Learning arduino stuff?

jmp49 · Friday at 6:28 PM

Scott M said:
Has anyone here created a user interface for controlling the arduino from a computer? I've been using Processing IDE with some luck but find it difficult. Is there a better alternative? Something open source/free, just a hobby. I am interested in motor control.

Welcome to Processing!

Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code. Since 2001, Processing has promoted software literacy within the visual arts and visual literacy within technology…

processing.org

I built a complete web server on the arduino based home control system I had and served it via ethernet on a ethernet shield, with html front end for browsers, and a /api endpoint along with a tft display you could touch buttons on a gui on, and physical inputs connected to pins on the arduino itself (light switches...). I also used Ariadne-Bootloader on the arduino so I could remote reflash it over the network...
But yes its overkill and probably not for a total beginner.

Robotstar5 · Friday at 10:13 PM

daleyd said:
You can use Ignition for free to test it, build some fancy graphics and generally play around using your laptop/PC - once you know the modbus part works, if you wanted something more portable then there's all sorts of HMI's that have modbus built in as a standard comms protocol if you wanted something to add to a sculpture.

I managed to pick up a few cheap Samkoon brand ones for a few jobs (I've got one talking to the VFD on my lathe, so I can get motor & chuck speeds, motor & vfd temperatures etc displayed and start/stop from the screen, see faults etc), cheap and cheerful but they work.

We used a few of the Cubloc combined HMI/PLC from Audon Electronics

Kayos · Saturday at 8:13 AM

With zero prior experience I bought a starter kit, a 4x20 LCD display and a load of sensors

In a week I had a working prototype and in a month I had a custom display in the Disco TD5 showing all the data the ECU wouldn't

Hardest bit was adapting sensors to the engine

Fun project, rendered obsolete in the Freelander due to can bus and Android doing all the work for me