What exactly is Arduino?

“Arduino” is a platform to build up electronic systems. May be simple automated or embedded systems too. I will give you a simple example. If I want to light some LED or LED light strip to a pattern, I can use an Arduino board with Arduino software, do some Arduino coding and wiring, then make any pattern with LED bulbs. That is just a simple use of Arduino. There are lots of more interesting things to do with it. From this article, we are just going to be familiar with the Arduino platform, the IDE, Arduino Offline Simulator, and the best Arduino online simulator.

Is Arduino easy to learn?

Of course. You are so going to love Arduino after start learning. You will find so many simple Arduino projects for beginners on the internet.

What do I need to have before start learning Arduino?

You should have an Arduino Development Board. There are several types of Arduino boards,  and we will discuss them later. You should buy other equipment related to your project. (In my example, I need LED bulbs, jumper wires) Other than that, you have to download the Arduino software, a Free and Open Source (FOSS) software to write the Arduino code. Also, you have to learn the basics of the C++ programming language.

Let’s talk more about the above things...

Types of Arduino boards

Arduino comes with several types of boards. We can list some of them as follows.

1. Arduino Uno
2. Arduino Mega
3. Arduino Nano
4. Arduino Micro
5.  Arduino Mini
6. Arduino Pro Mini
7. Arduino Leonardo
8. Arduino Due

These are having different sizes and different specifications. For example, Arduino Nano, Mini, Pro Mini are small Arduino boards and Uno is considerably larger than them. However, still, the most popular Arduino board is Arduino Uno, the best Arduino for beginners.

Price of an Arduino board in Sri Lanka?

Somewhere around LKR 1000

Arduino Software

You can download the Arduino software or the Arduino IDE for FREE from the Arduino website. Click here to download Arduino software. (Please select the operating system in your device to start downloading).

Arduino Coding

As I mentioned before, you should have some C++ knowledge because Arduino coding is done in the C++ language. No need to learn in deep, but you have to learn how to write a program in C++ for your project.

Arduino Online Simulator

Can we practice Arduino without buying at all? Why not! We have got several Arduino simulators online and offline. So far, anyone can guess the best Arduino online simulator is TINKERCAD. It is a free platform, gives a real-world experience of Arduino with nice user-friendly interfaces. Go to Tinkercad now!

Arduino Offline Simulator

Want to simulate Arduino projects offline? It is totally possible with PROTEUS software, which is an offline circuit simulator, and a PCB design software. This is a somewhat more complex and less user-friendly platform than Tinkercad. Click here for more about Proteus Software.

(Proteus is not just an Arduino Simulator. You can simulate circuits with almost all the microcontrollers. To simulate Arduino projects, you should select the microcontroller of the Arduino board. Probably starts with ATmega. eg., ATmega 328P)

Hope you got the basic idea of Arduino and enjoyed reading it. Let’s talk about the process and components of the Arduino board later. See you again with another informative and interesting topic. Put a comment or contact us for any clarification or support. We are more than happy to help you!