

Nerdkit - an electronics kit for hackers - sdp
http://www.nerdkits.com/

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wkdown
For beginner hackers. Intermediate use Arduino. Expert build their own. 1337
buy the ones Expert built and claim them for their own.

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compumike
NerdKits goes from beginners to way beyond... We actually publish lots of
educational content -- see 18 free videos so far on
<http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/> \-- that show off lots of programming and
electronics concepts that push the limits of what most hobbyists are doing
with microcontrollers. But we are definitely focused on education rather than
selling products to professional engineers! (This is Mike from NerdKits)

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aristoxenus
I think you've done a nice job of meeting a real gap in the product space. In
ten years of watching this stuff (mostly from the sidelines -- anyone more
involved please correct me if I'm wrong), I haven't seen much in the way of an
all-in-one kit that includes actual interesting components and well-written /
MIT-literate instructional content.

The quality online presence -- forums and video tutorials! -- may even be a
killer feature.

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NathanKP
Here is Austin there is a local company that will make microprocessors for you
if you bring in your diagram. That is a real nerd kit!

But this is a great beginner kit and I enjoyed looking through the projects
that people have built using it:

<http://www.nerdkits.com/projects/>

~~~
compumike
That page shows some of our projects, but also see the "video tutorials" at
<http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/> , and also buried on our forum there are
many customer projects. For example: a hamster wheel sensor which graphs how
far a hamster runs at night ( <http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/197/> and
<https://sites.google.com/site/hamometer/> ), a home-brewed beer fermentation
controller ( <http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/61/> ), a tractor sled
monitor ( <http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/58/#post1232> ), and a LED
tetris game ( <http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/167/> ). (I am Mike from
NerdKits)

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Beanblabber
I've been looking for something exactly like this. I'm trying to get into the
physical side of EECS and this is perfect because it comes with the board,
controller, instructions, and everything else you need to make a simple
project. All the others cost too much and don't include what this does.

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ianbishop
Aren't arduinos a fraction of the cost and have a much larger community?

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aristoxenus
I can think of a number of advantages the NerdKit has with regards to certain
niches (think linux vs. Mac, or linux from scratch vs. Ubuntu if you prefer),
but here's one: marketed in a certain way, a NerdKit is something a non-techie
parent could buy and give to a kid as a gift. Gifting an Arduino properly
would involve lots of educated shopping and research, and probably hand-
holding after that.

~~~
mechanical_fish
I already have a Ph.D. in EE and even _I_ don't have the time to choose the
proper Arduino and read the basic docs and figure out what to do with the
thing. [1]

And, though I love browsing Digikey or wandering the aisles at You-Do-It
Electronics -- because I _already know how_ \-- such activity also takes a
bunch of time, plus you end up either buying lots of extra stuff or risking
that you will forget to buy something, or buy the wrong thing, and need to
make one or more repeat trips. This risk is especially huge if you're new to
electronics and don't already have several drawers full of miscellaneous
capacitors and hookup wire and op amps and LEDs.

So I can definitely see the value here.

\--

[1] One of these days I will just pick some arbitrary project out of _Make_
magazine and follow the little steps. Or perhaps I will buy a NerdKit!

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teeja
"The purpose of NerdKits is to reduce the risks involved with getting started
in the electronics field."

That's great. What you start with doesn't matter so much, because once you've
grasped many possibilities that one kit allows, you've also built the
confidence that, yes, you can learn and you can do. Then you can explore other
areas with that confidence. MM & breadboard can conquer _all_!

I'm one of those weirdos that think that analog is more fun than digital, but
it's certainly important to be exposed to both sides.

