Installing the IDE: MacOS

When the file download has finished, depending on your browser settings, it may be automatically expanded or you may need to manually expand it, usually by double-clicking on it. Drag the Arduino application into your Applications folder.

The Software Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

The IDE is a special program running on your computer that allows you to write sketches for the Arduino board in a simple language modeled after the Processing language. The magic happens when you press the button that uploads the sketch to the board: the code that you have written is translated into the C language (which… Continue reading The Software Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

The Arduino Hardware

The Arduino board is a small microcontroller board, which is a small circuit (the board) that contains a whole computer on a small chip (the microcontroller). This computer is at least a thousand times less powerful than the MacBook I’m using to write this, but it’s a lot cheaper and very useful for building interesting… Continue reading The Arduino Hardware

Introduction

Arduino is composed of two major parts: an Arduino board, which is the piece of hardware you work on when you build your objects; and the Arduino Integrated Development Environment, or IDE, the piece of software you run on your computer. You use the IDE to create a sketch (a little computer program) that you upload to the Arduino… Continue reading Introduction

Collaboration 

Collaboration between users is one of the key principles in the Arduino world—through the forum at forum.arduino.cc, people from different parts of the world help each other learn about the platform.  We also set up a website called “Project Hub” where users document their project and make them available for other users to build. It’s so amazing to see… Continue reading Collaboration 

Hacking Toys

Toys are a fantastic source of cheap technology to hack and reuse. With the current influx of thousands of very cheap high-tech toys from China, you can build quick ideas with a few noisy cats and a couple of light swords. I have been doing this for a few years to get my students to… Continue reading Hacking Toys

We Love Junk!

People throw away a lot of technology these days: old printers, computers, weird office machines, technical equipment, and even a lot of military stuff. There has always been a big market for this surplus technology, especially among young and/or poorer makers and those who are just starting out. This market became evident in Ivrea, where we developed Arduino.… Continue reading We Love Junk!

Tinkering 

We believe that it is essential to play with technology, exploring different possibilities directly on hardware and software, sometimes without a very defined goal. Reusing existing technology is one of the best ways of tinkering. Getting cheap toys or old discarded equipment and hacking them to make them do something new is one of the… Continue reading Tinkering