Wow! Adafruit dropped a MASSIVE amount of Arduino tutorials AND kits (beginner kits and shields). If you're interested in getting started with electronics this is one of the best ways and these tutorials are the most comprehensive online -

One of the nice things about the Arduino boards & software is they let people get started hacking electronics fast. However, I was looking for a good step-by-step tutorial that helped people with almost no experience through the first few steps of microcontroller programming and basic electronics design. At the same time, I'd been flipping through Parallax's excellent "What is a Microcontroller" workbook and decided to start writing something similar.

So check out my Arduino Tutorial page and give me feedback! Right now I've got 3 lessons up, and will try to get a another 3 out in the next week and a half.

• Lesson 0. Pre-flight check...Is your Arduino and computer ready? - Link.
• Lesson 1. The "Hello World!" of electronics, a simple blinking light - Link.
• Lesson 2. Sketches, variables, procedures and hacking code - Link.
• Lesson 3. Breadboards, resistors and LEDs, schematics, and basic RGB color-mixing. At the end of lesson three, you build a mood lamp! - Link.

Full kits and PCBs are available (the mini breadboards are sweet) - Link.

In the starter pack there's an Arduino, USB cable, proto shield kit, tiny breadboard (goes on top of protoshield), 9V wall adapter, 9V battery holder, and a bag of parts that will get you started with the Arduino Tutorial lessons 0-6 - Link.

[Read this article] [Comment on this article]