Arduino Anyone?

I had forgotten the smell of burning solder until today. My soldering iron used to be within arms reach most of the time, and I knew the resistor color code by heart. But the last time I needed those things, I think I was wearing a leisure suit, or maybe bell bottoms and Beatle boots. Soldering is like riding a bike except the pedals (terminals) are much smaller and harder to reach (see). I dug out the old soldering iron and dusted it off for a new project. What is the project?


I've been curious about Arduino and Raspberry Pi since they came out a few years ago, and when Simon Newton created Open Source Lighting Control Software that runs on Raspberry Pi, I had to check it out. Little by little I've been piecing together the hardware and software, and eventually I want to be able to control anything with DMX and get feedback via RDM using Arduino and Raspberry Pi. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea how ambitious of a project this is, and I won't know exactly where I'm going until I get there. The only requirement is that it's fun, and I hope you will come along for the ride.


I've already assembled an Arduino, flashed some LEDs on and off with it, and I just got some parts in from Adafruit, including an Arduino stepper motor shield (in Arduinoland, a "shield" is a daughter board or a PC board that attaches to the motherboard) and a stepper motor. The reason for the soldering iron is that I had to solder the headers onto the stepper motor shield to attach it to the Arduino. It was quick and easy, and I had my stepper motor running in just a few minutes. I haven't done much with it yet, but little by little I will take over control of the entire earth via DMX, RDM, and Arduino. Won't you help? What shall we take control of first? Please add your comments.