The site has not been updated a lot recently, at least not with posts. I have done some sanbox stuff with wordpress themes, etc. But, that does not mean I have not been sitting still. In fact, I have been very busy. Too busy to post updates. But, I expect that to change in the coming weeks and months.
To start the new year well in the tinkering department, I bought an Arduino! What’s that, you ask? Well, the Arduino website explains it thusly:
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.
Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming languageWiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).
Arduino Duemilanove board
It has been around for a few years now, and I have always had an interest in programming microprocessors to allow devices, contraptions, etc to be functional independent of a PC. With Arduino, interfacing with the outside world is easier than ever which convinced me I should give it a try.
Since I live in the Netherlands, I looked for a resource in my country that provided Arduino’s. After looking through the list of suppliers in the Netherlands, I ended up buying from Floris.CC and ordere the “Arduino Experimentation Kit“, made by Oomlout and ordered from Floris.cc
Since receiving it, I played around with the thing a bit and what struck me most is the ease with which you can build contraptions that sense and act on their environment. In the next few weeks I will do a write up on the ARDX kit itself.
Playing (becaues that really is what it is!) with the Arduino is so much fun that it instantly sparks many creative ideas that this thing can help with. As those ideas are developed, I will do write-ups here to share the knowledge I gain.
If you want to know more about Arduino, get started with this PDFCast from Make Magazine, or watch these “Arduino 101″ video’s on YouTube.
Arduino Logo
Light:
Moisture:
