On Sat, 21 Jul 2018 18:15:12 -0400 cyaiplexys <cyaiple...@sitesplace.net> wrote:
> I am getting the Elegoo Super Starter Kit (Arduino Uno R3) to tinker > with (it's on order as of when I'm writing this post). > > I looked in the Debian repos for stuff on Arduino and didn't find > much (at least not of interest to me). > > I did download the IDE from Elegoo and their tutorials and libraries. > But it's all in C/C++. While I do know C and C++ (to some extent), > I'm very bad at it (I admit to not using it very much, maybe once > every other blue moon and lately we haven't had any blue moons that > warranted using C). > > I recently been doing stuff in Python (especially for work, which is > not Arduino related in any way). I am really getting to like Python. > I have created my own Python Libraries for other things (again > unrelated) and even compiled them to .so (binary) using the 'cython' > compiler. > > While I could create C source of a Python script using cython, I > don't know how to compile the resulting C source and upload it to the > Arduino board. I would like to use gcc. > > Is there a cross-platform compiler for Arduino and gcc that anyone > has had experience with that works or they can recommend? > > Or some way to program in Python? > Sure if I was going there I wouldn't be after starting from here... I've seen your later post, and you may indeed be overestimating what the Arduino can do, it's basically a very well developed ecosystem for a microcontroller, with lots of real-world interfaces available. Just for tinkering with electronics, it's fine. If you're after a more powerful (i.e. PC-like) tinkering gadget, you might be better looking at the Raspberry Pi (Pi for Python) and the subsequent similar devices. More expensive than the Arduino, but still pretty cheap. The Pi runs more than one OS, but the Raspbian version of Debian is probably most widely-used. The Pi also has a great many interface devices available, and Python is the expected scripting language. -- Joe
