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Restart into electronics, philosophy

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Restart Into Electronics (and not getting lost)

So I decided to really start investing my wandering hobbitual energies into something that I had heard about back in 2009 or so while in college (see my project Let's Make Things Talk blog).  What I speak of is the Arduino project.  Well, let's just say the Arduino world ever since the opensource community embraced this wholeheartedly.  So cool to see that happen.  Personally, I've also wanted to have something worthy to communicate to the world.

Arduino micro surfboard!
Xmas gift from my brother, to add to the tool collection!  Ask and you shall receive.

The Restart for Myself

I have many interests, too many probably.  Too many hobbies, things, inventions I like to dream about.  They seem to all revolve around making and creating (the will to power).  You know that feeling of squelched passion?  I've found release in channeling that into my original love: electronics.  Hardware and software.  The lower down the better.  Huddled close, right next to the ALU is where I like to be.  How did I come to decide this?  That is a tale for another time, and a larger pen-space.  Just know this is what I love to do when it comes to working with my hands.

The Goal

My eventual goal (at the end of a long road of dev) is to create a wearable smart device/sensor that does something very specific that I feel is missing in the realm of personal fitness.  I don't want to unveil my idea just yet.  To get there, I need a few tools.  Tools such as development platforms and hardware, and a few smaller projects that will be stepping stones to my eventual goal.

Why Arduino?  Where to buy?

The Arduino platform is incredibly easy to use.  It is also extremely useful given it is based on the Atmel microcontrollers.  There is something to be said when a whole boat load of people believe in something and contribute to it.  There's got to be millions of people designing interface boards, writing C++ libraries and developing awesome little projects for this Italian-based company.  I've been buying most of my off-the-shelf Arduino supplies from Adafruit and Sparkfun, but I go with more well-known distributors for the components: Newark, Mouser and Digikey.


Once I have something worthy, and as long as I document everything along the way, I should have a prototype(s) that I can use, sell, and share with the opensource community. :)

This should be really amazing, and I can't wait to get building again!
~JWilly

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