Arduino lab series?

I am considering creating a new series of Arduino classes in which each lesson is chosen from projects or questions submitted by students in advance. These will be hands-on, bring your computer and Arduino affairs like the Embedded Workshop series, but will be geared more toward someone fairly new to the platform. Consider these to be the equivalent of lab classes to go with an introductory class.

Are you interested? Please indicate the best day(s) of the week for you.

  • Sunday
  • Monday
  • Tuesday
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday

0 voters

6 Likes

I’m so in for this!:blankspace::blankspace::blankspace::blankspace::blankspace::blankspace::blankspace:

2 Likes

Yes. I wanna build a back scratcher and a cnc mill. (Eventually a 3D printer)

3 Likes

Arduino has been on my brain lately and I just bought a kit today, so I’m very interested.

1 Like

It is looking like Sunday is the clear winner.

I propose an Introduction to Arduino class Sunday, July 2 at 3 PM. The lab series will begin in the weeks after that.

4 Likes

I’m onboard! No experience necessary for he first class, right?

1 Like

That is correct. The intro class presumes no experience.

1 Like

Has been a while since I’ve played w/ arduino (or mbed), so a review can’t hurt.
Mostly interested in the sftwr end.
Topics of interest are:
Serial protocols - I2C, SPI, etc. (Rusty covered some of this)
Sending data/building files off board - SD/CF card, SSD, EEPROM, Laptop/PC (front end for data acq)
Keyboard input
Interrupts - internal/external, enable/disable, ISR, etc.

Probably consider these “advanced” topics - however I think once new folks start their journey up the learning curve and see the possibilities, these (and more) will become important topics.

Would you be willing to do on Mondays? I have wanted to attend for years but always on Wednesday.

Yes, but the vote has been favoring Sunday. So Sunday afternoon or evening I think it is going to be.

3 Likes

The Arduino/LabVIEW class on Friday 6-9-17 at 7 PM that I am hosting would be best described as a parallel learning Arduino learning opportunity, The programming instructions set I will be using in this class is graphical flow-chart like language LabVIEW, which has recently been ported so as to target Arduino devices by a third party company. Using LabVIEW, there is no text code requirement to take command of Arduino, however we should be able to access all of those same ports Art was discussing. My Arduino/LabVIEW class will also be entry level, with no previous Arduino experience required, However, for best results, please bring you laptop with LabVIEW loaded and appropriate USB cable to the Friday night training

So the two similar Arduino programming courses constructively agree, and are in no way competing with one another for anyone’s time. If you want the best Arduino learning curve, I highly recommend checking out both classes. There are advantages to Arduino’s native language (Bill’s class), and LabVIEW (James uses it for everything he can). Just a short while back, I took one of Bill’s arduino intros, and found it to be agreeable, helpful for me, and fun.

1 Like

ok I am looking forward to it, do you have any recommendations on kits?

Try to find this at Tanner: https://www.seeedstudio.com/ARDX-Basic-Experimentation-Kit-for-Arduino-p-2659.html

They had piles of them for under $9 when Radio Shack shut down the first time, but the stock appears to be dwindling. It does not include an Arduino, but it has everything else you need to get started and then some.

Next, go to Micro Center and get their Inland house brand UNO clone. It used to be always “on sale” for $6, but now the price is $8. Still a great deal. If you were not able to get the ARDX at Tanner, look over the Inland starter kits. Those are good deals when they are on sale.

Tanner had several ARDX kits today. Get them while you can.

Darn I’m going to be on vacation most of July and this would have been really interesting to me. I’ll still be able to make the intro class. I’ll see if I can grab an intro kit as per above.

1 Like

can we do a GPS class? Can you tell us what kits to buy ahead of time?

2 Likes

I am thinking and hoping that there will be enough interest to keep this series going well beyond July.

I do not know about the GPS kits available beyond knowing that Tanner has one or two. I will look into it, but my feeling right now is that it is likely to be more advanced than we may want to tackle at first. It may make a good topic for the Embedded Workshop series. Stay tuned.

Edit: Another possibility, we have periodic organized group orders to Adafruit. Maybe we can get in the next order and have a class after they arrive. https://www.adafruit.com/product/746?q=gps&

1 Like

I was told that someone bought seven ARDX kits today; that is more than the four I saw on Friday. Tanner may have more kits in the back and not on the shelf. Ask if you do not see any.

I just submitted the Introduction to Arduino class to the calendar for July 2, 3P to 5P; it should appear in three days.

1 Like