So I’m working on a project involving a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a camera and stuff.
I need some switches, maybe a couple LEDs and such. Want some extra for future stuff.* Also complicated enough I’m going to breadboard it first. So I look at kits of such stuff off Amazon. I pick this Elegoo one since it throws in an Uno R3 for a couple bucks more.
So, I’m staring at the thing. Now what?
I’ve been tinkering with electronics since I was quite small. I’ve done component level stuff, simple kits and stuff connected to things at the level of a Raspberry Pi.
But this thing is so “in between”. Too simple to do the kind of programming I’m used to with Pis. Too complex to just connect up some stuff and fire it up.
So, what’s a good, simple starter project for this? And if I learn to do the basics, then what?
Anybody done anything interesting with something like this?
But it comes with too many extra resistors. I already have a lot of these.
If you like gardening, you can use it to measure soil moisture levels, or other environmental ‘stuff’ using sensors. Can make an LED display, or an alarm clock that plays music.
I’ve been looking around a bit. Almost everything seems to fall into two categories: stuff like the above that requires extra components (which I don’t want to get into until I see what’s what about this) or is so simple that I could just wire up a similar thing on my own without the R3. E.g., I can do a flashing LED thing and such sans R3.
But I did come across quite a few pages on doing an oscilloscope. No other real components needed. But the ones I looked at curiously leave out the max frequency that can be tracked. Given the 16Mhz clock speed and the slowness of standard I/O operations it can’t be all that amazing.
And some show how to combine the R3 with a Pi to get a small, portable unit. (I already have a Pi 3 with a 5" touch screen.)
So I’ll add that to my nerd to-do list. Currently slotted in as fourth in line.