really do with "just arduino programming", the whole point is it lets you interface with the real world and therefor encounter electronics problems by default The article even touches on that in the first hello world > This simple exercise it by itself incredibly interesting that opened a series of questions: > Q: Why is a resistor needed…

I had a look at the document of the kit, and it's like the one I have: it doesn't even explain what is a current and a tension, or what is the relation between resistance, tension and current, althought it is the basic of the basic of electronics The fact that the author uses the word heterojunction that is at the same time not useful at the first level for a beginner and not used or explained in the document shows t…

Anything you recommend instead?

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#14

Post by Applejinx »

rs186 wrote: post #12

My biggest problem is that you get excited for the first few days, then you realize that there is very little you can learn from these toy projects, and then there isn't a project that is meaningful (to yourself) enough to persue. If you look at all those motors and sensors -- you need to think hard enough to come up with a project that makes good use of them. I browsed maybe 50 of the most viewed project on arduino…

I have three within my range of vision if I lean a bit and look into another room, and only one gets used. And that's because I compile audio plugins to release VST2 on the Pi as a platform (compiling on a Pi 400) relying on Reaper as a host DAW.

I'm not doing audio work on the Pi, though, just supporting the platform for those (?) who do (?).

I would love to come up with cool things to do with Arduinos etc: I hacked high sample rate support into Eurorack modules that ran on Teensy, and then the Teensy that had the raw audio output pin which supported this use, hit end of life so those modules cannot be replaced now, and what I have is all I'll ever have.

The world of tiny computers is lovely but doesn't always stay accessible. For instance, I never got into hardware synth making that much, but these days all the oscillator chips etc. you'd want to hack with require robotic installation: they're too tiny for someone who grew up on DIP.

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#15

Post by [deleted] »

rs186 wrote: post #12

My biggest problem is that you get excited for the first few days, then you realize that there is very little you can learn from these toy projects, and then there isn't a project that is meaningful (to yourself) enough to persue. If you look at all those motors and sensors -- you need to think hard enough to come up with a project that makes good use of them. I browsed maybe 50 of the most viewed project on arduino…

[deleted]

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#16

Post by theamk »

rs186 wrote: post #12

My biggest problem is that you get excited for the first few days, then you realize that there is very little you can learn from these toy projects, and then there isn't a project that is meaningful (to yourself) enough to persue. If you look at all those motors and sensors -- you need to think hard enough to come up with a project that makes good use of them. I browsed maybe 50 of the most viewed project on arduino…

Some sort of class helps here a lot - not as much as actual tutoring, but just as motivation and audience that you can show off your projects to.

A tea-making robot you made at your home is boring. A tea-making robot you made during class which participated in end-of-class competition and got 3rd place? Much more interesting.

And if you are in CA, there is Robogames which has (or at least had in the past) categories such as "art bot" (any Arduino project which has a moving part can participate) and even "static bot" (for projects without moving parts). You get to demo your project to few hundred participants, and maybe even get a prize!

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#17

Post by JayNitram »

hi_hi wrote: post #5

These starter kits are great. I'm a complete electronics newbie but was always interested, but found the sheer choice of equipment on offer, and the fear of buying a bunch of kit that wasn't compatible to be a barrier to getting started. I came across a kit for the Micro:bit which I purchased as a Christmas gift for my young daughter. It's really captured that delight in working with technology for me again. Even sta…

Are there any particular simulators you would recommend?

Re: Inside the box: Everything I did with an Arduino starter kit

#20

Post by zild3d »

poulpy123 wrote: post #11
zild3d wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's actually a fantastic intro to electronics. There's nothing you can really do with "just arduino programming", the whole point is it lets you interface with the real world and therefor encounter electronics problems by default The article even touches on that in the first hello world > This simple exercise it by itself incredibly interesting that opened a series of questions: > Q: Why is a resistor needed…

I had a look at the document of the kit, and it's like the one I have: it doesn't even explain what is a current and a tension, or what is the relation between resistance, tension and current, althought it is the basic of the basic of electronics The fact that the author uses the word heterojunction that is at the same time not useful at the first level for a beginner and not used or explained in the document shows t…

I see it more like the goal is to build cool stuff, learning electronics is the happy unintentional side effect as you're exposed to concepts relevant to what you want to do.

e.g. I want to build a cool robot with my kid -> oh why can't you just wire the motors directly to arduino output pins -> oh motors need a lot of current to run ...

(btw have never heard voltage be called tension, TIL)

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