[clug] More links from Thrusday's talk

[Peter Barker]

All,

 	People expressed interest in doing a group buy of Arduinos. 
Please email me off-list if you'd like to be part of that.  If there is 
sufficient interest, perhaps we could organise a "solder everything 
together and get some motors turning" day for bought kits.

 	People also asked me where I bought mine from.  I've only bought 
once from these guys, but they delivered stuff.  I found them on ebay :-)

 	http://www.nkcelectronics.com/arduino.html

 	The one running the cameramount 
(http://e0.net.au/~pb/home/cameraservopantilthead.html) was one of the 
"Freeduino Serial v2.0 board KIT Arduino Duemilanove Compatible" kits.

 	People also asked about the really cheap, dodgy servos.  A search 
on ebay for "servo 4 x" and restricting the category to "servo" gives 
links such as 
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-x-SG50-Mini-Micro-Servo-for-R-C-Futaba-JR-AU_W0QQitemZ220440668525QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Toys_Hobbies_Radio_Controlled_Vehicles?hash=item335349a96d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
  - which works out to ~$6.50/servo delivered.  The ones I bought were 
cheaper.

 	Yet another person asked about the $5 USB-to-serial adaptors 
we're using.  Searching for "serial adapator" on ebay and ordering by 
"price+postage,lowest first" gets: 
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/USB-to-RS232-Serial-9Pin-Cable-Adapter-PC-GPS-PDA_W0QQitemZ250451238159QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Components?hash=item3a500e9d0f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

 	Other things I didn't mention:
 		- http://arduino.cc/ is the main "go-to" site for arduino
 		- the entire platform is open-source.  The hardware layout 
(I'm using the freeduino version), the bootloader and the development 
environment are open-source.
 		- Linux doesn't run on the atemga168, but makes for a good 
development environment!

 	Just for the hell of it, here's a quick price estimate on stuff 
connected to my laptop yesterday.

$25 arduino
$ 0 second-hand 9V power supply
$ 5 prototype board
$ 5 100 prottype board wires
$ 5 USB-to-serial adaptor
$13 servos
Random components - nothing, really.

Yours,
-- 
Peter Barker                          |   Programmer,Sysadmin,Geek.
pbarker at barker.dropbear.id.au	      |   You need a bigger hammer.
:: It's a hack! Expect underscores! - Nigel Williams