

Arduino, open-source electronics prototyping platform - bearwithclaws
http://arduino.cc/

======
mr_luc
... Okay, you linked to Arduino.

(I like Arduino - I use Arduino when I want to start messing around with a new
bit of hardware, because it's practically like programming from the console;
dead simple and as 'rapid' as hardware prototyping gets. I got into AVR as
well, mucking about and seeing what interesting stuff I could output to video.

Hardware prototyping is one of the most enjoyable ways to sandblast your free
time that I know of. ;)

But, what's the story? Why did you submit this?

~~~
astrec
I'm always amazed how many not-so-random people I meet are into Arduino, and
how many of them began interested in programming because they cut and pasted a
few sketches which they then tweaked.

Got any current projects? My non-existent free time is devoted to a track
driven, maze solving robot.

~~~
rscott
I plan on using one in a EE senior design course, making an IR tracker using
Wiimote camera with some servos for full pan and tilt control. Also going to
interface a nunchuck for a manual control mode.

~~~
astrec
Sounds great - hope you keep a diary blog of your progress.

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reedlaw
I got into AVR programming before hearing all about the Arduino. I don't
really understand the appeal since an AVR development platform is quite simple
to put together for a lot less money than an Arduino board. I also prefer
Freeduino since it's open source:

<http://www.freeduino.org/>

~~~
cesare
You know, all the cool conceptual new media artists use Arduino. It's
marketing baby!

More seriously, Arduino is open source too.

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ergbvreg
Yes it's great - but what exactly is the news part? It has been widely
available for several years.

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marcusestes
Time to tweak this little baby:

(= gravity* 1.4 timebase* 120 front-threshold* 1)

    
    
      (def frontpage-rank (s (o gravity gravity*))
        (/ (- (realscore s) 1)
           (expt (/ (+ (item-age s) timebase*) 60) gravity)))
    
      (def realscore (i) (- i!score i!sockvotes))
    
      (def item-age (i) (hours-since i!time))

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bearwithclaws
I just discovered this today (and yes, on mefi). And I don't see what's wrong
to share it with the fellow hackers here.

~~~
jacquesm
One of the major problems with HN is that is is an old, established community.
That means that lots of stuff that is new to newcomers is old hat to the old
hands here and they do not tire of telling people that.

In deference to the 'old hats', they do make this community in to what it is,
a place where some pretty cool stuff gets posted and discussed at a fairly
high level.

I personally see absolutely nothing wrong in people posting stuff that is new
to them, for every 'poster' there must be 10's if not 100's of people to who
it is news as well.

Just because you already know everything there is to know doesn't mean that
that goes for everybody else too.

One way around this is to have a karma threshold for displaying submissions,
that way the 'old hands' if they so choose could blind themselves to whatever
the newcomers to on 'their' view of HN without any interference.

And it would stop people from taking 'revenge' on the submitter of this story
the way it is being done right now, which I really think is not becoming of
HN.

Have some room for each other please, and do not kick people for doing the
same thing that you did yourself in the not so distant past.

------
zackham
Does anyone here have any cool projects to show off? I would love to see what
people here have put together...

I'm working on an alarm clock that requires me to do some math in order to
turn it off. Thinking about extending it with an automated french press with
heating element to have a cup of coffee ready for me.

~~~
almost
Not Arduino (I use mainly PICs at the moment 'cos they're cheap and simple)
but my current hardware project is working with my friend Felix on his
Machines (music making sound art machines):

<http://felixsmachines.com/>

I do the electronics & programming stuff, it's an awful lot of fun. Plus I got
to go to TEDGlobal for a day :)

~~~
kcy
That's pretty sweet! I thought this video was great:
<http://felixsmachines.com/video.html>

