---duino UNO OR MEGA

[ChrisGreece52]

Hello i wanted to get into arduino projects and i thought i would like to start with a cheap one but i am confused ..... UNO or Mega?

See what i found http://www.ebay.com/itm/110956290155 Funduino Board (pretty cheap and i think good for me) ATMEGA2560

And the ARDUINO UNO http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-1PCS-UNO-2011-version-ATMEGA328P-PU-ATMEGA8U2-USB-Cable-/150917501546?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232362526a ATMEGA328

Also i found the NANO one here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Redesign-Pro-Mini-atmega328-5V-16M-Replace-ATmega128-Arduino-Compatible-Nano-/310562519074?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item484ef7f822

Seems Pretty Good

So Quesitons:
1st Which of the three boards will be the best for a beginner and for more complicated projects at the future
2nd Which is the best (I know that MEGA has the best capacity and the best features but i would like to know if the is any disadvantages with the MEGA one)
3rd If i but one shall i buy the original Arduino Or any other -duino board (i thought since it is a open source hardware every -duino board will work as well as the original one)

Also if i get one i would like to  know how to program it and it would be helpful if you helped me at this later

Thank you.

[kizzap]

What you should get really depends on the level of electronics knowledge that you have.

If you have zero or close to zero, go for the Uno. It is the best for a beginner as it will have the most community support, and the majority of add-ons/shields i have seen are based on using the Uno. added to that it is versatile and can still be used as you learn more.

If you have a little more experience, go the Mega. Don't quote me but I think it can still hold add-on boards, and has the advantage that it has extra IOs, whish is useful for bigger projects.

If you have a fair amount of experience, the nano can be good, as you can solder headers on it and just plug it into a breadboard and go from there.

As you learn more, you will find that your needs will change, and one board won't fulfil your needs.

As for the branding, it really shouldn't matter, but if you go a genuine arduino you should have less chance of there being any niggles or faults on the board.

Programming is the fun part, and will take a lot of reading to understand it. If you have questions, you would probably be best served asking in the Arduino forums.

[bitwelder]

In short, I would suggest you to get an original Arduino Uno, for the reasons already explained by kizzap.
- Get an Uno, as it's the most popular, supported, etc. and you'll learn to fully use its hardware before to jumping to the bigger Mega.
- Get the original one, so you can also contribute back to the development of new Arduino OSHW projects.

BTW, here is Bunnie's report from a visit to Arduino factories, from his blog: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=2407

[ChrisGreece52]

What you should get really depends on the level of electronics knowledge that you have.

If you have zero or close to zero, go for the Uno. It is the best for a beginner as it will have the most community support, and the majority of add-ons/shields i have seen are based on using the Uno. added to that it is versatile and can still be used as you learn more.

If you have a little more experience, go the Mega. Don't quote me but I think it can still hold add-on boards, and has the advantage that it has extra IOs, whish is useful for bigger projects.

If you have a fair amount of experience, the nano can be good, as you can solder headers on it and just plug it into a breadboard and go from there.

As you learn more, you will find that your needs will change, and one board won't fulfil your needs.

As for the branding, it really shouldn't matter, but if you go a genuine arduino you should have less chance of there being any niggles or faults on the board.

Programming is the fun part, and will take a lot of reading to understand it. If you have questions, you would probably be best served asking in the Arduino forums.

Thanks for your answer i think that i have a quite fair amount of electronics expeirience (not osciloscopes and stuff but i can make a decent 555 timer chip circuit or an LM386 circuit so i think that i could handle the Nano (at least the soldering point) but i am not sure about the memory part. Its small so i thought that the mega will be fine if i connect the pins will the breadboard i could use it as the nano but with more available pins.What you say?

[ChrisGreece52]

In short, I would suggest you to get an original Arduino Uno, for the reasons already explained by kizzap.
- Get an Uno, as it's the most popular, supported, etc. and you'll learn to fully use its hardware before to jumping to the bigger Mega.
- Get the original one, so you can also contribute back to the development of new Arduino OSHW projects.

BTW, here is Bunnie's report from a visit to Arduino factories, from his blog: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=2407

Thank you very much that was interesting but i am thinking that i have studied pretty well on -duino boards and i think that if i get Uno i will be replacing it quickly.So judging from the top post to i would say that with my experience i will go with the Mega.
Thank you.

[NiHaoMike]

Also take a look at Energia, which is software that makes a cheap MSP430 work similarly to Arduino.

[cwalex]

Also take a look at Energia, which is software that makes a cheap MSP430 work similarly to Arduino.

That is a great low cost choice but you don't have the advantage of all the shields available for the actual arduionos a good start wold be the UNO that way when you get more experience you can stat to make your own minimalist designs on perfoard or veroboard and then they fit in with your own projects on the same board. The arduino is really easy to make on all you just need a FTDI output usb to serail converter cable to program the sketches if you don't want to include the chip in your design.

Have fun either way

[ChrisGreece52]

Thank you but i will go with the Mega one but as for the MSP430 i really need the shields but anyway thank you.

[cwalex]

I just had a look at the arduino website and I found a board called arduino due. it looks like it has at lest as many pins as the mega but it uses an ARM core instead of the atmel avr chip. It runs much faster and is 32bit vs 8bit. Only downside I can see is it runs 3.3V so you have to take that into account with shields and anything else you connect to it. Looks pretty cool!

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue

The Arduino Due is a microcontroller board based on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU (datasheet). It is the first Arduino board based on a 32-bit ARM core microcontroller. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 12 can be used as PWM outputs), 12 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 84 MHz clock, an USB OTG capable connection, 2 DAC (digital to analog), 2 TWI, a power jack, an SPI header, a JTAG header, a reset button and an erase button.

[ChrisGreece52]

I just had a look at the arduino website and I found a board called arduino due. it looks like it has at lest as many pins as the mega but it uses an ARM core instead of the atmel avr chip. It runs much faster and is 32bit vs 8bit. Only downside I can see is it runs 3.3V so you have to take that into account with shields and anything else you connect to it. Looks pretty cool!

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue

The Arduino Due is a microcontroller board based on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU (datasheet). It is the first Arduino board based on a 32-bit ARM core microcontroller. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 12 can be used as PWM outputs), 12 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 84 MHz clock, an USB OTG capable connection, 2 DAC (digital to analog), 2 TWI, a power jack, an SPI header, a JTAG header, a reset button and an erase button.

Thank you for that!!! but i think i start with something basic as the mega and then procced to due since its a lot more expencive !!!
My next board i think will be the nano or an Uno but for the Due it may be good but it is a lot more expensive.

[cwalex]

Sorry..  I didn't look at the prices.

[UPI]

I started with the Nano because, at the time, it was the smallest board that had all 8 analog inputs mapped to external pins.

I now see they have the Micro that has 12 analog pins mapped out to pins. It is based on the ATmega32u4 ($6 each) instead of the ATmega328 ($2.77 each).

The 32u4 has the USB built in and the 328 does not. So far, I have not advanced to the 32u4 because I haven't needed anything more than the 328 offers.

[ChrisGreece52]

Sorry..  I didn't look at the prices.

Well thats ok thank you anyway.

[ChrisGreece52]

I started with the Nano because, at the time, it was the smallest board that had all 8 analog inputs mapped to external pins.

I now see they have the Micro that has 12 analog pins mapped out to pins. It is based on the ATmega32u4 ($6 each) instead of the ATmega328 ($2.77 each).

The 32u4 has the USB built in and the 328 does not. So far, I have not advanced to the 32u4 because I haven't needed anything more than the 328 offers.

I loved the 32u4 leonardo i think it may be my next choise because leonardo is a good quality board.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

I don't think it matters which Arduino you start with.......that's the beauty of them!

What does matter though is the footprint and connectivity strategy you want......i.e. a Nano on pins, Uno on headers etc etc........or even the Lily Pad.

If it's general tinkering you want to do then look at the Arduino Starter Kit which comes with a bunch of components to kick off some projects for you.

Certainly I see no harm in jumping straight in with the Mega.

PS my own favourites are the Mega and the Nano........have done piles of projects using those two.

Ian.

[Ferroto]

From a programming perspective they are all the same and most code is interchangeable with minimal modifications. I'd go with the UNO with its socketed DIP package.