Reddit mentions of SunFounder Project Super Starter Kit for Arduino UNO R3 Mega2560 Mega328 Nano with Tutorial

I like this the super starter kit by SunFounder there videos are very good and they give you the code for all there projects.
Also, they are fairly inexpensive.
Here's a link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00D9M4BQU/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1504912825&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sunfounder+arduino&dpPl=1&dpID=61kZ9XQzgxL&ref=plSrch

My friend got this one and I was pretty jealous

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01D8KOZF4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2

Sure, it's way easier and cheaper than you think. First, pick up an Arduino Leonardo. It's $9.99 from Amazon US This is the microcontroller that will plug into USB. Use the Leonardo as it's the easiest to set up as a keyboard. Also order a breadboard and some resistors, a simple beginning electronics kit would be good too and give you lots of projects if you have a bit extra to spend.

Once your Arduino arrives follow the basic button tutorial. And learn how to upload code to the Arduino using the IDE.

Once you have a simple button circuit working (a button switches on LED light for example), take a look at the [Keyboard library.] (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/MouseKeyboard) You should now be able to get your button to send a letter to your PC which is identical to pressing a keyboard button.

Congrats you have built a custom interface. Just add more buttons and a nice box, maybe lights if you want to get fancy.

you're gonna be "missing" parts depending on the projects you're working on. the most basic things you can get, though, are what you mentioned: a breadboard, wires, leds, resistors, etc. what i've done so far is looked for the parts i need on amazon... there are all kinds of sensors you can get separately and very cheap in general.

I recently got an arduino and, like you did, I thought the starter kit was pretty expensive. So I actually got a Leonardo by itself and got this on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGNZ9G8
This kit also comes with a few buttons you can use to practice and then you can buy more later or something.

that kit was definitely cheaper than getting the official arduino one and it comes with almost everything i've needed so far. There are other kits on amazon that have different things that you might be more interested in, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9M4BQU I've also seen light sensors for $7-$9 on amazon.

other parts I've gotten separately are diodes, more leds, a bigger breadboard, shift registers, etc... but, like i mentioned, those i've purchased because of the nature of the projects i've been working on. I came to know of the parts i've purchased through other people's projects, google, blogs, youtube, etc.

also, in terms of programming, i'd suggest learning some c or c++. but you might not need to spend too much time on that since you're good with sketches, it's just in case you want to get into more advanced projects, i guess.

I got this one: http://amzn.com/B00D9M4BQU

It's half the price of the one you linked and seems to have a lot more of the basic stuff you should learn in the beginning. The book that comes with it is good in the sense that it has great starting projects. You start with really simple ones like turning an LED on and off with code, then moves on to using a knob to set the brightness of the LED, and so on and so forth.

As far as explaining how and why it works it does a decent job but I always found myself YouTubing things just to understand them more. I always took things apart my whole life and I've seen the components countless times. One by one you finally learn what each thing is called and what it does and things start making a lot more sense.

The sensor box I got was this one: http://amzn.com/B009OVGKTQ and it's $25. I know a lot of the reviews say that things are not labeled properly but hey fixed that. This comes with a CD that I think only has the C++ classes for each module. It doesn't have an instruction manual on how to use each one BUT it tells you what each module is and its name and you can google it and find detail info on it and videos explaining them.

With the money you were going to spend on the kit you linked, these two kits end up being the same price together and I think you'd get a lot more for your buck buying these two as a starting point.

i just got this kit last week and i'm extremely happy with it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D9M4BQU/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Note that your going to have to buy an Arduino separately.

Oh yeah, the Pi would be great for that! It has a set of metal pins sticking out that you can use Python to program for specific functions, set voltage levels, all that fun stuff. You can plug these into a breadboard to connect to other chips, that's basically what you want. It supports all the big names, SPI, I2C, etc. even regular old serial. You can also connect remotely via SSH if that's your thing.

EDIT: I neglected to fully answer your actual question: Yes, I recommend just diving in, that's how I learned. A breadboard and some basic components can be had for fairly cheap. Combine this with the PI, and you have a pretty nifty setup going. Google can help with a lot, and anything specific, feel free to PM me at any time. And remember, just have fun!

Yes I am as well.

Well, there's Conrad, Reichelt, Pollin and such, and of course Amazon and ebay.

There's no real alternative price-wise. I order a lot at Aliexpress and similar sites for school workshops. :-) It takes 2-6 weeks, but it's really great if you are in no hurry. And it's not like most of the parts are any different than what the electronic stores here offer.

At Amazon you can find the Sunfounder and similar kits, but these are basically the same "no name" stuff.

http://www.amazon.de/SunFounder-Starter-Learning-Beginner-Utilizing/dp/B00O0NM9GG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1452268587&sr=8-3&keywords=uno+rfid+kit

http://www.amazon.de/SunFounder-Project-Starter-Arduino-Mega2560/dp/B00CXMMDZI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452268639&sr=8-4&keywords=uno+kit

http://www.amazon.de/SunFounder-Project-Starter-Arduino-Mega2560/dp/B00D9M4BQU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452268639&sr=8-2&keywords=uno+kit

.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Starterkit-Arduino-UNO-R3-inkl-komp-Board-RFID-Dev-Kit-und-vielen-Modulen-/181965808319?hash=item2a5e01e2bf:g:qFIAAOSw1S9Wc9qo

It really depends on what parts you need and what are you willing to spend. In general, you pay three to ten times as much for some of the modules.

If you already have an Ardunio this set is the one we use at our school. (Although, full disclosure, I don't live in Singapore) On top of that, of course the Ardunio Cookbook...

Hope that helps.

Mit RaspberryPi kenne ich mich leider überhaupt nicht aus. Geht ja auch mehr in Richtung Informatik also wäre das schon was für dich.

Arduino ist ja im Grunde nur ein Microcontroller zu Steuerung und Regelung von Hardware, wie Motoren, Sensoren usw... wenn deine Projektideen nicht in diese Richtung gehen, dann wirst du wahrscheinlich auch keinen Lötkolben und Co brauchen.

Ich hab mir über ein, zwei Monate unter anderem folgendes geholt:

Lötstation 15€

Dritte Hand 5€ (absolut unabdingbar beim Löten!)

Arduino Starter Kit 36€ (Preis finde ich angemessen und man bekommt einen guten Einstieg in die Arbeitsweise eines Arduinos und den Umgang damit)

Die Frage ist ja (sry wenn ich mich wiederhole) was ist das Ziel deines Projektes?

Möchtest du konkrete Hardware steuern wie z.B. per Händeklatschen deine Jalousinen hoch und runter fahren?

Dann reicht dafür ein Arduino und du musst dann ein wenig löten oder vill. auch nur ein paar Steckverbindungen setzen.

Möchtest du einen kleinen Homeserver einrichten oder von deinem PC Daten auf einen kleinen Monitor in der Küche streamen oder, was ganz cool ist, einen Magic Mirror für den Korridor basteln?

Sowas ist dann mehr Richtung RaspberryPi. Für Robotik kannst du auch beide benutzen oder nur deinen PC wenn es dir nur um das Programmieren geht. Ich persönlich würde gerne einen Robotor Arm selbst entwerfen, bauen, verkabeln und dann damit programmieren.

Wenn du das alles aber schon weißt, bitte nicht sauer sein, ist nur ein Ratschlag ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A quick Amazon search: Sunfounder Project Super Starter Kit; looks like SunFounder has a few kits like this. I haven't bought from SunFounder, so can't vouch for them, but this looks like it might fit your needs.

That said, I would recommend not buying a kit, but rather picking up a few component selections (resistors, capacitors, etc), and then ordering a bunch of stuff from Tayda or similar. You will typically end up with a better selection for cheaper, and you can pick and choose based on what you want to do.

Basically, the stuff you need is not a big list; the stuff that you might want for a specific project is darn hard to predict.

edit: also, SainSmart has a couple kits on Amazon that look reasonable and don't include an Arduino.

> I don't even know which OS to use, I've never used Linux before.

Don't worry, the Arduino IDE works just fine on Windows. There are plenty of resources for Arduino projects that will help you learn, and most tutorials are aimed at those who have zero programming or electrical engineering knowledge.

Something like this might be a good idea, as it includes everything to get started with basic projects (including the Arduino itself), as well as an instruction booklet. You could also further augment it with this kit.

That seems to be a fairly easy and cheap starter project for Arduino. For example this starter kit should have everything you need for the bomb.You can find cheaper ones, but this was the first I found on Amazon.

I am probably on a list of some kind now.

[This] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00D9M4BQU/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1417558207&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SY200_QL40) is a robotics starter kit with instructions and tools to make different robotics projects.

Good advice. I was planning on using Google a lot to guide me, and pick up some simple starter projects to get my feet wet.

I decided to get the board and kit separately, since I couldn't really find a complete kit that mixed everything I wanted. Went with this board and this kit. Is that good value, altogether?

Would've liked to have gotten one of the more expensive kits with the more interesting sounding projects, but money's tight right now and I'm sure I can find plenty to do with what I got.

Here's the one i ordered, but there are a lot o other options.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D9M4BQU/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those kits are really really awesome! I got this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D9M4BQU/and it ships in a plastic tacklebox you can use to store the parts. You have to get the Arduino board separately, though, so you'll probably only be able to get about 15 of them total with your budget.

I think you are switching up between the Micro and the Mini. The Micro does indeed have a USB port, but you are correct I would have to use it in a breadboard.
I initially wanted to go with the Leonardo because it has the 32u4 microprocessor (the micro does too, the UNO not and the Nano also not), with which you can talk to your pc or OTG device as if it was a mouse or a keyboard. I don't think I can replicate that behavior with a Nano/UNO, can I?
Those kits are nice, but like I already said, they don't offer the 32u4. I guess I settled for this combination:https://www.conrad.de/de/arduino-micro-platine-65192-323485.html
and
http://www.amazon.de/SunFounder-Project-Starter-Arduino-Mega2560/dp/B00D9M4BQU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1452268693&sr=8-3&keywords=arduino+starter+kit
More than 60 Euro but whatever... At least I supported Arduino and got some parts to get me working.
If I ever need more I can still get them...
Thanks for your support man! Really appreciate it.

I'd select a kit that has more variety of input and output devices.

Perhaps like this, or if you can afford teh extra few dollars, this.

The more different things you can experiment with, the more possibilities to learn.

I started with a Sainsmart Uno compatible kit which cost about £30 from Amazon. It has some good bits and some parts I will probably never get to use, but certainly it was more than enough to get started.

At a minimum, I would suggest a few LEDs and some resistors around 100R, some pressbutton switches, a breadboard and maybe an LED panel. All of this can be bought cheaply, but once you add that up, then you might as well buy a cheap kit!

Don't waste money on books - there is more than enough info online, and since most of the starter kits contain the same basic components, there is no shortage of tutorials you can use.

I just found this kit which has some nice parts that were not in my kit, and leaves out some of the less useful things. It doesn't contain an arduino itself, but those can be bought cheaply enough, so for well under £30 you could have a few great starter projects!

The Arduino website is very helpful, especially the language reference page for help on all the default functions you can use. The getting started and examples pages are great places to start (who knew?). I found the best way to get into it was to dive right in. I ordered a Arduino Uno board and a starter kit from Amazon. Then I made all the different devices work by using the breadboard and simple code. A bigger project is just lots of little parts all working together. If I needed help, I googled "<part I'm trying to get to work> Arduino" and was able to find someone who did it previously. The Arduino Forums and /r/Arduino are also very helpful!