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Do any of you dabble in electronics?

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  • Do any of you dabble in electronics?

    With breadboards and such?

    I'm thinking of getting a kit for building electronics (rhymes with "harduino"), and one of those kits named after a dessert (like strawberry pie).

    I'm wondering if these kits are any good. I found a kit for the "pie" one that rhymes with "nana", but it's not officially a "pie" kit.

    The "official" kit for the "pie" doesn't seem to come with much, so it's possible that not much can be done with it.

    Anybody know?
    Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

  • #2
    There are multiple manufacturers making both Arduinos and Raspberry Pis, so naming them is just fine. :-P

    Both are okay for fiddling with electronics, though you may not learn much about *real* electronics with them.

    The Pi is a higher-end device and can even run Linux, and you can code in higher-level languages which makes it much easier to work with but less efficient timing-wise. If you're trying to switch a signal with hundredth-second accuracy you might be disappointed.

    The Arduino has much less horsepower than the Pi, and programming it is more difficult. They're less expensive and smaller though (you can get an Arduino on a single chip!) and because they have fewer things going on they can switch signals more precisely.

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    • #3
      Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
      There are multiple manufacturers making both Arduinos and Raspberry Pis, so naming them is just fine. :-P

      Both are okay for fiddling with electronics, though you may not learn much about *real* electronics with them.

      The Pi is a higher-end device and can even run Linux, and you can code in higher-level languages which makes it much easier to work with but less efficient timing-wise. If you're trying to switch a signal with hundredth-second accuracy you might be disappointed.

      The Arduino has much less horsepower than the Pi, and programming it is more difficult. They're less expensive and smaller though (you can get an Arduino on a single chip!) and because they have fewer things going on they can switch signals more precisely.
      I'm looking for something introductory right now.

      I found "offshoot" arduino and Raspberry Pi kits on Amazon.

      I was thinking of getting both, but I just want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.

      Mainly I want to use them to dabble in IoT programming, and to learn a little Raspberry Pi and Arduino myself (maybe put it on my resume...), and so that I can help my son learn. Might not be bad to put on his college application.

      I'm asking about the kits, because as I said, there are "offshoot" kits on Amazon that it seems you can do a lot with, I'm just wondering if they're the same quality as the Raspberry Pi/Arduino.
      Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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      • #4
        Probably some that are, and some that aren't. Check reviews.

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        • #5
          Quoth mjr View Post
          With breadboards and such?
          I've done a little bit, but I'm nowhere near an expert. Most of what I picked up, was by looking at circuits in hobby magazines like Model Railroader, and attempting to build them. At the time, it was pretty easy to build them up on small boards--the kind that had the holes drilled and tinned. Parts were easily available from Radio Shack. You don't see those articles as much now, and Radio Shack's bankruptcy didn't help.
          Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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          • #6
            Quoth protege View Post
            ... it was pretty easy to build them up on small boards--the kind that had the holes drilled and tinned.
            I believe those are known colloquially as "breadboards".
            “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
            One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
            The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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            • #7
              Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
              I believe those are known colloquially as "breadboards".
              The ones I remember being called that didn't have the holes tinned
              Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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              • #8
                I have bought a "berry" as a start and a cheap china kit including a breadboard some, resistors, LEDs, switches, capacitators, transistors and so on.

                Absolutely fine for getting started and start some simple tinkering. To start some more specialized projects you need exactly to know what you want to do an buy exatly what you need.
                Native German, so my writing might be a bit ... special. I try my best to get better

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