Arduino gift guide

 by pt
arduinogiftguide_redo2.jpg
doublewide_extendershield.jpg
touchshield.jpg
200811261022.jpg
9780596155513-2.jpg
blinkM_redo.jpg
openheart_in_hand.jpg
xbeeadapter_LRG.jpg
ethernetshield_redo.jpg
gpsshield2_LRG.jpg
sanguinobreakoutshield.jpg
MKZH1-2.jpg
motorshield_redo.jpg
protoshield_redo.jpg
OClock-04-20-07-1s.jpg
iduino.jpg
sanguino_redo.jpg
app_main1.jpg
MKAD11-2.jpg
lilypad_kit_crop.jpg
arduino_bare_bones.jpg
freeduino_plus_parts.jpg
MKAD9-2.jpg
ArduinoPro.jpg
200811261035.jpg
yhst-27389313707334_2025_18891070.jpg
MSAK-2.jpg
arduinostarterpack.jpg
arduino_duemilanove_redo.jpg
arduinominiplusadapter.jpg
The Arduino open-source microcontroller platform can be programmed and equipped to perform a nearly endless list of functions. It's likely the best all-around centerpiece to a modern electronics project. But one of the tasks Arduino is best used for is straight-up fun - the open design means there's an Arduino board suitable for almost any project, and a wealth of add-on "shields" extends its abilities with ease.

Starter kits

Arduino Starter Kit
Price: $89.99
Buy: Maker Store - Link
The best way to get going with the very capable microcontroller platform, the starter kit sets you up with a bunch of basic parts necessary for tinkering plus a wealth of knowledge in the included 400+ pages of Making Things Talk, by Arduino developer Tom Igoe.

- 1x Arduino Diecimila
- 1x Mini Breadboard
- 1x 3 ft. USB Cable
- 10x 1K Resistors
- 2x 10k Resistors
- 3x Red LEDs
- 2x Green LEDs
- 1X Superbright Blue LED
- 1x Momentary Tactile Switch
- 2x Interlink Force Sensing Resistors
- 1x Protoshield Kit (unassembled)
- Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe
- 24" each of Red, Blue & Black AWG jumper wire
- 9V Battery Case w/DC Plug (some assembly required)
- Yes, even a 9V battery

Arduino Starter Pack
Price: $65
Buy: adafruit - Link
A different take on the Arduino survival kit, this pack from Adafruit includes potentiometers, a DC wall adapter, and a nice selection of LEDs

- Arduino Duemilanove, including 4 rubber feet
- 3' USB cable
- Protoshield Kit
- Tiny Breadboard
- 9V DC regulated wall adapter
- 9V Battery case with switch and a 2.1mm plug
- 10K potentiometer, 1K potentiometer
- 2 small pushbuttons
- 5 red diffused bright LEDs, plus one each of red, green and blue ultra-bright LED
- 5 100 ohm resistors, 5 1K resistors, 5 10K resistors
- CdS photocell sensor
- 4 pieces of 18" long jumper wire in red, black, yellow and blue

Arduino main boards

Arduino Duemilanove
Price: $34.99
Buy: Maker Store - Link
The new standard Arduino main board. This latest model auto-switches its power source between USB and DC jack - whichever is available. "Duemilanove" means 2009 in Italian and is named after the year of its release.

- Microcontroller - ATmega168
- Operating Voltage - 5V
- Input Voltage - (recommended) 7-12V
- Input Voltage - (limits) 6-20V
- Digital I/O Pins - 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
- Analog Input Pins - 6
- DC Current per I/O Pin - 40 mA
- DC Current for 3.3V Pin - 50 mA
- Flash Memory - 16 KB (of which 2 KB used by bootloader)
- SRAM - 1 KB
- EEPROM - 512 bytes
- Clock Speed - 16 MHz

Arduino Mini Board & Arduino Mini USB Adapter
Price: $36.99 (Mini board) & $19.99 (USB adapter)
Buy: maker Store - Mini board & USB adapter
The Arduino Mini offers the same power and flexibility of the standard boards, but in a much smaller package. This makes it an ideal choice for projects where space is at a premium. The USB adapter (pictured above) is used to program the Mini from your computer and can be removed from a project was your done wrting and uploading software

Arduino Pro
Price: $19.95
Buy: sparkfun - Link
It's blue and skinny! The Arduino Pro is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega168 (datasheet). It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, an 8 MHz resonator, a battery power jack, a power switch, a reset button, and holes for mounting a power jack, an ICSP header, and pin headers. The Arduino Pro is intended for semi-permanent installation in objects or exhibitions. The board comes without pre-mounted headers, allowing the use of various types of connectors or direct soldering of wires. The pin layout is compatible with Arduino shields. The board can be powered with a battery, and runs at 3.3V.

- ATmega168V running at 8MHz external resonator
- Low-voltage board needs no interfacing circuitry to popular 3.3V devices and modules (GPS, Accelerometers, sensors, etc)
- USB connection off board
- 3.3V regulator
- Reverse polarity protected
- DC input 3.3V up to 12V
- Resettable fuse prevents damage to board in case of short
- Power select switch acts as on/off switch

Seeeduino
Price: $23.99
Buy: nkcelectronics - Link
Another variation on the standard board but featuring some notable changes, including
- Duplicate digital IO to 100mil grid for prototype board compatibility.
- Shrink componets height below female headers.
- Change Type-B USB port to Mini USB.
- Replace 3.5mm DC power Jack to battery 2 Pin plug.
- Reset and power indicator near RST button.
- Auto-reset selection.
- 3.3V Operating Voltage selection.
- Pin out UART for FTDI232 bit-bang operation.
- Pin out 2 extra ADC.
- Optional capacitor for improving 3.3V output performance.
- Pin out for I2C and sensors

Arduino Nano
Price: $49.99
Buy: gravitech - Link
So tiny you'll want to eat it! Arduino Nano is a surface mount breadboard embedded version with integrated USB. It is a smallest, complete, and breadboard friendly. It has everything that Diecimila has (electrically) with more analog input pins and onboard +5V AREF jumper. Physically, it is missing power jack and power select jumper. Since the Nano is automatically sense and switch to the higher potential source of power, there is no need for the power select jumper. Nano's got the breadboard-ability of the Boarduino and the Mini+USB with smaller footprint than either, so users have more breadboard space.

- Automatic reset during program download
- Power OK blue LED on the bottom
- Green (TX), red (RX) and orange (L) LED
- +5V to AREF jumper
- Auto sensing/switching power input
- Small mini-B USB for programming and serial monitor
- ICSP header for direct program download
- Power OK blue LED on the bottom
- Standard 0.1" spacing DIP (breadboard friendly)
- Manual reset switch

LilyPad Pro Kit
Price: $49.95
Buy: Maker Store - Link
The LilyPad Arduino is a microcontroller board designed for wearables and e-textiles. It can be sewn to fabric and similarly mounted power supplies, sensors and actuators with conductive thread. The LilyPad Pro Kit gives you the full flexibility and power of the LilyPad system. Program the LilyPad main board to respond to physical changes in light, sound, or motion. Create displays of light, sound, and get physical feedback using the various LilyPad periphery boards.

- LilyPad Mainboard
- LilyPad Power Supply
- LilyPad USB Link
- Mini USB Cable

Arduino Bare Bones kit
Price: $23.99
Buy: Maker Store - Link
For those who'd prefer to build their own Arduino from the ground up, the Bare Bones kit let's you solder your way to microcontroller bliss. A good choice for permanent projects, the Bare Bones can be programmed with a USB-TTL Serial Cable

Freeduino
Price: #23.99
Buy: nkcelectronics - Link
Another solderable Arduino kit, the Freeduino is compatible with standard expansion shields, has onboard USB port (like the standard Arduino), and is fully compatible with add-on shields. It also looks pretty darn cool in orange/yellow!

DC Boarduino kit
Price: $17.50
Buy: Maker Store - Link
An Arduino designed especially for use with an electronics breadboard, this Boarduino sports a standard DC jack for power and can be programmed with a USB-TTL Serial cable.
- Designed to plug into a breadboard for easy prototyping
- Petite size, only 3" x 0.8" (75mm x 20mm)
- All 'standard' pins are brought out - Digital 0 thru 13, Analog 0 thru 5, ARef, 5V, Ground, Vin and Reset
- Chip comes preprogrammed with a "no-wait" Arduino bootloader
- 2 LEDs, green power and red "pin 13" just like the Arduino Diecimila
- Available as a low cost kit with standard parts, so its never out of stock
- All through-hole parts are easy to solder
- Reset button
- ATmega168, running at 16.00 MHz, just like the lastest Arduino, the Diecimila
- 6-pin standard ICSP header
- Standard 2.1mm DC jack (just like the original) with 5V regulator to run on 7V-17V power
- 1N4001 diode protects against using incorrect wall adapter
- 6-pin header at the end for a USB-TTL cable
- Auto-reset capability when used with a USB-TTL cable

iDuino
Price: $17.82
Buy: spiffie - Link
Another 'duino kit designed for use with electronics breadboards, the iDuino can be powered via USB and uses standard 5mm LEDs as status indicators.

Sanguino
Price: $25.00
Buy: sanguino.cc - Link
Monster Arduino! The Sanguino is an Arduino-compatible board that boasts 4x the memory, 4x the ram, and 12 extra pins. Its a sweet board that gives us some room to expand while still being completely through-hole for simple assembly.

- atmega644P core
- 32 total general purpose I/O pins (some are multipurpose)
- 8 analog pins
- 6 PWM pins
- 64K flash memory
- 4K RAM
- 2K EEPROM
- completely through-hole construction
- breadboard compatible
- 100% open source
- compatible with Arduino 0012 with minimal hacking

Shields - Additional hardware that attaches directly to Arduino

Pocket Piano kit
Price: $44.95
Buy: Maker Store - Link
This is a board for making the Arduino into a portable stand alone music synthesizer. It plugs directly into the Arduino board and provides 25 multiplexed keys (2 full octaves), 4 pots, status LED, reset switch, digital to analog converter IC, and a RCA audio jack. The Arduino board with its powerful AVR processor is more than adequate for a wide range of sound synthesis techniques. We have experimented with simple additive / wave-table synthesis, frequency modulation, ring modulation, sampling, polyphony, various arpeggiators. The whole thing can be powered over the Arduino's USB port for convenient experimenting. Arduino not included. The board is designed to mount easily to 1/8" panel material, and 1/2" round keys can be made out of wood or plastic.

- 25 keys and multiplexer circuitry
- 4 potentiometers, 1 controls output level
- Microchip MCP4921 12 bit SPI DAC
- Passive low pass output filter

Waveshield Kit
Price: $21.95
Buy: Maker Store - Link
Adding quality audio to an electronic project is surprisingly difficult. Here is a shield for Arduinos that solves this problem. It can play up to 22KHz, 12bit uncompressed audio files of any length. A great low cost easy-to-make kit. It has an onboard DAC, filter and op-amp for high quality output. Audio files are read off of an SD/MMC card, which are available at nearly any store. Volume can be controlled with the onboard thumbwheel potentiometer.
This shield is a kit, and comes with all parts you need to build it. Arduino, SD card, tools, speaker and headphones are not included. It is fairly easy to construct and anyone with a successful soldering project under their belt should be able to build it.

Danger Shield kit
Price: $44.95
Buy: maker Store - Link
The Danger Shield is an add-on for the Arduino micro controller board. It contains a variety of fun and useful electronic circuits that you can use to do fun and useful things. It is a fully self-contained shield. You plug it into your Arduino, and you can immediately start using it. No extra things to hook up, no external components. Just a really rad board ready to rock. Soldering required.

- 3x Linear sliders w/ integrated LEDs (independently hooked up to PWM)
- 3x Pushbuttons
- 2x Indicator LEDs (each with a PWM)
- 1x Piezo buzzer (for making noise!)
- 1x Temperature sensor
- 1x Light sensor
- 1x Knock sensor
- 1x 7 segment LED (with shift register)
- Power LED and reset button

MotorShield for Arduino Kit
Price: $19.50
Buy: Maker Store - Link
Put projects in motion with this kit's specialized connectivity for motors. The shield can accomodate:

- 2 connections for 5V 'hobby' servos with high-resolution dedicated timer - no jitter!
- 4 H-Bridges: L293D chipset provides 0.6A per bridge (1.2A peak) with thermal shutdown protection, internal kickback protection diodes. Can run motors on 4.5VDC to 36VDC.
- Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection (so, about 0.5% resolution)
- Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil or interleaved stepping.

Features include:
- Big terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (10-22AWG) and power
- Arduino reset button brought up top (Diecimila only)
- 2-pin terminal block and jumper to connect external power, for seperate logic/motor supplies
- Tested compatible with Diecimila (NG is next!)
- Download the easy-to-use Arduino software library, check out the examples and you're ready to go!

ProtoShield kit
Price: $15.00
Buy: Maker Store - Link
A great way to make your own custom shield for Arduino, the ProtoShield can accommodate a mini-breadboard or can be soldered to directly via its versatile perforated pattern.
Features include -
- Reset button up top
- ICSP header
- Lots of GND and +5V rails
- DIP prototyping area makes it easy to add more chips
- SOIC prototyping area above USB jack for up to 14-pin SOIC chip, narrow medium or wide package.
- Use 'mini' or 'medium' breadboard
- Two 3mm LEDs with matching resistors
- Extra 6mm button

Arduino AVR Scope Clock Shield
Price: $34.95
Buy: dutchtronix - Link
Turn your X-Y capable analog oscilloscope it a very unique clock with this kit. A very cool (and practical) way to put your idle scope to work!

XPortShield
Price: $15.00
Buy: Maker Store - Link
Add Ethernet! Want your Arduino to check email? How about sending a twitter (which can then be easily forwarded to a phone via SMS)? Or grabbing data from a website? There are so many possibilities for projects that connect to the Internet to get data, now there's an easy way to do it with an Arduino. This shield kit allows you to add and use an XPort or XPort direct(+) Ethernet module (not included) using any 4 pins. All of the TCP/IP stack awfulness is done for you in the module so its super easy to just connect to any server. The kit does not include an Ethernet module!

GPS Shield and data logger kit
Price: $19.50
Buy: adafruit - Link
GPS shield for Arduino kit with data-logging capability. After building this easy kit, you can create your own geo-locative project.
Features:
- This shield is designed to make GPS projects straight-forward and easy. Plug in a supported GPS module and run any of the example Arduino sketches for parsing GPS data (NMEA sentences), logging to a FAT16-formatted SD flash memory card and storing analog sensor data along with precise location, date and time in CSV format.- The shield is designed specifically for use with the EM-406a module: the small surface-mount GPS connector is pre-soldered for you. (It is a high-quality engine with quick time-to-fix and excellent reception, even in downtown New York City!) It can also be used with a Tyco A1035D, EB-85A or Lassen IQ module. GPS module, Arduino, and SD memory card are not included.- The examples work fine on ATmega168-based Arduino (or compatible). Run-time is approximately 3 hours with a 9V battery and up to 12 hours using a MintyBoost, assuming no power-saving features are enabled.

Sanguino Breakout Shield
Price: $15.00
Buy: rrrf.org - Link
This is a kit of the Sanguino Breakout Shield board. It is primarily intended as a shield for existing Sanguino boards, but we've also included the footprint for a full Sanguino on the PCB as well. Its up to you as the builder to decide what shape the board should take: You can build it as a single board with an integrated Sanguino, or you can add headers that allow you to plug an existing Sanguino into the board. its your choice!

Doublewide ExtenderShield kit
Price: $18.33
Buy: liquidware - Link
The shield-lover's shield! Liquidware's extension add-on provides more room for attaching multiple shields - also available in a double-tall format.
Features:
- 4.2in tall x 2.7in wide
- 108mm tall x 69mm wide
- Arduino replicated mounting holes
- Arduino replicated plated through-holes
- Solderable dev area

TouchShield kit
Price: $139.63
Buy: liquidware - Link
This high-end kit enhances Arduino's capabilities with a touch-sensitive OLED screen and built-in memory for graphics storage and more.
Features include:
- 262K Colors
- Touch Screen
- Powered from the Arduino's 5 VDC pins
- Only Uses Arduino Pins: 2 and 3
- Holds 60 Full Screen Images
- Compatible with Arduino Environment
- Arduino Graphics Core Ready to Go
- Draw Shapes, Pixels, Colors, Graphs, Buttons and More directly from the Arduino IDE

Arduino Ethernet Shield
Price: $45.00
Buy: fungizmos - Link
The official ethernet offering from the Arduino development team, utilizing a WizNet w5100 chip.

Arduino extras - Hardware add-ons & other items designed for use with Arduino

Getting Started with Arduino
Price: $12.99
Buy: Maker Store - Link
The perfect companion to your first Arduino, this valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for projects and helps you get going on them right away. Written by Massimo Banzi, co-founder of the Arduino Project.
Covering topics such as:
- Interaction design and physical computing
- The Arduino hardware and software development environment
- Basics of electricity and electronics
- Prototyping on a solderless breadboard
- Drawing a schematic diagram

BlinkM-Smart LED
Price: $12.95
Buy: Maker Store - Link
Have you wanted an LED that can fade from deep red to bright purple? Flash like a police light? Turn on with the subtle fade of an incandescent bulb? Flicker like a candle? That's BlinkM.
We've attached an ultra bright wide-angle RGB LED to a microcontroller. Using BlinkM Sequencer, our software that fuses a color picker with a drum machine, you program BlinkM to be any color, and blink and fade in virtually any pattern.
When you've programmed your BlinkM, you unplug it and pop it into your project. Apply 5 volts, and it does its thing, whether that's glowing your favorite pinkish purple, or pulse like an old neon light.

Open Heart kit
Price: $18.00
Buy: Maker Store - Link
The Open Heart is an LED matrix of individually addressable LEDs. It can be used to create a brooch or bag light with highly customizable animations. It can be configured so that you can temporarily attach it to fabrics with headers that you simply push through, or you can configure it to be sewn into a project using conductive fabric for a more permanent setup. You'll need an Arduino to complete this project as well as a soldering iron and basic hand tools.
Features:
- Heart PCB
- 27 Red LEDs
- 6 Resistors
- Right angle headers
- Crimp housings with metal crimps
- 6 wire cable

Xbee adapter kit
Price: $10.00
Buy: adafruit - Link
Add wireless to your projects! This adapter board is designed to make adding wireless point-to-point or mesh networking easy. Adafruit looked at all the XBee adapter boards available and decided to design something better.
Features:
- Onboard 3.3V regulator to cleanly power your XBee, up to 250mA
- Level shifting circuitry means that its trivial to connect it to 5V circuitry such as an Arduino without risk of damage
- Two LEDs, one for activity (RSSI), the other for power (Associate)
- 10-pin 2mm sockets included to protect the modem and allow easy swapping, upgrading or recycling
- All the commonly used pins are brought out along the edge, making it easy to breadboard or wire up
- Specifically created for use with an FTDI cable to connect to a computer via USB. This means that you can use or upgrade the adapter with a computer simply by plugging in a cable
- For use with any XBee/Pro pin-compatible module

Holiday Shipping Deadlines:

FedEx*:
Ground - Dec 15th
3-Day Saver -Dec 17th
2-Day -Dec 18th
Overnight -Dec 19th

*Customers experiences on orders with these ship methods placed after these dates may vary, the dates listed are what we call "safe dates"

USPS (Any Method):

Due to the high volume of mail that the postal service deals with around the holidays, order by Dec. 10th, however, many packages are lost or delayed in transit and we do not replace or refund any orders lost using this ship method, we strongly encourage you to not use this method in December.

Want more? Stop by the Maker Shed store and check out THE place for open source hardware, Arduino & Arduino accessories, electronic kits, science kits, smart stuff for kids, back issues of MAKE & CRAFT, box sets, books, robots, kits from Japan and more.

emuman4evr says: May 1, 2009. 6:13 PM
What are the purpose of the Arduino shields? If I wanted to make a remote operated robot, would I need one?
computergeek in reply to emuman4evrMay 1, 2009. 6:55 PM
Arduino Shields make it easier to add functionality to an arduino. You don't really need any shields to make a robot. I made one a while back with servos modified for continuous rotation for move movement. A ProtoShield would have been nice, but I didn't need it. I hope that makes sense.
shyguy567 in reply to computergeekMay 1, 2009. 7:34 PM
How many servos can you fit on an arduino?
computergeek in reply to shyguy567May 2, 2009. 7:18 AM
With the Arduino Duemilanove 6. With the Arduino Mega 14. With any arduino you need PWM to run servos.
shyguy567 in reply to computergeekMay 2, 2009. 2:41 PM
6 would be perfect. Would it still be 6 after the Waveshield Kit? Also what is PWM?
computergeek in reply to shyguy567May 3, 2009. 8:54 AM
I don't know. PMW is Pulse Width Modulation. PMW allows you to control the amount of power coming from the pin.
shyguy567 in reply to computergeekMay 3, 2009. 9:03 AM
I remembered that later, but what additional component is necessary to control the power?
computergeek in reply to shyguy567May 3, 2009. 1:16 PM
Wire. To use a servo you connect the red and black lines on the servo to the +5 and ground pins on the arduino and the signal (yellow or white) to a PWM pin or the arduino. Then use the code: analogWrite(servoPin, speed); to control the speed forward and backward. That's good for continuous rotation servos. For moving the servo to a Specific spot look at the Sweep example code.
shyguy567 in reply to computergeekMay 12, 2009. 8:31 PM
That double board extension. How does that work? Could I actually control two boards with one arduino. I want to control the protoboard and the Waveshield. The waveshield I need to change some pins for to get more servos to fit. Do the current shields fit on the MEGA?
computergeek in reply to shyguy567May 12, 2009. 9:05 PM
I am pretty sure that the current boards work with the arduino MEGA. For the rest that's beyond what I know. I THINK the waveshield only uses 5 Digital IO pins, But don't take my word for it. I hope that helps.
daltore in reply to computergeekNov 29, 2009. 6:09 PM
Actually, you can almost connect as many servos as you have pins.  These two quotes are from the actual Arduino source code (under hardware/libraries/Servo/Servo.cpp and hardware/cores/arduino/wiring_digital.c, respectively):

"Timers are seized as needed in groups of 12 servos - 24 servos use two timers, 48 servos will use four."

"static inline void turnOffPWM(uint8_t timer)
{
    if (timer == TIMER1A) cbi(TCCR1A, COM1A1);
    if (timer == TIMER1B) cbi(TCCR1A, COM1B1);

#if defined(__AVR_ATmega8__)
    if (timer == TIMER2) cbi(TCCR2, COM21);
#else
    if (timer == TIMER0A) cbi(TCCR0A, COM0A1);
    if (timer == TIMER0B) cbi(TCCR0A, COM0B1);
    if (timer == TIMER2A) cbi(TCCR2A, COM2A1);
    if (timer == TIMER2B) cbi(TCCR2A, COM2B1);
#endif

#if defined(__AVR_ATmega1280__)
    if (timer == TIMER3A) cbi(TCCR3A, COM3A1);
    if (timer == TIMER3B) cbi(TCCR3A, COM3B1);
    if (timer == TIMER3C) cbi(TCCR3A, COM3C1);
    if (timer == TIMER4A) cbi(TCCR4A, COM4A1);
    if (timer == TIMER4B) cbi(TCCR4A, COM4B1);
    if (timer == TIMER4C) cbi(TCCR4A, COM4C1);
    if (timer == TIMER5A) cbi(TCCR5A, COM5A1);
    if (timer == TIMER5B) cbi(TCCR5A, COM5B1);
    if (timer == TIMER5C) cbi(TCCR5A, COM5C1);
#endif
}"

Basically this shows that all Arduino-compatible controllers have at least 1 timer (pretty obvious).  If you have an ATmega8-based controller, you will have 3 timers:  TIMER0, TIMER1, and TIMER2.  For the Arduino Mega (using the ATmega1280) you have 4 timers (1, 3, 4, 5).  The A, B, and C, I believe are used for different things, so you still only have access to one timer.  This means you can attach a servo to any pin, but you have a limit of 12 on the Arduinos based around the ATmega168 and -328, a limit of 36 on the Arduinos based on the ATmega8, and a limit of 48 on the Arduinos based on the ATmega1280.

The extender shield:  Yes, you can control both boards with one Arduino.  All of the pins are connected in parallel to the corresponding pin on the other board (digital pin 1's are connected, analog pin 5 is connected, etc.).

You actually don't need the extender shield (necessarily) to control two shields.  It's really only for if you have 2 sheilds that you need access to (like if you have a Dangershield and a Touchshield) so that they're both "on top".  However, as long as the Waveshield is skinny enough (I believe it is), you can stack the Protoshield right on top of it.  The Waveshield has everything you need to access on the side (the audio port, the SD/MMC card slot, and the volume knob are all controllable from the side), so you can set the Protoshield right on top of it.  However, the Waveshield comes with single-length male headers, so you would have to buy stackable female headers to push the ports through (SparkFun).  However, the Protoshield comes with these stackable headers, so if you're using the Protoshield for somethign that's skinny enough and that you don't need access to while it's running, you can just put the Protoshield right on top of the Arduino, and stack the Waveshield on top of it.

While using the Waveshield on either the extender board or stacking, you will not really be able to use the 5 pins that the Waveshield uses.  You can still use the shared power and ground, but the 5 pins that the Waveshield uses to communicate with the Arduino can only be read by the Protoshield, you will not be able to write to those pins without messing up the communcation between the Waveshield and Arduino.  Usually, this is fine, because you have several more pins.

Yes, the Mega is in general compatible with Arduino shields.  They make sure to put that point out there on the spec sheet for it.  I'm not sure what it isn't compatible with, but if you have a really specialized shield that relies on the specific configuration of a specific type of Arduino, it won't work on the Mega.  But in general, anything that will work on the Duemilanove will work on the Mega.

taterkiller says: Nov 19, 2009. 7:22 PM
i want to put a remote activated coilgun on top of my roboreptile
which Arduino(s) should i use i want one similar to this: http://www.evosapien.com/robosapien-hack/marcus/html/coilosapien.html
chyy0906diy says: Aug 29, 2009. 8:43 PM
Good use
albylovesscience says: Aug 6, 2009. 3:20 AM
i am going to get one of these but im 14 so i have to pay more to buy stamps the money order and envelope DAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
shyguy567 says: May 1, 2009. 7:28 PM
Ok ,so this is probably a really basic question, but with the DoubleWide extender shield is that just using one Arduino? How could you put two different inputs in the same slot if it's one Arduino?
ReCreate says: Mar 25, 2009. 6:19 PM
ouch,expensive i will probably ask for it for Christmas(things that geeks ask for...)
theformatter says: Mar 2, 2009. 8:13 PM
arrrrgggg - you hooked me! I've been contemplating getting into these for a while and you convinced me to plunk down me coins. My Duemilanove arrived today and I'm already planning a late night session to get the hang of this thang. Muchos Gracias! I see a lot of possibilities for these, first up is a plan to replace my failing sprinkler control system with an ethernet connected controller. The possibilities are endless....... Jim
ctin says: Dec 5, 2008. 11:58 AM
In Romania is any Arduino shop or something?
me in reply to ctinDec 6, 2008. 7:28 AM
this link will guide you to the arduino site and it has a list of all the distributors
ctin in reply to meDec 6, 2008. 10:22 AM
THX but Romania is not in there. THX again maybe this summer i`ll buy from Bulgaria...
Rob K says: Dec 4, 2008. 9:56 PM
looks like a good list. I want that starter kit. One question I have been thinking about the Arduino. If you program it for something specific do you need the full board or just the chip? Like if it was going to be used as clock or for LEDs.
pt (author) in reply to Rob KDec 5, 2008. 9:03 AM
if you're just starting out - i think a full board is the best bet - but you can look at all the schematics, parts, list, etc and depending on your project get by with less and putting it on a peff board.
Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

PDF Downloads
As a Pro member, you will gain access to download any Instructable in the PDF format. You also have the ability to customize your PDF download.

Upgrade to Pro today!