Arduino
Buy an Arduino
What is Arduino? Why do you need an Arduino board? What are the advantages?
Arduino boards are equipped with a microcontroller, which can be programmed easily. The pins of this microcontroller (for example digital inputs and outputs, and analogue inputs) are connected to headers, where users can connect other electronics without soldering. Connect buttons, potentiometers, LEDs, sensors, motors, displays and many other components and modules to come very fast and easily to a prototype of the project you have in mind!
The software for the microcontroller can be developed with a program on your PC, called IDE. Even for beginners, the IDE is easy to understand, and so are the commands you can use to control your inputs and outputs. For many sensors and other accessory there are powerful software libraries and examples you can use. Just connect your Arduino board to the PC via USB, write your commands, compile and send your software to the board with one mouse click, and see what is happening. In short: it was never before so easy to come to a microcontroller project, which includes hardware and software!
The first Arduino boards were developed around 2005 by a crew of programming enthusiasts who needed cheap and simple boards for educational purpose. Because programming was so easy, Arduino became very popular amongst artists and makers. The years after, more and more boards were developed, some with quite cheap 8-bit microcontrollers, some with more powerful ones, and with different functions on the board such as Wi-Fi or an Ethernet interface. Additionally a very large amount of add-on-boards were developed, called shields, extending the functionality.
Arduino Boards and the Arduino IDE are often used by the Elektor Lab and external authors of Elektor articles and books, to come to a microcontroller project, or for educational purpose.
What do we offer (our range)?
In addition to a lot of the current available Arduino boards, Elektor offers official Arduino accessories and a selection of dedicated and tested third-party products, as shields (add-on-boards) and accessories. We are also selling kits and bundles, e.g. Arduino boards combined with a book.
Buying a Arduino board: what can you do with it?
What makes Arduino boards so special? These boards are cheap, compact and power-saving, there are even robust variants for industrial purpose. The boards are very versatile, and there is a huge amount of shields (add-on boards) and accessory modules to enhance the functions. All the connections can be done without soldering. Programming the Arduino program (called sketch) is very easy, there are a lot of libraries and examples and quite good documentation. Projects as weather stations, CO2-sensors, simple robots, audio players and many, many more are easy to implement.
What accessories are available? What are they used for? What can you do with them?
Buying an Arduino board is just the first step. There are many shields (add-on boards, for example for motor control and lighting) and accessory modules (e.g. sensors) to enhance the functions. Displays, power supplies, housings, wires, … there is a wide variety of maker-friendly accessories available. Additionally, there are many books about Arduino.
Why should you buy Arduino from Elektor?
Elektor is an authorized Arduino distributor. We purchase Arduino directly from the manufacturer in Italy and not through distribution channels.
More Info about Arduino
