[HH] local source for $15 Arduino boards

[David Kramer]

On 02/18/2012 05:41 PM, Tom Metro wrote:
> Drew Van Zandt wrote:
>> The $15 special is one of the Arduino workhorses, actually pretty
>> useful.
> 
> What would you supplement it with in order for a new Arduino developer
> to start being productive?
> 
> Is it as simple as I speculated - a USB cable and some downloaded software?
> 
> (I'm not including any peripheral hardware, which will vary greatly
> depending on what you want to accomplish.)

Am there doing that.  I bought a Mega a few weeks ago.  I think I sent
the link to the project I'm working on:
wiki.thekramers.net/Main/GitsMask
Unfortunately it's been on hold for a few weeks.

I was surprised how easy it was to install the software and get started.
 There's even an on-board LED you can control so you don't need even
that for "Hello world".

There are a number of power options, but it can be powered right off the
USB cable.

The one thing you'll want even for basic stuff is some way to connect
things to it.  You can get a proto shield, but that's not very flexible
because you need to solder things on it.  What I chose to do instead buy
a bunch of header pins and solder wires on them.  They're dirt cheap and
flexible, because they break apart to whatever size (number of pins) you
need.