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Getting Started with Arduino (Make: Projects)

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Authors: Massimo Banzi, Banzi Massimo
Publisher: Make Books
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$12.99~~
Buy Used: $6.35
as of 11/21/2009 15:56 PST details
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New (27) Used (10) from $6.35

Seller: stage_coach_books

Media: Paperback
Edition: Ill
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5

ISBN: 0596155514
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.133
EAN: 9780596155513
ASIN: 0596155514

Publication Date: October 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review

Getting Started with Arduino, authored by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi, offers a brief, fun, and lucid overview of Arduino that will appeal to lots of people who've been wanting to get into physical computing and want a way in. This handy little guide should be just the ticket. To work with the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED.

The Arduino Platform
Arduino is composed of two major parts: the Arduino board, which is the piece of hardware you work on when you build your objects; and the Arduino IDE, the piece of software you run on your computer. You use the IDE to create a sketch (a little computer program) that you upload to the Arduino board. The sketch tells the board what to do.
Not too long ago, working on hardware meant building circuits from scratch, using hundreds of different components with strange names like resistor, capacitor, inductor, transistor, and so on.
Every circuit was “wired” to do one specific application, and making changes required you to cut wires, solder connections, and more.
With the appearance of digital technologies and microprocessors, these functions, which were once implemented with wires, were replaced by software programs.
Software is easier to modify than hardware. With a few keypresses, you can radically change the logic of a device and try two or three versions in the same amount of time that it would take you to solder a couple of resistors.

The Arduino Hardware
The Arduino board is a small microcontroller board, which is a small circuit (the board) that contains a whole computer on a small chip (the microcontroller). This computer is at least a thousand times less powerful than the MacBook I’m using to write this, but it’s a lot cheaper and very useful to build interesting devices. Look at the Arduino board: you’ll see a black chip with 28 “legs”—that chip is the ATmega168, the heart of your board.
We (the Arduino team) have placed on this board all the components that are required for this microcontroller to work properly and to communicate with your computer. There are many versions of this board; the one we’ll use throughout this book is the Arduino Duemilanove, which is the simplest one to use and the best one for learning on. However, these instructions apply to earlier versions of the board, including the more recent Arduino Diecimila and the older Arduino NG. The figure on the left below shows the Arduino Duemilanove; The figure on the right shows the Arduino NG.

Product Description
This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for Arduino projects and helps you get going on them right away. From getting organized to putting the final touches on your prototype, all the information you need is right in the book.

Inside, you'll learn about:

Interaction design and physical computing
The Arduino hardware and software development environment
Basics of electricity and electronics
Prototyping on a solderless breadboard
Drawing a schematic diagram

And more. With inexpensive hardware and open-source software components that you can download free, getting started with Arduino is a snap. To use the introductory examples in this book, all you need is a USB Arduino, USB A-B cable, and an LED.

Join the tens of thousands of hobbyists who have discovered this incredible (and educational) platform. Written by the co-founder of the Arduino project, with illustrations by Elisa Canducci, Getting Started with Arduino gets you in on the fun! This 128-page book is a greatly expanded follow-up to the author's original short PDF that's available on the Arduino website.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 21

1 2 3 4 5 Next »

Don't buy this book. Do more Internet Searching September 30, 2009
James A. Kvochick (Brighton, MI)
It's pretty simple. You can get everything, (and more) from the Internet WITHOUT purchasing this book. In fact, at one time, you could dowload the entire contents of this exact book from the Arduino website.

The Arduino platform, and the development environment, are excellent. Sadly, for the cost of this book and shipping, you can almost pay for another Arduino Duemilanove board (in kit form).

Again, nothing wrong with Arduino, great project, fantastic tool.

2 out of 5 stars

Arduino September 19, 2009
Steve Mclaughlin (silicon valley)
This is a super basic manual, shows how to wire up a blinking led and then shows how to wire up a light sensor,
a better book would be 'making things talk',

Does not talk about any other modules that are available to hook up.

5 out of 5 stars

Perfect for non-programmer interested in the Arduino July 22, 2009
K. Sederquist (Sonora, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book for a non-programmer wanting to learn basic programming skills & projects for the Arduino. I didn't know anything about programming, and this book walked me through all the basics in a very easy to understand manner. After doing the projects in the book with my new Arduino Duemilanove I was able to create cool little programs with if/else statements & sensors after only a week.
I highly recommend this as the starter book for the Arduino.

5 out of 5 stars

Great, but be ready to buy some more parts! June 24, 2009
Professional Nerd
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

While some reviewers decry the intro "fluff" chapters and the simplicity of some of the projects, by the end of this short book, you will have been exposed to many of the capabilities of the Arduino microcontroller. I found the book's projects to be very informative and fun. One warning to buyers: You will need to buy a few more electronic parts to take full advantage of this book and it's projects. Here's what you should get:
1. 5-10 x 10K-Ohm resistors
2. 1 x Momentary push button switch (4 pin), compatible with a breadboard
3. 5 x LEDs of differing colors (most will work with the 3-5V output of the Arduino).
4. 1 x MOSFET or 1 x 5V actuated relay (this is to turn on/off motors)
5. 1 x solder-less breadboard
6. 1 x jumper wire kit (various lengths and colors of short wires)
7. 1 x LDR (light dependent resistor)
8. 1 x 9V (or similar magnitude) battery case with leads for a breadboard
9. 1 x small motor (5-9V).

It seems like quite a bit, but if you get and use these parts with the projects, you will learn how to use sensors to take in data from the environment, have the Arduino process it, and then drive a response (in the form of lighting LEDs, turning on motors, etc.). Fortunately, the Arduino itself is USB-powered, so the other power sources (i.e. the battery case) will only be needed to run things like the motor.

2 out of 5 stars

Save your money May 30, 2009
Michael Mcconville
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

This book is very very basic. Any of it's information could be found online with a few clicks. Contains a few examples but nothing more then blinking LEDs. I was finished with the book in 1/2 hour.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 21

1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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