adafruit arduino selection guide

7/28/2019 Adafruit Arduino Selection Guide

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Adafruit Arduino Selection Guide

Created by Bill Earl


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Guide Contents

Guide Contents

Selecting an Arduino

Your first Arduino?Looking for an upgrade?

Wrapping it up!

By the numbers

Getting Started

For Real Beginners:

For Programmers:

For the Electronics Tinkerer:

For Everyone:

Bigger and Better Projects

Time for an Upgrade?

More Pins!

More Connectivity!

More Memory!

More Speed!

Big Ideas in Small Packages

Keep it Small!

Not Too Tall!

Integrate!

Wear it with Pride!

Arduino Comparison Chart

Adafruit Industries http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-selection-guide Page 2 of 17


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Selecting an Arduino

So many Arduinos, so little time...

There are many different Arduino and Arduino Compatible microcontroller boards. Which one isright for your needs? This guide will help you to select a board that best fits your projectrequirements and/or level of expertise. Whether you are just learning the ropes or havespecific project requirements in mind, the Adafruit Arduino Selection Guide can help you tomake the right choice.

Your first Arduino?

If you are new to Arduinos, the "GettingStarted" page will help you select theright board, an get you set you up withthe accessories you need to get goingwith your new Arduino.

http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6312


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Looking for an upgrade?

If you are looking to step up to anArduino with more memory, pins orhorsepower, head straight to the "Biggerand Better Projects" page.

Wrapping it up!

So you have tested and debugged yourproject on the breadboard and arewondering how to package it nicely.Maybe even make it portable orwearable. In that case, head over to the"Big Ideas in Small Packages" page.

By the numbers

If you know exactly what you need andjust want to know which boards have it,check out our handy Arduino ComparisonChart.

http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6316http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6315http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6314


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No Arduinos were harmed in the making of this guide.



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Getting Started

If you are just getting started with the Arduino, congratulations and welcome to the world ofmicrocontrollers and electronics!

For most people getting started with the Arduino, the Arduino UNO is an excellent choice for anumber of reasons:

The UNO is the best documented and best supported of the Arduinos - if not the bestdocumented and best supported microcontroller development board in the world. Seriously!There are hundreds of books, forums and blogs full of helpful Arduino information and project



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ideas. Almost all of this information is specifically about or applicable to the UNO.

At Adafruit alone, in addition to our helpful support forums, we have dozens oftutorials.These include the outstanding Arduino Lesson (http://adafru.it/c50) series by Dr. SimonMonk (http://adafru.it/1019). As well as product tutorials (http://adafru.it/c51) for almost all ofour Arduino compatible products.

The UNO is also the most compatible of all the Arduinos. Almost all existing Arduino

libraries and shields are compatible with the UNO. And the UNO will run just about all of thecode that has been written for earlier versions of the Arduino such as the Duemilanove andDiecimila. When you start to branch out into more ambitious projects and interface to moredifferent devices, compatibility is an important consideration.

For Real Beginners:

If you are new to both electronics andprogramming, you should consider oneof our starter kits. These kits all includean Arduino Uno and a selection of

accessories and electronic componentsto get you going.

The Adafruit Budget StarterPack (http://adafru.it/193) contains theprocessor, USB cable, a breadboard andsome basic components.

The full Adafruit StarterPack (http://adafru.it/68) adds a powersupply and a proto-shield kit so you canmake your circuits permanent after youdebug them on the breadboard.

The Arduino StarterKit (http://adafru.it/1078) comes directfrom the Arduino team and includessupplies to build some fun andinteresting projects. The starter kit hasbeen developed together with a seriesoften video tutorials hosted by Arduinoco-founder MassimoBanzi (http://adafru.it/c52). Read moreabout the kit onArduino.cc (http://adafru.it/c53)

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoStarterKithttp://www.youtube.com/rswwwchannelhttp://www.adafruit.com/products/1078http://www.adafruit.com/products/68http://www.adafruit.com/products/193http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6323http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6322http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6321http://learn.adafruit.com/category/learn-arduinohttps://www.adafruit.com/products/1019http://learn.adafruit.com/search?q=simon+monk


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For Programmers:

If you have some programmingexperience and want to get your feet wetwith electronics, any of the Adafruitstarter kits mentioned above will giveyou a good selection of parts to startwith.

For the Electronics Tinkerer:

So you know your electronics and wantto try your had at programming? Youprobably have a good selection ofcommon components already, so a bareUno (http://adafru.it/50)might be a goodplace to start. You may also want to pickup a power supply (http://adafru.it/63)and a USB cable (http://adafru.it/62).

You are no doubt already handy with a

soldering iron, so you may also want toconsider building yourself an ArduinoCompatible Menta (http://adafru.it/795).For this you will need an FTDICable (http://adafru.it/70) instead of thestandard USB cable.

For Everyone:

Congratulations on getting started and

don't forget to reward your new skillswith an ArduinoBadge! (http://adafru.it/1300)

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1300http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6328https://www.adafruit.com/products/70https://www.adafruit.com/products/795http://www.adafruit.com/products/62http://www.adafruit.com/products/63http://www.adafruit.com/products/50http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6327http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6326http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6325http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6324


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Bigger and Better Projects

Time for an Upgrade?

So your project has outgrown the Uno and you need something more. There are many optionsfor expansion: There are many Arduino boards with more pins, more memory, moreconnectivity and/or more computing power compared to the Uno.

But first keep in mind that moving to a processor with more capabilities than the Uno's Atmega328P comes with some trade-offs in compatibility. Although many of these boards haveheaders that are laid out to accept standard Arduino shields, the pinouts of all these boards aresomewhat different.

SPI, i2c, PWM and Pin change interrupts are on different pins from a standard Arduino. In additionto all that, the Due runs at 3.3v, and many libraries have not yet been ported to support the



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Due's ARM processor.

So use this guide to help you select a board that will take your project to the next level. But beaware that it may not be 100% "Plug & Play".

More Pins!

Stepping up to an ArduinoMega (http://adafru.it/191) gives you 40extra digital pins and 10 moreanalog input pins.

he Arduino MegaADK (http://adafru.it/563) also adds aUSB port designed for integrating withAndroid devices.

The Arduino Due (http://adafru.it/1076)gives you 40 extra digital pins, 6

extra analog input pins and 2analog output pins.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1076https://www.adafruit.com/products/563https://www.adafruit.com/products/191http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6332http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6331http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6330


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More Connectivity!

The ArduinoEthernet (http://adafru.it/418) is thesimplest way to make your project partof the Internet of Things. As a bonus,it comes with a built-in SD card.

The Megas and the Due mentionedabove all have 4 hardware serialports for efficient communication withserial devices.

The Due, Leonardo (http://adafru.it/849),Micro (http://adafru.it/1086)andFlora (http://adafru.it/659) all havenative USB capabilities, so they canemulate keyboards, mice etc.

The Due also supports the CAN bus -popular for automotive applications.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/659https://www.adafruit.com/products/1086https://www.adafruit.com/products/849https://www.adafruit.com/products/418http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6348http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6337http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6336http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6335http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6334


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More Memory!

Having trouble fitting your code intoFlash? Is you sketch crashing from lack ofSRAM?

Either of the Megas will give you 8X the

Flash and 4X the SRAM.

A Due has 16X the Flash and 48X theSRAM compared to an Arduino Uno!

More Speed!

Almost all the Arduinos are based on 8-bit microcontrollers running at 16MHz.The Megas have more pins and memory,but they won't make your code run anyfaster.

The Arduino Due is based on a 32-bitARM processor running at 84MHz. TheDue is the clear winner in the speeddepartment.

http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6342http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6358http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6341http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6340


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Big Ideas in Small Packages

So you want to make your project a bit less bulky or need to fit it into a confined space -maybe even make it wearable. There are many great options for embeddable or wearableArduino projects.



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Keep it Small!

The DC Boardino (http://adafru.it/72) andUSB Boarduino (http://adafru.it/91) arethe most Uno Compatible options. Theyare about 1/3 the size of an Uno but usesthe same Atmega 328P processor. YourUno sketches should run without change.

The Boarduinos can be built withoutsockets or headers for a lower profile.The DC version can be made even morecompact by eliminating the voltageregulator section of the board if youalready have a regulated 5v supply.

The Flora (http://adafru.it/659)is bothsmall and thin! It uses the sameprocessor as the Leonardo, but takes upless than half the area.

The smallest of all is theMicro (http://adafru.it/1086). This is about2/3 the size of the Boarduino and alsouses the 32U4. Your Leonardo projectsshould easily port to the Flora or Micro.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1086https://www.adafruit.com/products/659https://www.adafruit.com/products/91https://www.adafruit.com/products/72http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6349http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6345


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Wear it with Pride!

While many of these compactprocessors could be worked into aproject you could wear. TheFlora (http://adafru.it/659) is specificallydesigned for wearable projects.

In addition to the thin profile andsewable connections, theseprocessors are designed with roundedshapes that are fabric friendly with noprotruding pins or sharp edges to snagon fabrics.

With their attractive appearance andselection of similarly styled Floraperipherals (http://adafru.it/c54), theseare the boards to go to when you want towear your microprocessor on yoursleeve.

The Flora is based on the Atmega 32U4processor, so it is largely LeonardoCompatible.

https://www.adafruit.com/category/92https://www.adafruit.com/products/659http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6356http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6355http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6354http://learn.adafruit.com/assets/6347


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Arduino Comparison Chart

The following table compares the basic features of the various Arduinos and ArduinoCompatibles mentioned in this guide. (click for a larger view).

*On the 32U4 processors there is some overlap between the Analog Input and Digital I/Opins, so the total number of I/O pins will be less than the sum of the two.

For some very nicely done pinout charts of several of these Arduino boards, go to:

http://www.pighixxx.com/arduino/ (http://adafru.it/c5j)

Adafruit Industries Last Updated: 2013-03-30 12:15:54 AM EDT Page 17 of 17
http://www.pighixxx.com/arduino/

adafruit arduino selection guide

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