Arduino For Dummies
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If this is your first step into the world of Arduino, you will be relieved to know that you have an abundance of resources available on the Internet. You can find new Arduino-compatible hardware, projects, tutorials, and even inspiration. Check out these ten resources to learn more about Arduino

Arduino blog

The Arduino blog is a great source of all Arduino-related news. You can find news on the latest official hardware and software as well as on other interesting projects. Also found here are talks that the Arduino team wants to share with the community.

Hack a Day

Hack a Day is an excellent resource for all sorts of technological magic. In addition to presenting a lot of Arduino-related projects and posts, the site offers equal amounts of just about any other category of technology that you can think of. This site contains an excellent collection of posts and information to fuel the imagination.

SparkFun

SparkFun manufactures and sells all sorts of products to make your projects possible, and many of these involve Arduino. SparkFun has an excellent and well-maintained newsfeed that always has some sort of interesting new product or kit to show off. The company also provides excellent videos that explain its kits and document events that the SparkFun team hosts or attends.

MAKE

MAKE is hobbyist magazine that celebrates all kinds of technology. Its blog covers interesting do-it-yourself (DIY) technology and projects for inspiration. Arduino is so important to this community that it has its own subsection in the blog.

Adafruit

Adafruit is an online shop, repository, and forum for all kinds of kits to help you make your projects work. Its blog announces the ever-growing selection of available Adafruit products as well as other interesting tech news.

Instructables

Instructables is a web-based documentation platform that allows people to share their projects and step-by-step instructions. Instructables isn’t just about Arduino or even technology, so you can find a whole world of interesting material there.

YouTube

YouTube is a great place to kill time, but rather than watching cats do funny things, why not enter Arduino in the site’s search box to discover new projects that people are sharing. YouTube videos won’t always be the most reliable source for well-documented projects, but the videos provide a broad look at Arduino projects in action. Watching videos is especially useful for seeing the proper result of projects.

Hackerspaces

Hackerspaces are physical spaces where artists, designers, makers, hackers, coders, engineers, or anyone else can meet to learn, socialize, and collaborate on projects. Hackerspaces are found in a loose network all over the world.

Forum

The Arduino Forum is a great place to get answers to specific Arduino questions. You often find that other people are working through the same problems that you are, so you’re likely to find the answer to almost any problem with some thorough searching.

Friends, colleagues, and workshops

Starting out in the world of Arduino can be difficult on your own. You can find many sources on the Internet, but one of the best ways to learn is with friends and colleagues, because learning together teaches you much more than learning on your own can.

Even better is to go to workshops and meet other people. You may find that they have the same interests, allowing you to pool what you know; or they may have different interests, providing an opportunity to show you something new. Arduino workshops are taking place all over the world, so with some careful searching in the Arduino Forum, Hackerspace forums, and Google, you should be able to find a workshop near you.

About This Article

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About the book author:

John Nussey is a designer, a technologist, and an entrepreneur who loves using technology in new and interesting ways. He has worked with Arduino for many years to prototype products and create interactive artwork. A proud Arduino advocate, he has taught the craft of physical computing and prototyping to people of all ages, competencies, and abilities.

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