Self-education - Arduino Sketch and Python languages

MeldrewsMate

MeldrewsMate

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I want to start programming with Arduino and/or Raspberry Pi.

The simple question is...please recommend a book so I can teach myself the basics of making these devices do stuff.
I'm old fashioned, so much prefer a book to a website. Most of the ones I have perused so far seem to be a catalogue of 'cool' projects. I have my own list of 'cool' stuff I want them to do, I just need the basics and a list of the programming functions (equivalent to the instruction sets of old).

MM
 
For Arduino I recommend “Getting Started with Arduino”, Massimo Banzi, ISBN 978-1-449-30987-9. I think I bought it in Maplin (along with an Arduino). It does use examples – mini-projects if you like – but it’s a pretty short book and will not take you long to work through.

I previously had some experience with high-level languages, but the whole hardware thing was new to me. The book will show you what the various I/O pins do, and then you can follow your nose. The IDE works well. You’ll probably want to download example sketches rather than typing them all out yourself.

I used mine to experiment with wireless control of the heating system in the village hall. I never got it working properly over the Internet, but the basic 466 MHz stuff was OK and it was fun decoding the control signals used by the equipment manufacturer. What will you be doing with yours?
 
motorbiking said:
Did you see this?
http://www.pihome.eu/category/lets-build/
Click to expand...

Looks good. I have no experience with the Pi, but I guess it makes Internet connectivity a lot easier than the Arduino.

The basic problem with the village hall project was that there is no Internet connection. I got diverted into hacking routers so that we could share a neighbour's Wi-Fi. But we never got the necessary agreement, and I've moved away since then.
 
you could integrate it with an answer phone and get the PI to listen to tones..
press 1 to switch the heating on
press 2 to make it flood the kitchen
etc. :D
 
Usually best when learning a new language to allow yourself to enjoy the simple projects they cover. As most are covering main building blocks, that you will use in different applications of your own.
Some good tutorials on U-Tube view out in U-Tube (bottom right button) to see more examples.
.
 
Charles Butcher said:
I used mine to experiment with wireless control of the heating system in the village hall. I never got it working properly over the Internet, but the basic 466 MHz stuff was OK and it was fun decoding the control signals used by the equipment manufacturer. What will you be doing with yours?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the book tip, I'll give it a look-see.
My own project is in some ways similar to that of your village hall one. My old parents can't seem to understand how to operate the programmer on their heating system, they also may get occasional problems but are not so proficient at relaying the symptoms to me over the phone. They do not have t'interweb, and the boiler is in the loft of their small bungalow. To alleviate this I have installed a 4-relay GSM switch in parallel with their programmer. With this I can send a single text message to activate one or more of the relays, the functions of which are 1. OPEN heating valve 2. OPEN hot water valve. 3. DEMAND boiler to fire (there's a fixed bypass to the bathroom towel rad, and it's a system boiler with pump built-in), and 4. TURN ON a lamp next to the boiler. This is purely so I can verify the GSM relay works and has power by asking him "Is the lamp on or off?"
I want to learn to integrate the Arduino with the GSM module so that I can send new commands to the it via SMS text, and receive embedded data in reply. The Arduino will have several cheap sensors connected to it, usede to measure pipe temperatures and (maybe) system pressure and flue flowrate/temperature. This would enable me to see if the boiler is running or stopped in response to my GSM commands, and to do remote diagnostics.

To do this I need to learn a bit more, especially interfacing with GSM receiver modules, UARTs, and the Arduino. Once that's done I want to transfer the project to a British made Raspberry Pi, and expand it to other projects as my knowledge and imagination grows!

Charles, the GSM switch can be bought on Ebay for about £32 as a four relay model, about £20 as a single relay. Search 'CL4-GSM. or CL1-GSM' as required.

MM
 
Thanks for the update, MM. That sounds really interesting and I wish you all success. It sounds as if you'll have no trouble learning the Arduino.

My elderly dad has similar trouble with his heating programmer, which is not surprising since I find it a right pain to use. To this day I haven't figured out the right setting to make it adjust automatically for daylight saving time. When the old programmer failed a while back I suggested a rotary analog one, but he ended up with this horrible digital model.

But he does now have broadband*, so I might just go for a Nest or similar (I used Honeywell's kit a few years back and found it worked well, plus it's much cheaper). I admire your ingenuity, but the thought of troubleshooting a homebrew system that's five hours' drive away is not appealing.

*This is because I wanted to get him a myhomehelper remote-controlled tablet (though a 3G/4G version is also available). The interface is not elegant but overall it works pretty well, including video calls without Dad having to press any buttons. But he does keep unplugging it…
 
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