Arduino is not just a bar in Italy

   We are in the midst of the resurgence of open-source hardware and it's paving the way for a return of build-it-yourself electronics. At the forefront is the Arduino, a credit-size micro controller described by its makers as "an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software". It basically means you can use an Arduino as a tool to accomplish DIY projects where someone else has done all the hard work. All you have to do is follow the directions to get it done. 
 
    While I consider myself as a tinkerer it took me sometime to get into the Arduino. For one, I have no idea where to start. The Arduino Uno R3 itself costs only about Php1,400.00 so getting one is not really a major life changing decision. But getting the rest of the electronic components that you'll need in a project would be a dicey propositon at best especially for somebody like me who have no experience creating wiring circuits. The best way to start, I think, is to get a kit. And so I went for the original Arduino Starter Kit.

   The kit includes, among others, jumper wires, LEDs, an 16x2 LCD, a few potentiometers, a handful of push buttons, an array of resistors, temp/tilt sensors, transistors, a breadboard and of course a genuine Arduino Uno Rev.3 board. The kit even provides a laser cut wooden base for the Uno (I have since enshrined my first Arduino Uno in a cool acrylic case from Seeed Studio). It also comes with a well written and informative Arduino Projects Book. You could probably get all the components in Raon for perhaps a third of the price and top it off with a Chinese Arduino Uno knock-off (then download a pirated digital copy of the book), but nothing beats having an original-- which has a small map of Italy  and the words "Made in Italy" on it.

   Almost a year on, I have procured three more boards-- all Chinese knock-offs, bought a bunch of jumper wires on-line and have since made several trips to Raon to replenish my stock of electronic components. I have since created a digital clock (using an RTC module), an array of lights to simulate KITT's Larsen lights (if you don't get it, you are clueless about the 80s!), a matrix of LEDs, a morse code key. 

  Arduino offered an affordable way to explore physical programing (though programming isn't really required to get started because you could simply piggy back off open source projects, tweak it and claim it as your own).

(N.B. The name Arduino comes from a bar in Ivrea, where the founders of the project used to hang around. The bar, in turn, was named after Arduin of Ivrea, who was king of Italy from 1002 to 1014.)