Electronic Components Start 3 Video Tutorial

Yesterday I ordered the rest of electronic components to be able to do the first five Jeremy Blum Arduino Basics video tutorials (I hope), and the multimeter and soldering iron arrived from Adafruit. Today the sensor package from SparkFun arrived, and tonight I started the #3 Blum video tutorial.

Ive got most of the components needed for the Blum video tutorials, but I didnt have everything needed for the #3 video. I just watched the video and reviewed the electronics formulas that Jeremy explained and did the parts of the exercises that I could. As soon as the final order of components arrive, Ill be able to complete the #3 video.

After I finish the first five video tutorials, Im going to review all the exercises to make sure I understand all the component breadboard circuits I hooked up and all the programs I wrote. Up to this point, I understand some of what Ive done, but other parts of the exercises have just been copying exactly what Jeremy does in the videos, rather than understanding and being able to do it without any instructions. Ill update the wiki with the component information Im figuring out, with links to helpful resources and with the beginning programming concepts that are used in the exercises.

Speaking of the wiki, I found out that Wikispaces no longer gives unlimited accounts on their free wikis. You can now only have 5 accounts on a wiki unless you pay. Ed graciously offered to host the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group wiki on his server, so after he gets it set up, well start moving content over to his wiki. Well be using MediaWiki because thats the easiest one to get rolling on his server, and its a pretty familiar format because most people are familiar with Wikipedia, which uses MediaWiki.

Tomorrow night, May 29, is the second meeting of the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group. Well be meeting from 6 to 8 PM at 1385 8th Street in Arcata, California, USA. People interested in microcontrollers or Arduinos are invited to join us -- the event is free, you dont have to know how to program microcontrollers, and theres no need to be a member of anything to participate.

Well meet first with everyone to discuss stuff everyone should hear or be involved in. Then well split into two groups -- the beginners who are interested in learning about microcontrollers, and the people with previous microcontroller experience who want to do MCU projects and learn or share microcontroller tricks that not everyone knows.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 6 PM!

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Finished 2 Arduino Basics Video Tutorial

So tonight I finished the #2 Jeremy Blum video tutorial on Arduino Basics.

I was hoping to finish both #2 and #3 videos this weekend, but life interrupted and the best I could do was to finish the #2 video. Connecting the components for each of the exercises in the videos then writing or modifying the sketches (Arduino programs) per Jeremys instructions isnt hard, generally speaking. But it does give a small sense of satisfaction just to watch the LED blink correctly or for the LED to brighten as you press the switch. Baby steps. With a lot more
components, a lot longer and more complicated sketch, and probably longer debugging time, when I upload the make the robot walk sketch and hit the run switch, Ill have the satisfaction of seeing the robot walk across the room! Or the Halloween decoration light up and emit scary sounds. Or the garden sensors check the soil moisture to let me know if the tomatoes need to be watered.

The screws I complained about yesterday for attaching the Arduino to the wooden base -- apparently they werent missing. What was missing was my understanding that when the instructions said screws, they were referring to what I think of as bolts. So now the Arduino Uno is attached to the wooden base. With screws and nuts.

Also had a chance today to find all the components online that I need to finish ordering for the first five Arduino Basics video tutorials. Ill place the order for those tomorrow. The parts ordered last week from Adafruit and SparkFun should arrive sometime this week.

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Blum 6 Arduino Video Tutorial Humboldt Microcontrollers Group Meeting

Tonights post is a quick look at the #6 Arduino video tutorial from Jeremy Blum, which is the main topic for the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting this Thursday, June 26.

The #6 video tutorial, Serial and Processing takes a look at how to use an Arduino for communicating with the computer via a serial connection and using a programming language called Processing to visualize information from an Arduino on your computer screen.

For the serial communication between the Arduino Uno and the computer, the 0 RX (receive) pin and the 1 TX (transmit) pin on the Arduino are used. You connect the Arduino to your computer via a USB cable, which has 4 pins in it. One is power and one is ground. The other two are the serial transmit and receive pins. The USB transmit pin from the computer connects with the receive (RX) pin on the Arduino, and the computers USB receive pin connects to the Arduino transmit (TX) pin.

Jeremy runs through a number of Arduino programming examples for learning how to use the serial communication features. If you go through the #6 Blum video and feel you still want a little more background on serial communication with Arduinos, here are three other resources to look at:

1. The Arduino.cc reference page for serial communications
2. An Arduino tutorial from Ladyada about serial communications
3. A guide from Instructables on Serial Communications with Arduino

After he does the serial communications exercises, Jeremy covers a little bit about the programming language Processing. You start out by going to the website for Processing. The home webpage for Processing says its an open source language that:

"has promoted software literacy within the visual arts and visual literacy within technology. Initially created to serve as a software sketchbook and to teach computer programming fundamentals within a visual context, Processing evolved into a development tool for professionals...there are tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists who use Processing for learning, prototyping, and production."

In addition to the presentation and exercises with Processing that Jeremy Blum has for you in the video, if you want a better understanding of the language, you can spend some time going through some of the tutorials on the Processing website. If those tutorials arent your cup of tea, take a look at these resources for learning the basics of Processing:

1. The intro page from Arduino.cc for the Processing language
2. A SparkFun intro called "Connecting Arduino to Processing"
3. An Instructables session on "How to control LEDs with Processing and Arduino"

Mark your calendar for this Thursday, and plan to be at 1385 8th Street, Arcata, California, from 6 to 8 PM for the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting!

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Working On Blum Arduino Basics Video Tutorial 2

So tonight I had a chance to work on the exercises in the Jeremy Blum Arduino Basics video tutorial #2 again.

I had started on the #2 video about a week back, but last week needed to return the borrowed Arduino components to the friend from whom I had borrowed them. The official Arduino Starter Kit I had ordered from Amazon showed up on Thursday. So I now had the parts I needed to resume learning about the basics of microcontrollers.

Finally, tonight I had the time to open up the kit and pick up sort of where I left off with the first exercise in Blum video #2. Before I started the video back up, though, I tried to put together the the laser-cut wooden base for the Arduino and breadboard. Annoyingly, the Italian Arduino folks seem to have either neglected to include the screws for attaching the Arduino to the wooden base, or they forgot to specify the size for those screws when they wrote the book that comes with the kit. The book says to fasten the Arduino to the base with three screws, but thats all it says. I guess thats part of the DIY aspect of the kit. If you want to screw the Arduino to the wooden base, figure out the screw size yourself and get them yourself...

After reviewing a bit of the #2 video, I hooked up the Arduino Uno Rev 3 to a breadboard, a 10K ohm resistor, a switch and an LED (light emitting diode). I watched what Jeremy did in the video, I connected the components with the jumper wires, then I rechecked to make sure everything was the same as in the video. One issue I didnt think about the first time I hooked up this circuit was whether it matters which way the current runs through a resistor or, said another way, whether it matters which lead on a resistor is connected to ground. I tried looking that up in the
SparkFun tutorial on resistors, but couldnt find the answer. I decided to just make sure it was hooked up the same way shown in the video, and Ill search later on Google to find the answer about whether resistors are ok with current going either way through them.

With all the components hooked up, I connected the USB cable into my laptop, then into the Arduino. The LED was supposed to only light up when I pushed the switch, but as soon as I hooked up the USB cable, the LED started flashing on and off. Drat! Didnt do that before when I hooked it up. Unplugged the USB cable, then hooked it back up again. LED still flashed on and off.

Then I realized it was a brand new Arduino Uno, fresh from the manufacturer, and it didnt have the Arduino sketch, or program, uploaded to it yet which would make the LED only come on when I held down the button. Once I uploaded the program, which I had written a week ago when I had the borrowed Arduino, the LED worked properly, lighting up when I held the switch down and going off when I let up on the switch. Success!

Getting late, so time to stop for tonight. Tomorrow Ill try to finish Blum video #2.

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3 Blum Video Tutorial And Time Management

Tonight I worked on the #3 Jeremy Blum Basics of Arduino video tutorial -- again -- and still didnt finish it. I did learn some things, but didnt stay focused enough to finish the video.

One thing Ive learned while doing these Arduino video tutorials is that maybe I need to learn about time management and setting priorities more than I need to learn about microcontrollers! Theres no way doing these first three videos should have taken me this many nights...

Im enjoying the #3 video review of electrical formulas and concepts. Part of the problem is that Im an engineer, and it seems like I should already know lots (most?) of the stuff Jeremy is explaining in this video. So I end up reading background materials and watching videos to learn more about different aspects of what Jeremy is explaining.

Tonight it was LEDs. I didnt have anything on the MCU wiki yet about LEDs. So I pulled up the SparkFun LED tutorial, read a bit in that, hooked up an LED with the Arduino and breadboard and gave it power, then read the Wikipedia entry on LEDs. I also looked a bit at the ElectronicsTutorials entry on LEDs and the Digi-Key / Atmel "LED Driver Basics" video. If any of you know of an online info resource you think is particularly helpful for beginners (or for people experienced with MCUs), please send me a link to that. Ill add it to the wiki.

Between the above (relevant) diversions and a few other non-MCU things I needed to do this evening, I didnt get anywhere close to finishing the #3 Blum video.

Tomorrow, maybe...

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