FREE E-BOOK 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius
 |
| FREE E-BOOK 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius |
Author(s): Simon Monk
Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics, Year: 2010
ARDUINO INTERFACE BOARDS provide the Evil Genius with a low-cost, easy-to-use technology to create their evil projects. A whole new breed of projects can now be built that can be controlled from a computer. Before long, the computercontrolled, servo-driven laser will be complete and the world will be at the mercy of the Evil Genius!
This book will show the Evil Genius how to attach an Arduino board to their computer, to program it, and to connect all manner of electronics to it to create projects, including the computer-controlled, servo-driven laser mentioned earlier, a USB-controlled fan, a light harp, a USB temperature logger, a sound oscilloscope, and many more.
Full schematic and construction details are provided for every project, and most can be built without the need for soldering or special tools. However, the more advanced Evil Genius may wish to transfer the projects from a plug-in breadboard to something more permanent, and instructions for this are also provided.
So, What Is Arduino?
Well, Arduino is a small microcontroller board
with a USB plug to connect to your computer and
a number of connection sockets that can be wired
up to external electronics, such as motors, relays,
light sensors, laser diodes, loudspeakers,
microphones, etc. They can either be powered
through the USB connection from the computer or
from a 9V battery. They can be controlled from the
computer or programmed by the computer and
then disconnected and allowed to work
independently
Arduino
Although Arduino is an open-source design for a
microcontroller interface board, it is actually rather
more than that, as it encompasses the software
development tools that you need to program an
Arduino board, as well as the board itself. There is
a large community of construction, programming,
electronics, and even art enthusiasts willing to
share their expertise and experience on the
Internet.
To begin using Arduino, first go to the Arduino
site (www.arduino.cc) and download the software
for Mac, PC, or LINUX. You can then either buy
an official Arduino by clicking the Buy An Arduino button or spend some time with your
favorite search engine or an online auction site to
find lower-cost alternatives. In the next chapter,
step-by-step instructions are provided for installing
the software on all three platforms.
There are, in fact, several different designs of
Arduino board. These are intended for different
types of applications. They can all be programmed
from the same Arduino development software, and
in general, programs that work on one board will
work on all.
In this book we mostly use the Arduino
Duemilanove, sometimes called Arduino 2009,
which is an update of the popular board, the
Diecimila. Duemilanove is Italian for 2009, the
year of its release. The older Diecimila name
means 10,000 in Italian, and was named that after
10,000 boards had been manufactured. Most
compatible boards such as the Freeduino are based
on the Diecimila and Duemilanove designs.
Most of the projects in this book will work with
a Diecimila, Duemilanove, or their clone designs,
apart from one project that uses the Arduino
Lilypad
