Get Started With Arduino : Arduino First Lesson of Arduino Tutorial

 Arduino First Tutorial

What is Arduino?

This is the first lesson of the Arduino series. Arduino is a microcontroller which have more computer power than PIC ICs. PIC IC is the most ordinary microchip type. Arduino is popular because It’s lowest price, super efficiency and easy to use. Arduino is not a geek component if you know how to control it. Arduino is a product of Italy and it contains AtMega IC. AtMega IC is an IC which control Arduino. In simple words, it’s the heart of the Arduino board.

This is a picture of ATMEGA2560 16AU IC. It's the IC of the Arduino Mega.

There are so many Arduino board types and you can buy them from just $2.5. You can create things like Robots, Smart homes using Arduino. Here is are some examples for Arduino based projects.

This is an image of Arduino based 2 wheel robot.

This is an image of Arduino based Login system.

This is an image of Arduino based knight rider circuit.

So, you have a basic idea about what is Arduino. To start learning Arduino, you have to buy an Arduino. There are different kind of Arduinos starting from $2.5 to $15.

Arduino Board Types

Arduino UNO

Here is a 3D Model of Arduino UNO

Arduino Uno Board by crimsonfalcon on Sketchfab

Arduino UNO is the most popular Arduino board. It’s a single-board microcontroller. Its ram is SRAM and it’s about 32KB. Arduino UNO’s CPU is Microchip AVR CPU and it’s 8bit one. Always it comes with ATmega 328P microcontroller IC. Its storage platform is Flash or EEPROM. 32KB is very small amount when comparing to modern computers. But it’s enough to do so many works.

Pros of Arduino UNO

• Arduino UNO is medium sized Arduino board.
• Arduino UNO has high RAM, Flash and CPU when comparing to other Arduino boards.
• Arduino UNO has 13 Digital pins and 6 Analog pins.
• Arduino UNO has 6 PWM pins and they are available in 490 Hz. But pin 5 and 6 are available in 980 Hz. So, you can increase efficiency of your project using those pins.

Cons of Arduino UNO

• Arduino UNO is little bit large.
• Arduino UNO has only 13 Digital and 6 Analog pins.

Arduino NANO

Here is a 3D Model of Arduino NANO

Arduino Nano by col000r on Sketchfab

Arduino NANO is very popular for small space projects. It has good specs for small size. Its ram is SRAM and it’s about 2KB. Arduino NANO’s CPU is Microchip AVR CPU and it’s 8bit one. Always it comes with ATmega 328 microcontroller IC. Its storage platform is Flash or EEPROM. It’s EEPROM is about 1KB.

Pros of Arduino NANO

• Arduino NANO is small in size.
• Arduino NANO has more powerful components.
• Arduino NANO has 13 Digital pins and 8 Analog pins.
• Arduino NANO is very low in cost.

Cons of Arduino NANO

• Arduino NANO is very small and sometimes it’s hard to manage because it’s size.

Arduino isn’t the only essential thing to get started, you have to install Arduino IDE to code. Arduino IDE is totally free software. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Here you can download Arduino IDE.

Download the Arduino IDE file according to your OS. Follow below steps to install it.

Step 1 : Download Arduino IDE

Click Just Download. if you can you can contribute to Arduino and then Download.

Arduino IDE will begin to download automatically.

Step 2 : Install The Setup

Click the 'I Agree' button

Click the 'Next' button.

Click the 'Next' button.

Setup will begin to install automatically.

Step 3 : Install Drivers

Click the 'Install' button.

Click the 'Install' button.

Click the 'Install' button.

Step 4 : Close Setup and Open Arduino

Click the 'Close' button

Click Arduino Shorcut on your Desktop. You will get this type of GUI.

All are ok now. You Installed Arduino IDE successfully. Now you are ready to create robots using this Arduino IDE.