I have decided to take the plunge into Arduino technology. I have purchased the basic Arduino kit offered by Dr. Duino and I assembled it last night. My problem is that I can’t open the testing and programming software. I have the software loaded on to my computer, but when I try to open the program I’m getting a message asking me to find the necessary software needed to open the Dr. Duino program. When I do that, I get a message that the system is not able to process my request. Has anybody else experienced this problem?
I’m going to send a message to the Dr. Duino people asking for help, but I thought I would also ask the question on the forums.
but instead of writing programs that do specific things like toggle digital outputs to turn on/off LEDs or read button switches, a single program, PcRead.ino, will save time to learn what the Arduino functions do. It uses the IDE’s serial monitor to enter commands that exercise many of the Arduino’s I/O capabilities and display input values
once you’re familiar with the Arduino functions, you can develop you own applications or add new commands to pcRead
Why? Why bother? What is it that you are trying to accomplish?
I spent the early part of my career as a computer programmer and later on used my programming skills as a financial planner. Coding is a skill that takes time to develop, debug, and perfect.
I will admit that I know little about Arduino, so I will be anxious to see how this thread develops.
I agree with Greg, take the free Arduino IDE download an go from there. Randy and Greg are the Arduino go to guys.
I started out with a $49 Arduino starter kit and sometimes confusing but if my 80+ year old brain can do it anyone can. At least half of my brain cells have gone to sleep and can’t wake up.
The main purpose of those starter kits is to get you some components and modules to get started. The Arduino IDE is what you want. It comes with examples programs (‘sketches’) for various features. The documentation for all those, including the wiring diagrams, are here:
So far I have a working three color signaling system in and working from an Arduino MEGA and 8 UNO random lighting controllers each driving 20 GoW bulbs in 8 scratch built houses.
I use the UNOs for gate controllers for my crossings. One UNO does a pair of gate controllers and a Wig-Wag.
I also use the NANOs programmed for multitasking for flashing LEDs and Bulbs, each one has 7 outputs for non synced flashing. I use them for vehicle flashing lights and aviation warning lights on water tanks and communications towers.
I’m currently working on learning how work with an Arduino and learn a little bit of C++, and here are a few things I have found helpful:
-First the Arduino website (https://www.arduino.cc/) can be quite useful. An expsially useful part I have found is the search bar in the top right. I use it often when I find a command in an example code I don’t understand, as it will pop up pages explaining all the commands. (As an example here is the page for the digitalWrite() command: https://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/language/functions/digital-io/digitalwrite/)
-Second it can be helpful to mockup things virtually, so websites like TinkerCAD (https://www.tinkercad.com/dashboard) can make it easy to test things out without dealing with the actual Arduino. The Arduino stuff in TinkerCAD is found in the circuits section. This is especially helpful for me as I have yet to buy my own Arduino.
Also about the Arduino IDE it is definitely something you’ll need to download, I don’t know how you could avoid it!
I hope you enjoy working with the Arduino! It has a lot of applications in model railroading! I’m currently using it to design a model railroad signal system as a part of school project, and it is really enjoyable!
Welll… there are other ways besides the Arduino IDE to program the boards - there is a plugin for Notepad++, there is an add on for Microsoft Visual Studio, and there is always Atmel Studio, from the maker of the various microcontrollers that are often found on various Arduino boards. Which is really just a stripped down version of Visual Studio.
The Arduino IDE is plenty good to get started with though. I just lacks some things that fancier tools have, like version control, but for a solo experimenter, you don’t really need anything more fancy than keeping copies by using changing file names or extra folders. There’s no need to worry about configuration with the official IDE, it more or less just works when you install it.
The simple goal is to be able to use the Arduino modules to perform various tasks on my new layout from things like controlling simple structure lighting and traffic lights to more complex signal and crossing light control.
The other motivator is to learn something new. I am retired. I have precious little going on in my life besides model railroading and my family life. I have dropped out of the train club for reasons I won’t repeat, so to answer your question directly, why not?
Okay, I have the Arduino software loaded onto my computer. The first step is to test the Arduino module that I have just assembled. Unfortunately the module won’t accept the test software upload. The Arduino Help section suggests a rather large variety of possible problems so I have been trying to work through those, so far with no success. I have quit for the night because I am a bit frustrated, but I will try again tomorrow.
I got a kit a while ago, but for some reason I am reluctant to learn another programming language. Did Fortran in college and some basic when PC’s came out but no longer have interest in it.
Gerry Leone did a video on MRVP where he had buildings with lights going on and off randomly and signs where the lights go on and off sequentially around the edge of the sign. You need to have a subsciption to see this
Same here. I programmed IBM computers (1401 and System 360) back in the 60s using Autocoder mainly. Eventually started programming in Basic, then finally Visual Basic. That’s enough coding for me.
The Atmel processor used on an Arduino boad has many built in peripherals including I/O, serial USART, ADC, EEPROM that make it a microcontroller rather than simply a microprocessor. It has 32k of Flash memory for program, 2k of RAM and 1k of EEPROM.
Arduinos are well suited as Bruce Chubbs C/MRI nodes that allow a network of nodes to communincate with a PC to monitor block occupancy and turnout positions and control turnouts and signal, among other things. C/MRI is supported by JMRI. Not only does this allow more sophisticated control, but saves wiring (and sanity)
programs can be written in C/C++ rather than assembler. Unlike higher level languages and Basic, C allows direct access to memory mapped I/O and RAM.
An Arduino can be re-programmed within a few seconds using a simple USB cable (an Arduino board has a separate USB interface chip)
The Arduino IDE Serial monitor displays prints and the monitor allows ascii string commands to be sent to the Arduino. This allows an arduino to be used as a physical interface while using a laptop for control
it’s just a heck of a lot easier than writing in assembler, programming EEROMs or dealing with processor specific in-circuit-programmers.
It allows control of physical devices rather than just doing inventory or spreadsheet type of stuff.
No doubt about it, greg, C++ is a powerful programming language, but like all programming languages, it comes with a steep learning curve. After I retired, I continued to program in Visual Basic for awhile to provide client analysis. But when it comes to model railroading, I view it as a total escape from the real world, so from that perspective I have no interest in Arduino. Even programming the NCE Mini Panel struck me as tedious.
Two keys with getting the Arduino IDE to be able to upload to your board. First, you need the right COM port. With no Arduino connected to your computer, whatever COM port it shows, if any, is NOT the right one. When you plug the Arduino’s USB cable in, a new COM port should appear. That will be your board. Some knockoff Arduino boards use a different USB chip that supposedly requires a driver to be installed that is not included with Windows - but on 3 different computers I never had to install anything besides the IDE (and some other stuff for advanced things which you don’t need to even think about right now).
Second, the proper board must be selected under Tools, Boards. If you have a board that is supposed to be just like the Uno, select Arduino Uno, etc. If what I’m seeing on the Dr. Duino site is what you have, it’s supposed to be an Uno.
Also- start with the basics - use the Arduino (the one pictured on the site is a blue PCB) disconnected from that red board with all the extra connections.
I worked on one of the first data terminals to use C. The supervisor said most of the developers were writing assembly code in C. Today, most code is still simple C. C++ compilers do more type checking as well as add object oriented constructs and many other other non-OO features.
Bjarne Stroustrup said he felt it takes 10 years to really understand how to use C++ proficiently.
Fortunately, C is a relatively simple language and all you really need to program an Arduino.
I was reading an interview with Stroustrup. When asked if he is working on the development of a new programming language, he responded No, he is still learning how to use Standard C++.
Seriously, I haven’t tried to get the Arduino Uno programmed again but I will give it another try soon. Hopefully your answers have provided a solution. I am pretty stubborn about figuring these things out. It may take me many hours to solve a problem, but so far at least I have been able to figure things out and I have not thrown the computer at the wall even once![swg][(-D][(-D][(-D]
