SVOSUG 10/23, Arduino Night, buy a kit, build a kit, bring a board

Thu Oct 23 00:57:56 PDT 2008

[Redirected from blw@ to baylisa@ by postmaster@]

A friendly reminder of tonight's meeting.

We have some giveaways we're raffling off.

Everyone is welcome, on all systems, OpenSolaris, Linux, and 
FreeBSD, come one come all.

Refer to my blog for latest info, and see the Wiki for info as 
well.

My blog:

http://blogs.sun.com/aland/

Wiki:

http://www.genunix.org/wiki/index.php/Arduino_Interest

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008, Alan DuBoff wrote:

> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Jen,
>
> Can you post this so BayLISA folks know about this, there was some interested 
> folks last month. I could do it if you give me access as you had suggested, 
> but we haven't done that yet.
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> When:  Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008
> Where: Sun's Santa Clara Campus Mansion
>       (SCA07 just across the road from the Auditorium)
> What:  Arduino Night, buy a kit, build a kit, bring a board
> Time:  7:30pm-10:00pm
>
> Google Maps:
> http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=4070+George+Sellon+Circle,+Santa+Clara,+CA+95054&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1&iwloc=addr
>
> Yahoo Maps:
> http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=37.393386&lon=-121.955218&zoom=16&q1=4070%20George%20Sellon%20Circle%2095054
>
> We are planning our next SVOSUG meeting, and I have mentioned
> this idea to several folks with great response, so I would like
> to start planning early enough since this meeting will present a
> lot of options to folks attending.
>
> To learn about the Arduino if you are not familiar with it,
> please go to the Arduino website at the following link. If you
> use Mac OSX, Linux, or Windows you can get the development
> software at a link from that site, and if you use FreeBSD you
> can find the development tools inside the ports collection, use
> pkg_add or make the port. If you use OpenSolaris, we will have
> the start of the tools available which you can use. We hope to
> continue working on these to have a stable set of tools just
> like the other platforms, and we are just getting this going
> (but do have it working).
>
> http://arduino.cc/
>
> As I have mentioned at several user groups, including the last
> SVOSUG meeting, we have been planning to build the Freeduino
> which is an inexpensive kit that is sold by Modern Device.
>
> http://moderndevice.com/
>
> These kits cost anywhere from $10-$15 depending on QTY in which
> you buy them. We will have some kits, cables, breadboards, and
> other chiatchkas which can be used with boards for development,
> but for many people we have determined it could be easier to buy
> a pre-assembled kit ahead of time. For that matter, if you want
> to ensure that you have a kit, should you want to build, buying
> one ahead of time will be the safest bet. You can get the
> Freedunio kit assembled from Modern Device, but I don't believe
> we will have any of those to provide, we will most likely only
> have bare bones kits. One of the big advantages of this board is
> that it can easily be plugged into a breadboard to connect other
> devices and/or route connections. This is convenient for
> development. You can get a serial to USB cable for these also,
> but that will cost about $20.
>
> The Diecimilia is a pre-assembled board that is available from
> several places, and this design originates from Arduino, AFAIK.
> One advantage of these boards is that they have a lot of options
> you can buy and connect to them, please see the MakerShed page
> as they have a lot of stuff listed. The Arduino is very popular
> with the Maker Groups around the country. There are many options
> known as shields that plug onto the Diecimilia, for various
> audio type devices (sound, piano synth), sliders, lights, USB,
> Ethernet, serial, cables, etc...so this is a very attractive
> package for many folks.
>
> http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=43&Redirected=Y
>
> Given that there are so many options, and such a diverse set of
> skills within all of the local communities, people attending
> will have to make some decisions on what model they would like.
>
> I must add, 2 people have built the kits I know, one has done it
> in 20 minutes, and another person has done it in just over 1
> hour. We will have several soldering stations, but due to time
> constraints, we will be limited on how many can be soldered up,
> hence the 15 kits we have ordered to have on hand.
>
> I like to build things, so building one is attractive to me. I
> have a kit already, but will most likely solder mine before hand
> and will use that as another data point. This is also a good
> opportunity to learn how to solder and build a kit, there will
> be folks to help you if you do not know how.
>
> There is so much information, and so many places to buy, that we
> decided to reccomend only a few online stores to purchase from,
> but you can order from many more places on the net, and the Tech
> Shop in Menlo Park often has them for sale, but there is such
> demand for them that they sell out quickly.
>
> The places that we reccomend are: (not in any specific order;-)
>
> Modern Device, both kits and Diecimilia (BBB is the bare bones
> board kit, i.e., Freedunio).
>
> http://www.moderndevice.com/
>
> Maker Store, shipping is quick but prices are a tad higher, good
> selection.
>
> http://store.makezine.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=43
>
> Adafruit Industries, ladyada has done a lot of great stuff to
> help the Arduino community, quick shipping, and good prices,
> decent inventory.
>
> http://www.adafruit.com/
>
> Spark Fun Electronics, I love to look around this site, lots of
> widgets, boards, and other goodies...
>
> http://www.sparkfun.com/
>
> If you are unsure what you think you might like, please attend
> the meeting and and see several different boards, it might help
> you decide and understand the best option to hook up one to your
> computer. You will ultimately need some type of cable, to
> connect to your computer along with the board.
>
> We will have several cool demos to represent the type of
> development you can easily do with these boards, and that in
> itself will be interesting to many people, even if you are not
> interested in doing development yourself.
>
> We hold no favorites, the kits we have available are on a first
> come first serve basis (i.e., ALL communities, SVOSUG, BayLISA,
> and SVLUG), but we haven't decided a good way to pre-sale these
> kits to people, other than taking your word on good faith that
> you will show up and buy it. We suspect the kits will go fast as
> they are inexpensive and fun to build, but I emphasize that it
>
> is safest to get a kit or board ahead of time to have it in your
> possesion. Also, building is not the best option for all folks,
> so keep that in mind. We will be available to help you if you
> are not familiar with soldering.
>
> (this is a long message, apologies for any typos)
>
>
> --
>
> Alan DuBoff - Software Orchestration
>
>

--

Alan DuBoff - Software Orchestration