An Introduction to the Arduino

Arduino
An Introduction to the Arduino
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If you’re a MAKE regular, you know that we feature a lot of Arduino projects. It’s such a popular and easy to use microcontroller, I don’t think a day goes by without a blog post that mentions Arduino. But what if you’re totally unfamiliar with this popular physical computing platform? Where do you get started? To answer that question, we created this video. So if you have a friend or relative who has been asking “what’s an Arduino?” You can point them here. They’ll get an overview of what it is and what’s possible with it.

And if you’re here because you’re new to Arduino, there’s no better way to learn than fearlessly jumping right in getting started. For that, I recommend Maker Shed’s Getting Started with Arduino Kit, and not because I work for MAKE. A few years ago—before I worked here—I started playing around with an earlier version of this kit and it lead me to a huge breakthrough. As a kid, I tried a few times to teach myself electronics but never got very far. The Getting Started with Arduino Kit is what I wish I had as a kid. When I uploaded the blink sketch and saw that LED flashing, it was a moment of delight. Tinkering with electronics quickly became my hobby and then my livelihood. So if you’re on the fence about trying it out, I implore you to get off that fence and join us delighted Arduino enthusiasts.

Subscribe to How-Tos with Matt Richardson in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.

16 thoughts on “An Introduction to the Arduino

  1. An Introduction to the Arduino « adafruit industries blog says:

    […] MAKE | An Introduction to the Arduino. If you’re a MAKE regular, you know that we feature a lot of Arduino projects. It’s such a popular and easy to use microcontroller, I don’t think a day goes by without a blog post that mentions Arduino. But what if you’re totally unfamiliar with this popular physical computing platform? Where do you get started? To answer that question, we created this video. So if you have a friend or relative who has been asking “what’s an Arduino?” You can point them here. They’ll get an overview of what it is and what’s possible with it. […]

  2. Intervalometer with Arduino for time-lapse photography | Programming and Technology says:

    […] I want to create time-lapse videos and creating my own intervalometer is a great chance to learn using the Arduino platform. You don’t know what Arduino is? Then you should see this video done by Make: […]

  3. Simon says:

    “A microcontroller is a circuit board that has a chip on it…”

    *cringe*

    Arduino is *not* a microcontroller, it is a platform that *has* a microcontroller on it, which is a chip, that…

    really, you should know better.

    1. An Introduction to the Arduino Matt Richardson says:

      Thanks for pointing it out. I’m so accustomed to calling the Arduino (and other boards) “microcontrollers” as short for “microcontroller platforms” that I let this semantic error slip. I appreciate the feedback and regret the error.

  4. alangsmithSmith says:

    For a free e-book, check out : http://www.introtoarduino.com . I wrote the book for a class I taught to middle schoolers.

  5. Video : Introduction à l’Arduino | Semageek says:

    […] d’expliquer simplement tous ce qu’il possible de faire avec. L’équipe de Makezine s’est poser la même question et elle tenté de répondre à ces interrogations avec une […]

  6. RandomWebDweller says:

    Nice Commercial! I can’t wait to go buy an Arduino(tm) from the MakerShed(tm) store and get started!

  7. GSWA 1: Introduction | Art by Bart says:

    […] An Introduction to the Arduino (makezine.com) […]

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Matt Richardson is a San Francisco-based creative technologist and Contributing Editor at MAKE. He’s the co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi and the author of Getting Started with BeagleBone.

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