I've been able to get pretty far just working with an Arduino supplied by USB power. By just using the power provided through the Arduino you will be able to use ultrasonic range sensors, accelerometers, LEDs, peizo buzzers etc.
For starter equipment, a good breadboard, a small assortment of resistors, some solid core jumper wires, LEDs and a sensor or two would be a good base. For jumpers, just grab some spare ethernet cable and wire cutters. To get going I would recommend coming up with ideas for a small project, some simple input (range sensor/peizo/photoresistor) and some output (led/buzzer). There was a great one I started with that just involved flashing an LED based on vibrations from a peizo buzzer ( http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Knock). Peizos can be used to sense vibrations or make noise with pulse-width modulated output (PWM), so they are definately worth grabbing for a starter kit, and Radio Shack almost always has them. You could also browse the documentation and introductory projects on the Arduino site (http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage). I hope this helps a little, feel free to pick my brain anytime! -Matt On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Nick Floersch <[email protected]> wrote: > Since we got such a great show and tell last night, I suspect there is a > fair amount of interest in purchasing some hardware to hack. Brian is a new > and obvious local supplier of the goods. Are there others that are local, or > fairly local? > > > > More importantly, perhaps Brian, Matthew, or others could post a few links > or suggestions to good "startup kits" or sets of important tools and parts > for those of us with super meager collections to get started. > > > > Example... the last time I physically touched a breadboard was in > university... and then Brian gave me one last night which was awesome. From > fooling around in university with this stuff, I recall needing lots of bits > and pieces to go with the bread board (capacitors, diodes, LEDs, wires and > wires and wires, resistors, etc.), a multimeter, and a power supply. At > least. Soldering is not required with the breadboards, obviously, but as we > go further down the road, a good soldering iron would probably not hurt > either. I have a single temperature soldering iron, and a multimeter ... and > now a small breadboard. What other items should I be investing in? I've seen > this ad on the back page of Make for a "Does-everything" power supply which > looks good, but I don't really know for certain that it is the best choice > without spending a lot of time researching... > > > > So what suggestions are there from those already experienced with this > topic? > > > > -Nick > > * This communication, including any attachments, is solely for the > confidential use of the person(s) named above. If you have received this > communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and > delete/destroy the original. Any reader other than the intended recipient is > hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of > this message is strictly prohibited. * >
