[Arduino Basics] 1. Whta's Arduino | Hands-on course

In this course, I’ll be using various components and tools.
For those who find it a hassle to gather everything one by one,
I’ve put together a list of all the necessary items and their links in this video.

Make sure to check that out and get everything ready while your motivation is high.
Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the course!

-Table of Contents
0:00 Course introduction
0:50 What's Arduino
1:57 Arduino abstract

-Introduction
Software engineer (Former hardware engineer)
9 years experience as a Maker

-SNS
Web: https://start-electronics.com/en/
X: https://x.com/buonoatsushi

#Electronics

-Content
First, let’s get a clear idea of what Arduino is before we start the course.

Arduino is the name of a microcontroller board, which is essentially a small computer that fits in the palm of your hand. A microcontroller board is a component that bundles a microcontroller with various convenient features into a single package. There are countless types of microcontroller boards out there, some designed for testing the microcontroller’s performance and others, like Arduino, created for educational purposes. When working on electronics projects, we mainly use the latter. Another famous microcontroller board is the Raspberry Pi.

Among the many microcontroller boards, Arduino stands out as a great starting point for electronics because it’s affordable, easy to use, and has abundant documentation. In fact, when I started with electronics 10 years ago, the first board I used was this Arduino.

Now, when we say Arduino, we’re often referring to a specific type called the Arduino Uno, which is the most standard version. In this course, we’ll be using the Arduino Uno.

Let’s take a quick look at the Arduino’s external features.

The first thing you’ll notice is the long black component on the side. This is the microcontroller, the brain of the Arduino. It’s also referred to as the CPU. The main difference between various types of microcontroller boards lies in which microcontroller they use. In the case of the Arduino Uno, it uses a model called ATmega328P made by a company called Atmel.

Next, you’ll see this black component with many small square holes. These holes act as an interface connecting the microcontroller to the outside world. Each pin is assigned one of five roles: power, ground (GND), digital pins, analog pins, or communication pins. By connecting components or wires to these holes, we can interact with the outside world. Although the pins are far apart, each one is connected to the microcontroller through copper traces inside the board.

Another notable feature is the USB port and the power jack. The USB port is used to upload programs from your computer to the Arduino and simultaneously supplies power to it. The power jack is solely for supplying power, but it can provide more current than the USB port. If you want to use components that require a higher current, like motors, you would use the power jack.

Additionally, there are small components like LEDs that indicate the communication status and a button to reset the microcontroller. All of these components make up one board.

There are also fully compatible boards that come in starter kits like the ones from ELEGOO, which have the exact same functions and features as the original Arduino boards. Since Arduino is open-source hardware, the circuit diagrams and component lists are freely available, allowing anyone to make the same thing. If a board claims to be compatible, the microcontroller and layout are identical, so you can use any of them without any issues. The programs work the same as well.

Now that you have a basic understanding of Arduino, let’s move on to the preparations!