[aprssig] APRS / Packet board for Arduino

[Jason KG4WSV]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 5:53 PM, J.C. Wren <jcwren at jcwren.com> wrote:
> The whole Arduino thing sort of puzzles me.  I guess this is a case of the
> right product in the right place at the right time, because the idea of "a
> PCB with a microcontroller on it" is not new.  Nicely provisioned full took
> chains are not new.  Stacking connectors to add functionality isn't new.

No, but all those things at an entry level hobbyist price point
hardware (US$35 or less) _and_ free user friendly software tools _and_
cross platform support do seem fairly unique.

> I'm also confused by why programs are called "sketches" and daughter-boards
> are called "shields".

beats me, but IIRC the core team are all folks from places where
english is not the default language.

> you'd think that
> C would NOT be a natural language for  getting people interested (I would
> have sooner suspected BASIC or even Forth).

I suspect this falls back to price and availability and cross platform support.

>   Even if blinking a
> LED is what they considering exciting.

hey, it's the "hello world" of microcontrollers. (:

-Jason
kg4wsv