The $15 special is one of the Arduino workhorses, actually pretty useful. I'll see about stocking them (or something similar) at the Artisan's Asylum, since there seems to be enough local demand (and any small profit we make goes to getting more cool electronics tools).<br>
<div><br clear="all"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><b><b><div><span style="font-weight:normal"><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small">Drew Van Zandt</span></span></b></b></span></div>
<div><span style="font-weight:normal"><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small"><span style="font-family:arial">Artisan's Asylum Craft Lead, Electronics & Robotics</span><br>Cam # US2010035593 (</span></span></b></b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small">M:</span></span><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small">Liam Hopkins </span></span></b></b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small">R:</span></span><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small"> Bastian Rotgeld)<br>
</span></span></b></b></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><b><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:x-small">Domain Coordinator, MA-003-D. Masquerade aVST </span></span></b></b></span></b></b></span><br>
</div></b></b></span><font size="1"><br></font><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 4:05 PM, Tom Metro <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tmetro%2Bhhacking@gmail.com">tmetro+hhacking@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I heard Radio Shack is planning to stock Arduino boards:<br>
<a href="http://blog.radioshack.com/2011/11/04/we-listened-arduino-is-coming/" target="_blank">http://blog.radioshack.com/2011/11/04/we-listened-arduino-is-coming/</a><br>
We Listened: Arduino Is Coming<br>
<br>
A few months ago, we reached out to our community and asked what DIY<br>
parts and pieces you wished you could find at your local RadioShack<br>
store. We were overwhelmed with the response, and promised to bring in<br>
a top list of suggestions from you - including Arduino.<br>
<br>
Radio Shack cares about DIY customers? I thought they were pretty much a<br>
cell phone store now, with a few components stuffed into a drawer on<br>
some back shelf.<br>
<br>
Here's the product search link:<br>
<a href="http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=arduino&origkw=arduino&sr=1" target="_blank">http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=arduino&origkw=arduino&sr=1</a><br>
<br>
A whole 13 items found. A $25 and a $65 main board, an $85 development<br>
kit, and a few books and peripherals. According to the blog posting the<br>
lits of items will be expanding.<br>
<br>
<br>
But the subject of this post refers to the latest email ad from Micro<br>
Center, which includes a promotion for the Sparkfun version of the<br>
Arduino main board for $15:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0383623" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0383623</a><br>
<br>
(Apparently on sale for 1/2 price, and currently showing as out of stock<br>
in Cambridge.)<br>
<br>
I get that they want to use an inexpensive device to catch people's<br>
attention, but this $15 board is probably of limited use to a new user<br>
to the platform. (Correct me if that's wrong; I haven't played with<br>
Arduinos myself; Maybe you just need to add a USB cable and some<br>
downloaded software.) They do, however, also carry starter kits in their<br>
"Robotic Kits & Electronic Parts" category:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294950343" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294950343</a><br>
<br>
Not a bad selection of items (over 75), covering several starter kits,<br>
maybe a dozen different main boards, and a pile of peripherals.<br>
<br>
(And all of the items below were shown as in-stock locally, so they<br>
aren't just a pile of "online-only" items.)<br>
<br>
The first item in the category is a $99 Sparkfun starter kit:<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0383941" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0383941</a><br>
<br>
Further down is the O'Reilly "Getting Started with Arduino Kit" for $65.<br>
It includes the same main board as the one above, but fewer peripherals.<br>
Also includes "Getting Started with Arduino" book:<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0376454" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0376454</a><br>
<br>
And there is also the O'Reilly "Mintronics: MintDuino" for $25 which<br>
seems to be a bare chip (plus a handful of other components) and a<br>
solderless breadboard. Apparently to you need a $20 cable<br>
(<a href="http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9718" target="_blank">http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9718</a>) to attach it to your computer<br>
for programming, which oddly isn't included in the starter kit:<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0372915" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0372915</a><br>
<br>
<br>
As for the main boards I see Netduino for $35:<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0381878" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0381878</a><br>
<br>
Given the name I thought this would be a version with Ethernet, but<br>
instead it says, "using the .NET Micro Framework." As in Microsoft .NET?<br>
Embedded and .NET don't seem like two things that would go together. (I<br>
notice the clock rates on this family of boards are 48 MHz instead of<br>
the typical 16 MHz. To compensate for the .NET overhead?)<br>
<br>
Also interesting to see several "mini" boards that use surface mount<br>
components and have solder pads instead of connectors. Ideal for<br>
embedding into other tiny gadgets. A couple of options under $20:<br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382292" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382292</a><br>
<a href="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356751" target="_blank">http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356751</a><br>
<br>
-Tom<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>