Open Source Hardware book - Table of Contents

Here's the table of contents for the Open Source Hardware book. One of the original ideas of the book was to help students of industrial or product design classes use the Arduino as a platform to build gadgets and devices. I took a course similar to that a long time ago, and was frustrated that the course never got past switches and LED circuits. I had the hardest time extrapolating from what I was learning to image how I was actually going to use what I learned to build a real product.

Instead, Justin and I organized the book as though I was taking the class all over again. First I would have wanted to know a little about the concepts, and what open source hardware and gadget design was all about. Then, I'd want to spend a brief time on the basics, but mostly dive straight into the design of an actual gadget. So at the end of it all, I hope the book reads like that course could have gone (maybe in a parallel universe).

When I took the course, my final project was a "simple simon" game circuit (the kind where it plays a sequence on 4 LED buttons, and you have to type it back in the same order). I like to think that if I had this book back then, my final project would have been an MP3 player, or GPS device (which is what I had wanted to make in the first place!).


Open Source Hardware - Volume 1
Do-It-Yourself Gadgets


Foreword.. i

Introduction.. 1

• What is open source hardware?. 1
• What is physical computing?. 3
• What are modular electronics?. 5
• What is the Arduino?. 6

How to use this book. 8

Getting to know your Arduino.. 10

• Landmarks on the Arduino Diecimila board.. 12
• Installing the Arduino programs on your desktop.. 13
• Navigating the Arduino programming environment 14
• Introduction to the modules. 16

Terms used throughout the book. 23

Arduino.. 25

• Hello world program... 26
• Communicating between the Arduino and PC over serial 32
• Blinking the onboard LED on pin 13. 38

Arduino + Breadboard + LEDs. 43

• Knight Rider with LEDs. 44

Arduino + Digital input switches. 54

Arduino + Analog inputs. 62

• Battery Tester 63

Arduino + Lithium Backpack. 69

• Portable LED blinker 70

Arduino + TouchShield.. 76

• How to Program the TouchShield.. 77
• Basic Squares. 81
• TouchShield Hello World.. 85
• Reaction Time Game.. 90
• Stoplight. 95
• Countdown Timer 99
• Battery Life Monitor 104

Arduino + ProtoShield + GPS. 109

• Serial GPS reader 110

Arduino + ProtoShield + Accelerometer 117

• Gravity Tester: Basic input and output over serial 118

Arduino + ProtoShield + Ping Sensor 128

• Burglar Alarm... 129

Arduino + Motor board + Motor 135

• Basic control of a motor 136

Arduino + Lithium Backpack + TouchShield.. 142

• Pin Visualizer 143
• BitDJ. 155

Arduino + ExtenderShield + ProtoShield + TouchShield + BackPack + Accelerometer 163

• Acceleration meter 164

An open source project 173
Additional resources 174

My Own Device (I). 176
My Own Device (II)