As a kid, I always wanted one of those huge 100-in-1 kits and I remember I did get a cheaper 15-in-1 or something one christmas that had little springs sticking up out of a grey, plastic, preformed board. Since then I've seen the advent of microcontrollers and microprocessors (I remember my father having programmable EPROMS that were erased when exposed to light)and wanted very much to somehow learn more without going back to school. I'm so glad I finally found NerdKits!

I've just completed the first project of simply getting the contratulatory message and it was so much fun! I learned a lot and I now have this burning to learn more. I've got all these ideas popping up in my head and I'm compelled to get a book on C and dive in head first. Thanks for making such a wonderful product, I'm sure I will be in the forums quite a bit in the future with questions, but until then I just wanted to extend my gratitude. Cheers!

-Ted

Glad you are enjoying the new adventure. Welcome to the forums. By all means don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have. There are several people here with all levels of skill and all age groups. Remember the only bad question is the one not asked.

Rick

I've been documenting my journey with the NerdKit on my FaceBook page. It's viewable by anyone, here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32585&id=1183803530

I'm having SO much fun learning, I've already grabbed a few books: Art of Electronics, C Programming for the AVR, Introduction to Microprocessors and Microcontrollers, Programming And Customizing The AVR Microcontroller, just to name a few! I can't remember the last time I've truly thirsted for knowledge this badly. It reminds me of a story told about Plato seeking knowledge of Socrates, he asked him many times about the meaning of life. Socrates led him into the water and suddenly grabbed him holding him under. After awhile he let him up and Plato thinking him crazy asked why he had done such a thing, Socrates answered, "I don't know the answer to your question, 'What is the meaning of my life?', but I do know, when you want the answer as badly as you wanted your next breath a few minutes ago, I know you will find it."

I am driving my wife crazy talking about this new toy she bought me. Hell, I even taught her a little about binary today because she asked me what I was doing when I was thinking aloud while trying to figure out my age in binary (100110) LOL!

Thanks again NerdKits for opening my eyes to a whole new bailiwick.

Ted

Ted,

I was wondering how the book C Programming for the AVR is. I've looked at smiley's website and even downloaded all his code and workshops. Knowing the fundamentals of the C language is my weakest link. Does that book do a good job of teaching? Is it a real basic beginners book, and intermediate book, or advanced? I'm looking for a book that would start at basics but quickly get into more intermediate topics, then maybe at the end cover some advanced topics.

Based on the library you have, what would you consider the best programming book?

Thanks,

Rick

C Programming for the AVR is based upon the AVR Butterfly (of which I'm thinking of picking one up), so I havent' really done more than leaf through it. The two books I'm enjoying the most right now are Introduction to Microprocessors and Microcontrllers by John Crisp. It is providing me a high level background of microprocessor and microcontroller architecture that I didn't have. Also, the book Programming And Customizing The AVR Microcontroller by Dhananjay V. Gadre has been very intersting with it's deeper investigation into the AVR architecture and it aso contains 10 projects that should apply directly to the NerdKit without much modification. This book also gets a little bit into programming the AVR with assembly.

I'll let you know more about the first book if I do happen to pick up a Butterfly and start on those projects.

Ted

I have a butterfly without the book... That's why I was curious about it. I'll look into the books you mentioned. The second one sounds especially interesting.

Rick

I just purchased the Butterfly yesterday from Mouser. Also got a strip of male and female headers from Sparkfun and a beginner's soldering kit. It comes with sort of a cheap iron, but the reviews on the site give it a pretty good rating. I am watching a bunch of eBay auctions though, because I want a light blue Weller station like my dad always had when I was growing up. All the stuff should arrive by Friday so I'll probably delve a little bit into the book from Smiley, but I guess that depends on how much moving we get done this weekend. We just found a bigger house and have the next two weekends to get moved. Oh, and I also purchased this huge grab bag of random LEDs. http://bit.ly/4ZUr3h plus purchased some SMD ones from the same seller to play with.

Speaking of the new house, I think the NerdKits forum will appreciate this: The feature that sold me the most on the new place was the huge built-in workbench in the garage with a storage cabinet behind it. I'll post a pic once I get moved in and have the workbench area all set up with gear!

Ted