To learn more about this class and schedule or to RSVP and sign up start with the blog post here:
http://melbournemakerspace.org/2014/08/arduino-workshops-start-october-4-2014/
The first class went really great today! There was a full house of 28 people with every single chair and extra chair used by those ready to learn the ins and outs of arduino. The initial kits were handed out and we made sure everyone was up and running with a working install of the IDE programming application that could upload the sketch to their arduino and read the “Hello World!” it was sending back through the serial monitor. Not only were the instructors helpful in getting some people unstuck with little issues but so were other students. Everyone was helping everyone that’s one of the main ideas behind a makerspace! James Dinsmore even sold a few copies of his new book he created from five years of notes taken while working on projects with the most popular maker toys, the arduino and the Raspberry Pi. You can read more about his book and order a copy yourself here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-dinsmore/maker-reference/paperback/product-21815562.html?ppn=1
Here are some things I had on my notes taken from the class:
Found by a student with a Mac:
Setting up IDE on Mac OS X Mavericks
Requires you to disable the built in FTDI driver!
http://www.enttec.com/support-center/kb/article/108-OS_X_Mavericks_(10.9)_-_IMPORTANT
Linux (Ubuntu) requires the install of a driver.
You must do “sudo make load” to actually load the driver.
Codebender.cc
That is a web app IDE for arduino that runs in the Chrome web browser (you need a chrome plugin to allow access to the serial port) with better options than the regular IDE. It also allows programming via the ethernet shield so you can REMOTELY reprogram an arduino in a hard to reach place. It also has better shortcut key commands and other things to make programming easier and faster. This was shown to me by a student. Thanks Donald!
Here are a few pictures from today’s class:
