A Learning Experience

Part of what is so much fun when dealing with the Arduino is the learning experience. I am making mistakes, and am learning all kinds of stuff from these mistakes. I guarantee I’ll make more and there’s no way the gadget I’m building (digital indoor/outdoor thermometer) will come in cheaper than what one could get from a store. So what? This isn’t about cost effective, this is about learning.

With that in mind, if you look at my last post you saw that I bought a TFT that most likely I won’t be able to use with my Uno. Also, the Nokia 5110 is just too small to be read across the room as I want. So my solution was to order more stuff. And I complain about my wife going to Kohls?

So what did I get? I bought two 4 digit, 7-segment LEDs – one blue, one green. The vendor of choice is Adafruit, as they have these for about $10 & $12 a piece, including ‘backpack’. And this is where my learning kicked in. You can buy the individual 4 segment LEDs without the backpacks, but then you’d have to drive each segment individually. Learning from my mistake on the TFT – that is, look very carefully at what the interfaces are before purchasing – I realized the backpack was definitely worth the added few bucks.

And best yet, I ordered them yesterday and they should be here tomorrow 🙂