I've ordered from Seeedstudio, and am a satisfied customer. Shipping took a bit longer than buying from a local vendor, but not bad. -Pete On Mar 25, 2010, at 8:24 AM, John Chung wrote: > seeedstudio is offering USD 19 boards..... > > John > > --- On Thu, 3/25/10, PICdude wrote: > >> From: PICdude >> Subject: Re: [EE] Arduino >> To: piclist@MIT.EDU >> Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 6:45 PM >> Well I'm glad you asked at this time, >> because I've pretty much decided >> to pick up a couple of these for a specific purpose. >> I agree with >> Mike here -- though I haven't yet actually use one, I've >> been >> researching and I can't see myself using this for any >> commercial >> product with any volume higher than a couple pieces, but it >> seems to >> be a good teaching aid. >> >> I have 4 high-schools interning with me, and we're >> engineering, >> designing, and building "robotics-type" projects -- ie: >> projects that >> involve some mix of mechanical, electrical, and software >> aspects. >> After some research, this seems like a nice simplish way to >> get their >> feet wet with embedded control systems. The price is >> low, the size is >> small (important for some of the projects we have planned), >> the >> development language seems to be simple enough, and there >> are a number >> of example projects that they can learn from. >> >> Cheers, >> -Neil. >> >> >> >> >> Quoting Mike Harrison : >> >>> On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:23:08 -0400, you wrote: >>> >>>> The "Arduino" has been around for a while now. For >> those who don't >>>> know, the Arduino is an Atmel microcontroller on a >> board with an FTDI >>>> USB->RS232 chip and preloaded bootloader. The >> system also includes >>>> (but is not limited to) host software with which >> people write very >>>> high-level code called sketches (AKA firmware to >> the engineers in the >>>> room.) >>>> >>>> What function do you see the Arduino serving? It >> basically seems like >>>> it could be a learning tool and/or a simple means >> to an end. There is >>>> quite an active group of people using Arduinos >> here around Boston. >>> >>> The way I see it, it's a way to get people into >> building embedded >>> things quickly and easily - that >>> has to be a good thing as some will be encouraged to >> explore further. >>> It is also a valuable tool for teaching, and is used >> by many courses >>> where electronics & computing >>> is not the core sublject - design/art type stuff. >>> It is also a handy tool for quickly implementing 1-off >> embedded control jobs. >>> >>> Personally I hate the 'sketch' term or anything that >> calls a program >>> something 'less scary' (patch >>> being another popular one) and never miss an >> opportunity to taunt an >>> Arduinist about not using >>> 'real' embedded hardware.... >>> >>> In the same way that software packages to make PC >> programming less >>> 'scary' have become popular >>> (vvvv, max/msp, openframeworks,Processing etc., >> etc.), The Arduino >>> software is doing the same for >>> hardware. >>> >>> These days there really is little need for >> someone with a hobbyist >>> or non-production need/desire to >>> create sn embedded controller to get into low-level >> programming to >>> achieve some pretty impressive >>> stuff. >>> >>> Of course someone has done a PIC based Arduino which >> is completely >>> missing the point - it's not >>> about the hardware. >>> >>> My biggest criticism of the Arduino hardware is not >> having put the >>> headers on a 0.1" pitch >>> . >>> >>> -- >>> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >>> View/change your membership options at >>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >>> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >> View/change your membership options at >> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist >> > > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist