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That's just not true. It's relatively trivial to solder even BGA parts with an oven (and a $50 "toaster oven" qualifies. Just don't use the same oven for food...)

Here's how I do it:

• Get the PCB manufactured - I usually use Dorkbot pdx because it's (a) cheap and (b) good. It's also pretty fast (9 days) so there goes that saying...
• On your PCB, put some solder points for capacitors that can be used to make a top-left and bottom-right corner, so that the inside edge is lined up with the printed outline of the BGA part
• Before placing the BGA, make those corners with a couple of 0805 capacitors, so that the BGA has nowhere to move to when you place it in the oven. These caps are literally fractions of a cent each, so buy 100 for $0.40 and just use them as throwaways.
• Solder the caps by tinning one of the pads first, then place the cap where you want, re-melt the tinned pad's solder, and the cap will be easy to position where you want. Optionally solder the other end (since this isn't a "real" capacitor)
• That's it. Perfect results every time.

Handling these tiny parts (0603 / 0.5mm BGA is as low as I go) is trivial if you get a pair of these. They look as dorky as you could ever hope to not appear, but they really (*really*) work well. At going-on 45 my vision just isn't up to placing 0805 / 0603 by hand any more, but these things really help line things up perfectly.

Also, get non-metallic tweezers, and a well-lit area :)

Simon

Adafruit has this, sort of, would need some packaging, its geared towards hardware hackers, Solar LiPo charger plus Minty Boost

Adafruit has this, sort of, would need some packaging, its geared towards hardware hackers, Solar LiPo charger plus Minty Boost

There are numerous kits available, best sources for choosing one would be http://www.pololu.com/ , http://www.trossenrobotics.com/ , http://www.robotshop.com/ , http://www.lynxmotion.com/ , http://www.makershed.com/ and a bunch of others. http://sparkfun.com/ and http://adafruit.com/ for more general electronics components

Cant really recommend one in particular, as it depends on what you want to do. There are several categories : 2wheel differential drive bases, legged hexapods, 4wd bases, even bipeds and robotic arms.

If you get one that is designed to be Arduino-compatible, and can take any number of Arduino expansion shields, you will have endless possibilities. I'd say easiest starting point is a complete 2WD kit with some accessory sensors. This is a nice one http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkseeed7.htm , comes with motors and all. Just pick a "mainboard" and motor driver shield and you are good to go.

make your ownhttp://www.adafruit.com/products/483

Adafruit.com sells a Geiger counter kit. They specifically state that it's not for life-or-death situations, but it sounds to me like all you really need is a little peace of mind. For $99, plus shipping and a little elbow grease, this should do the trick.

If, on the other hand, you have reasonable cause to think that there is a real threat in your area, then disregard my suggestion. I don't know enough about the subject to provide the answers you need.

The first thing I thought about after skimming the article is, "what about all the hackers making a dime these days." It seems that folks like Lady Ada and some of the folks over at iFixit are making a decent shot of it.

It is another face of the same coin. When everyone (well, ... many a guy/gal) is doing creative work themselves just for fun of it, then good business is selling them the means to do it and ideas to inspire them. So the answer to the lament for creative class is: "Sell your knowledge, not your work. Teach and consult aspiring creative amateurs for a fee."

The first thing I thought about after skimming the article is, "what about all the hackers making a dime these days." It seems that folks like Lady Ada and some of the folks over at iFixit are making a decent shot of it. I have no idea what their finances are, but their sites and offerings continue to grow. It looks to me like they are making some decent and honest money based off of the industry of others.

Jonathan Coulton of Code_Monkey fame is doing alright. I heard a pice on NPR about him recently. He's making a living writing fun songs and distributing them himself.

Obviously not everyone who gets into the on-line creative business is going to make a fortune, but it looks like there's plenty of niches that aren't all occupied.

(Just as a side note: the electronics hobbyist community has gotten used to dealing with surface-mount parts.)

Also check out:

Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/ (Sells arduino and other microcontrollers, as well as "heathkit-like" solder-it-yourself electronics kits).

Dangerous Prototypes: http://dangerousprototypes.com/ (Among other things, they were involved with designing a naked-board, 16-channel w/12K sample depth, 100 megasample/sec digital logic analyzer -- for US$50. Then some guy took the firmware and added as many features that he could based upon an HP 16550a timing logic analyzer.)

Seeedstudio: http://www.seeedstudio.com/ (they're a store that sells cool hardware for arduino and others -- I think they're in China, though)

Digikey for all sorts of electronic parts: http://www.digikey.com/

Jameco Electronics for parts and electronic kits: http://www.jameco.com/

"During the talk Eben explains that the $25 price point was decided upon because it is the cost of a textbook so it made sense. Students buy textbooks, so a PC priced the same is a natural fit and hopefully an easy purchase for them, their parents, or their school." [emphasis added]

Students also buy milk but it doesn't mean that therefore computers should cost the same as milk. I don't think that a real computer should be worth the same as one textbook because of the fact that many more than one textbook could be downloaded on it and thus much more money could be saved by children if that is really a fully functional general purpose computer that the story makes us believe it is. It is worth noting that unlike the $100 laptops, this computer is not complete. It doesn't have a keyboard, it doesn't have a display. It has a HDMI port - yes, that will help poor children who can't afford a computer more expensive than $25. Also, are they going to carry a plasma TV around to use it? Quite frankly I think that it would be a much better idea to offer a Fuzebox kit from Adafruit - a do-it-yourself retro video console kit with open source software and open source hardware - or even an Arduino kit with TV output. In this case however all we have seen so far is a promise to deliver a $25 embedded board which is nice but it can hardly be called a computer, and especially not a computer that poor children in developing countries would need the most. We don't even know how much RAM will it have, whether it will run Linux or even if it will be useful for anything more serious than hacking a simple embedded Linux project. Don't get me wrong, I think that embedded projects are a great way for children to learn how computers work. But this is not a substitute for a laptop, notebook or netbook that those children need. Even a tablet would be a better idea but we all know this is not going to happen because apparently taking a keyboard out of a netbook makes it somehow ten times more expensive. We need a cheap laptop, a fully functional, self contained computer that children can use instead of textbooks, not as just one of them.

....but so many of the existing ideas out there are just 'let's put LED's on it' rather than functional reliable products which actually do something....I just can't see any useful marketable applications beyond a niche set of things like tracking and visual art

iCufflinks

Open Source. Gorgeously machined aluminum with a subtle pulsating LED.

There was nothing to break.

Wasn't it?

Is this why the EFF received $2000?

Many amateurs or hobbyists have faced this dilemma in their own personal (and professional) work spaces for centuries nows. Two groups I know a little about are wood workers and machinists, who have written dozens of books and articles about this subject, in both the general and specific case.

0. Safety equipment: dust masks, goggles, safety glasses (with side protection), gloves (nitrile, latax, neoprene), hearing protection (ear muffs, ear plugs), and as needed!
1. Tools
2. Storage / management of those tools
3. Hard copy (dead-tree) documentation, it is being rapidly moved online thanks to cheap and compact computers and laptops, but much older reference material is still in old-school paper form (which can be handy) (example references to collect: ARRL Handbook, Art of Electronics, Machinery's Handbook, Woodworking Basics, Understanding Wood, Wiring Simplified)
4. Commonly used materials (lumber, hoses, holes clamps, fabric, sheet metal, dowels, nuts & bolts, wood and metal screws, etc.)
5. Parts (in anti-static containers for any static sensitive parts like CMOS ICs)
6. Labelling tools
7. Log / Lab notebooks . These should be paper-based, though can be complimented with online documents, a honest to goodness hard copy lab book is essential.
8. Chemicals
9. Large, easy to read clock
10. Test equipment: rulers, tape measures, calipers, digital multi-meter
11. Plenty of AC mains circuits and outlets. Preferably with a separate circuit for lighting versus wall outlets. - Avoid extended use of extension cables, and excessive use of power bars.

And time.

After seeing things like this: http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/14/hacked-kinect-is-now-a-3d-video-capture-tool/

I start to wonder if microsoft did/does have greater plans for this product later on in the future.... but now theyve had someone beat them to the punch.

My mind isnt well suited to imagining the types of uses this might be good for but after seeing the kinds of things people are doing with it already I have a hard time imagining microsoft didnt have some similar ideas.. and thought profiting off of them might be good.

not if adafruit has their way, Lots of these will end up in robots and such. even better if i can get a few below cost. Microsoft has already said that they are "against anyone tampering with their products" Ohh well I sure hope they know better than to sell at a loss...

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-project-the-ok-prize-get-1000-bounty-for-kinect-for-xbox-360-open-source-drivers/

I can't believe the summary didn't mention the $2000 bounty reward for making an open source driver.

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-project-the-ok-prize-get-1000-bounty-for-kinect-for-xbox-360-open-source-drivers/

So as I understand it, the customer would put his name on a waiting list for a $100 console, buy it online, snap it together, load a game, and play. But are customers willing to do that for a game with Atari 7800/NES-class graphics?

First of all, I would like to interface with hardware I already have. Particularly, video, input, and Ethernet. So it would be really great if I could get a board with VGA out, USB host or on-the-go, and Ethernet, although other combinations are possible (e.g. Ethernet not on the board, but via a USB device).

Bear in mind that the core of Arduino is a microcontroller. It's meant for small to mid-size projects. Although it has a lot in common with what we think of as a "computer" today, you won't be turning it into a proper computer without a lot of hacking and peripherals. In many ways, it's better than a computer because a computer is extreme overkill for so many things where you want your project to be programmable but don't need the sheer amount of raw horsepower that a microprocessor offers.

There are tutorials on using Arduino to control LEDs, relays, servos, motors, LCD displays, and so on. You can connect virtually any kind of sensor to it thanks to its analog inputs. And there are "shields" that plug right into the board so that you can get started with them right away without soldering or breadboarding. The new Uno board comes with a second, smaller microcontroller on-board which (as I understand it) can be programmed to be any USB device. Various hackers have even programmed Arduino to do VGA output with a minimum of additional supporting circuitry, although I imagine that it doesn't have many clock cycles left to do anything fancy on top of that.

Secondly, I have virtually no experience with electronics, so I need something that is really easy to get started with. Of course, I am doing this in part because I want to learn, so if it's better to do a few simpler projects first to get the needed skills, I am open to that, too.

You're in luck, because there are a lot of Arduino tutorials that assume little in the way of previous electronics experience. (I highly recommend ladyada's Arduino tutorials.) You can do quite a lot just by internalizing a few basic rules (like, always put a resistor in series with an LED and its power source), but eventually you'll hit a point where you need to understand voltage, current, resistance, and the various laws that dictate how electronic circuits operate. The good news is, the Internet is bursting with information and tutorials thanks to the ever-growing maker/hacker movement.

Thirdly, I want the device that will be running things to be _cheap_. I am thinking max 20 USD. That's for being able to run some simple software (doesn't need a lot of RAM or ROM, as long as more storage can be added) with video output, keyboard input, and network access. If I need some extra expenses to bootstrap things (e.g. some extra hardware to write the ROM), that's ok, but I want to basically be able to tell my friends "for under 20 dollars, you can get one of these computers and run all this great software, too".

Arduino pretty much set the bar for cheap electronic tinkering and prototyping. A few years back, development kits for microcontrollers started in the $100 range. Arduino offers 95% of what they did for less than half the price. A basic Arduino kit will run between $30-$35. (There are Arduino boards that cost less, but they might have a few less features or aren't physically compatible with Arduino add-on shields.) If you want a hackable under-$20 computer with a large software library, I'd suggest buying a Gameboy Advance off of eBay.

Within these constraints, I would like to get the most bang for the buck that I can get. It doesn't have to be an 6502. If I can get an 68k or an ARM or an FPGA (given enough gates, of course), that would be grand.

Adafruit sells an Arduino-like ARM Cortex M3 board for $40. I don't know of any e

First of all, I would like to interface with hardware I already have. Particularly, video, input, and Ethernet. So it would be really great if I could get a board with VGA out, USB host or on-the-go, and Ethernet, although other combinations are possible (e.g. Ethernet not on the board, but via a USB device).

Bear in mind that the core of Arduino is a microcontroller. It's meant for small to mid-size projects. Although it has a lot in common with what we think of as a "computer" today, you won't be turning it into a proper computer without a lot of hacking and peripherals. In many ways, it's better than a computer because a computer is extreme overkill for so many things where you want your project to be programmable but don't need the sheer amount of raw horsepower that a microprocessor offers.

There are tutorials on using Arduino to control LEDs, relays, servos, motors, LCD displays, and so on. You can connect virtually any kind of sensor to it thanks to its analog inputs. And there are "shields" that plug right into the board so that you can get started with them right away without soldering or breadboarding. The new Uno board comes with a second, smaller microcontroller on-board which (as I understand it) can be programmed to be any USB device. Various hackers have even programmed Arduino to do VGA output with a minimum of additional supporting circuitry, although I imagine that it doesn't have many clock cycles left to do anything fancy on top of that.

Secondly, I have virtually no experience with electronics, so I need something that is really easy to get started with. Of course, I am doing this in part because I want to learn, so if it's better to do a few simpler projects first to get the needed skills, I am open to that, too.

You're in luck, because there are a lot of Arduino tutorials that assume little in the way of previous electronics experience. (I highly recommend ladyada's Arduino tutorials.) You can do quite a lot just by internalizing a few basic rules (like, always put a resistor in series with an LED and its power source), but eventually you'll hit a point where you need to understand voltage, current, resistance, and the various laws that dictate how electronic circuits operate. The good news is, the Internet is bursting with information and tutorials thanks to the ever-growing maker/hacker movement.

Thirdly, I want the device that will be running things to be _cheap_. I am thinking max 20 USD. That's for being able to run some simple software (doesn't need a lot of RAM or ROM, as long as more storage can be added) with video output, keyboard input, and network access. If I need some extra expenses to bootstrap things (e.g. some extra hardware to write the ROM), that's ok, but I want to basically be able to tell my friends "for under 20 dollars, you can get one of these computers and run all this great software, too".

Arduino pretty much set the bar for cheap electronic tinkering and prototyping. A few years back, development kits for microcontrollers started in the $100 range. Arduino offers 95% of what they did for less than half the price. A basic Arduino kit will run between $30-$35. (There are Arduino boards that cost less, but they might have a few less features or aren't physically compatible with Arduino add-on shields.) If you want a hackable under-$20 computer with a large software library, I'd suggest buying a Gameboy Advance off of eBay.

Within these constraints, I would like to get the most bang for the buck that I can get. It doesn't have to be an 6502. If I can get an 68k or an ARM or an FPGA (given enough gates, of course), that would be grand.

Adafruit sells an Arduino-like ARM Cortex M3 board for $40. I don't know of any e

There are open source battery chargers for iPhone at adafruit for 19.95. Someone had to figure out a slightly unusual set of resistors on the cable pins to get by Apple's obfuscations but it is known technology now. Kind of a tradeoff between having a phone that is better sealed (the iPhone) you have to charge from an external pack, or swap batteries on Android. As I recall the original knock against one of the early Android phones was the the battery cover kept falling off.

Not only does she have a well stocked desk, she has her own company and sells some geeky stuff to us tinkerers: http://adafruit.com/ Her monochron pong playing clock was featured on /. a while back.

Devices based on V-USB (software only USB implementation for AVR microcontrollers) are probably worth a look because designs you can copy are so numerous.

This is one of the most versatile. I doesn't support the Apple IIc yet but the BBC joysticks had a similar capability so the only difference is likely to be in the adapter lead:

http://denki.world3.net/retro_v2.html

Perhaps you don't want to make your own circuit board. If so, I had a quick look at the retro's schematic and reckon you should be able to get the retro firmware running on an off the shelf board such as the one adafruit sell.

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=174

I've got one of these and its a great little board. I built a temperature logger using one and I got it running (hardware and software) in about four hours. That said I did spend another three building the programmer!

Finally there a gallery of lots of HID devices made using cheap AVR controllers:

http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/prjhid.html

Also look up LUFA and using atmel's true USB line of microcontrollers. I just made something with the at90USB82 AVR chip, and it was super easy. This is only my fourth circuit board and it works great. You need to have a hot air gun for soldering though. Alternatively, you could buy atmels USB dev stick.
-Taylor

Devices based on V-USB (software only USB implementation for AVR microcontrollers) are probably worth a look because designs you can copy are so numerous.

This is one of the most versatile. I doesn't support the Apple IIc yet but the BBC joysticks had a similar capability so the only difference is likely to be in the adapter lead:

http://denki.world3.net/retro_v2.html

Perhaps you don't want to make your own circuit board. If so, I had a quick look at the retro's schematic and reckon you should be able to get the retro firmware running on an off the shelf board such as the one adafruit sell.

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=174

I've got one of these and its a great little board. I built a temperature logger using one and I got it running (hardware and software) in about four hours. That said I did spend another three building the programmer!

Finally there a gallery of lots of HID devices made using cheap AVR controllers:

http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/prjhid.html

Another vote for working with the ATMega (or ATTiny) chips directly rather than via the arduino framework. The arduino boards are neat and everything, but expensive ($20-$30ish) I'd hate to lose one inside of a design. That is to say, when I design and build something, it is for permanent. I want to place a $5 microcontroller in there, not a $35 piece of development prototyping hardware.. and the dealbreaker: Arduino code is not compatible with bare ATMega chips. I recommend ladyada's minipov3 kit for learning Atmel microcontrollers: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=20 $17.50, built-in programmer, battery-pack, ATTiny2313 microcontroller, LED's on the outputs.. You can't go wrong. The parent's comments about debugging are well-founded as well. Check this out: http://www.nkcelectronics.com/avr-jtag-ice-clone-debugger-programmer-kit.html an $18 JTAG ICE for ATMega16/32/64/128 chips. I never thought that I'd be doing step-in/step-over IDE debugging on target hardware with a $20 piece of debugging equipment at home. The future is here.

That's a great list, I have every one of those and use them often, but it has a very steep starting point.

Books like Gettng Started in Electronics by Forrest Mimms, Practical Electronics for Inventors, Tab Electronics Guide to Understanding Electricity and Electronics (2000) by Randy Slone, Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics (5th ed.) by Stan Gibilisco, Grob's Basic Electronics by Mitchel E. Schultz, or MAKE: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery by Charles Platt are more suitable first book for a starting point.

Also ARRL's Ward Silver has a great little hands-on book of lessons, ARRL's Hands-On Radio Experiments that is cheap ($20 US) and a great 2nd book. (Electrical Engineering 101 2nd. ed by Darren Ashby is another great 2nd book, oriented to new EE students / grads).

Make-zine and their blog are full of interesting hobbyist oriented stuff for beginners, and cool projects to inspire you to learn more.

For licensed amateur radio operators, the QRP community and their own QRPedia is a area of kit-building and home-made of simple radio transmitters and receivers that can be simple to get started, and fun to operate (as the solar cycle improves).

All About Circuits is partial (unfinished) online basic electricity and electronics textbook.

Fun stores (of many) include Ada Fruit Industries, and SparkFun.

The more hobbyist friendly big parts distributors in US are Jameco, Digikey, and Mouser. Anyone interested should request a catalog from them. They also ship to Canada, and Digikey does operate in Europe, but Farnell is generally better to deal with. G3SEK's Technical Topics website includes a list of UK electronics suppliers that deal with individuals (rather than businesses-only).

Enjoy!

Guess this is all moot though, cause the OP wants to do RF stuff, not microcontrollers. :-)

Why wouldnt you use a microcontroller in RF? Microcontrollers certainly have a place in many aspects of Radio; amateur or otherwise. Like building an Iambic Keyer (think morse code), or building a software defined transceiver, where the 'duino handles communication with the computer, frequency tuning, morse keying, LCD display, and more. While it may not be necessarily be used for the actual modulation of the signal, it definitely has uses.

this KIT from Adafruit.com is an amazing package for learning the Arduino and basic circuits and how to control them with a microcontroller...with the basics learned from this kit there is a LOT you can use at the end of the day.

The STK500 is massive overkill for most people nowadays, ESPECIALLY beginners.

It does very little that an Arduino or Boarduino can't do... The trick, if you want to skip the Arduino IDE (Learning with all of those abstraction layers is unhealthy for you in the long run IMO), is to buy an ISP programmer since nearly every Arduino-compatible board I've seen has a 6-pin ISP header.

An Adafruit Boarduino ($20) plus an Adafruit USBTinyISP ($23-25 or so I think) is more than most experimenters need.

Some of the Arduino kits Adafruit sells have a lot of "getting started" tutorials included with them. For example, the Arduino Experimenter's Kit:
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=170

http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/

"My plan is to have each room connected to a 6-outlet power strip which powers all the devices in that room (each kill-a-watt can measure up to 15A, or about 1800W, which is plenty!). That way I can track room-by-room usage, for example "kitchen", "bedroom", "workbench", and "office"."

Get a kit with the guts of the project for $90 here (currently on back-order):
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32&products_id=143

Then you'll need a Kill-a-Watt meter (Get one from Amazon.com w/free shipping for $20).

You can have it upload data to pretty much any web service you want -- or just keep it in a local database, if that's how you roll.

Google just announced an API for PowerMeter http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2010/03/google-powermeter-api-introduced-for.html , so Adafruit's Tweet-a-Watt can brag to your followers about your home efficiency. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/03/04/google-code-blog-google-powermeter-api-introduced-for-device-manufacturers/

There are always alternatives. Like this nifty thing that runs on 2 AA batteries and has no memory or software. Sure, you'll need to get an additional $40 or so of equipment (soldering iron, clamp), but like OSS and food you make from scratch, you know exactly what's going into it.

And, for bonus points, you can expand this USB power supply with neat things like lithium-polymer batteries, USB charging, and even solar cells.

Pager broadcasts are completely separate from cell networks and don't really have anything in common in them, to my knowledge. Pager networks are incredibly robust. I believe they'll scale to thousands of messages per minute at least and if you look at the logs posted by wikileaks, there are rarely more than a few dozen every second. Although I guess the downside is that you normally have to place a phone call or have Internet connectivity to send a page.

On a related note, it's possible to use a second-hand pager and a few dollars' worth of components to make your very own pager scanner. Ladyada posted a nice HOWTO on how to do this.

Persistence-of-vision toys are fun and easy to make. They're a great way to learn how to solder. (You, the teacher, would need to download messages into them.) Kids quickly see the results of their work and it piques their interest for more technology.
POV Kits are available at many places online for $10-$20 each, probably less in bulk. One place I know is http://adafruit.com/

Try an Arduino experimenters kit or several, depending on the size of the class.

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=170

It would give the students some idea of how modern tech works.

I attended the Microcontroller Monday classes at the local hackerspace, HacDC (http://hacdc.org/) where we worked from plans found on Lady Ada's sites (http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/ and http://www.adafruit.com/).

The other thing to do is get started with US FIRST Robotics (http://www.usfirst.org/) established by the inventor of the Segway, Dean Kamen to "inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership." according to the web site.

I think the scrounging idea is a good one...you'll be able to pull resistors off of anything, and everybody will learn the codes quickly. Have them bring in something simple in their house that doesn't work - have them troubleshoot and repair it (permission, obviously...).

Have them bring in an annoying electronic toy and have them wire a volume control into it. For that matter, have them bend circuits on all the electronic crap that surrounds us today.

Finally, talk to your later Radio Shack / Fry's / whatever, and see if you can get them to sponsor the class with some free gear and projects.

If you end up with some more coin, try a TV-B-Gone:

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20&sessid=5bf624d376f9c6c44a119200f35c990d

AdaFruit has a lot of good stuff. One thing I saw at a Make Faire was a project where you quickly build an oscillator using a paper circuit board and a pencil line drawn on a paper to have a quickie musical instrument.

I've been looking into this recently as well. Best bet I've found, in terms of "tinkering" ability is to use an Arduino and a GPS Shield (more details here). The two of these (and the GPS chip) will cost under $150, but allow you to code it to do whatever you want. Throw in a TouchShield and you begin to open up possibilities. The downside is the time/effort needed here. The "convenience" factor is not part of this solution... :)

On their sister site - http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27
$17 seems pretty reasonable to me.

I try to mix it up a bit. Plenty of blinking but also C code, analog and digital design You can check out the kits at http://www.adafruit.com/ or if you want to -really- DIY you can just make them from the OS plans at http://www.ladyada.net/
For example, http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/process.html

Lots of Software/Computer Geeks also like Arduino-based kits and projects because you can skip straight to building stuff instead of learning Ohms Law http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino

But a much, much better option is to buy this starter kit and learn the hot new Arduino instead of the aging Basic Stamp. You'll need to start a junk drawer of components, including resistor assortment like these four kits. Local Amateur Radio HamFests and eBay are both good places to fill out your junk box.

Some good resources:

o The Arduino Home Page
o Peter Anderson's Arduino page (the whole site is great, and most can be adapted to the Arduino)
o Sparkfun Tutorials (and don't miss out on their store that has all the good stuff)
o The Electronic Goldmine is a great resource for odd surplus electronics.

OK, this is totally not the cool answer, but I started with this one:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102913&cp=2032062.2032398&parentPage=family

It comes with two books, one on digital and one on analog circuits. I outgrew it quickly, but it got me far enough along to step up to a breadboard and raw parts. The circuits cover extreme beginner to, say, apprentice - so it's not going to last long if it appeals to you. But that was great for me as it completely evaporated any fear I had of the complexity. I like to be a tough guy as much as anyone else, but sometimes it's nice not to be in over your head.

The next step I took was "The Art of Electronics" (brilliant book) and a breadboard. That was a bit of a leap, but very good for analog circuits. On the digial side, check out Lady Ada and Evil Mad Scientist:

http://www.adafruit.com/
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/

She has some fun projects, like the TVBgone. Useful too!

http://www.adafruit.com/

I've been having fun buying and building the various kits available from http://www.adafruit.com/ . You need to solder to do them, but that's really really easy.

The Arduino projects are particularly cool (the ethernet and the WAV shields are cheap and fun) so you can do electronics as well as program microprocessors.

Velleman has a bunch of kits too; many are for little kids, but I built an interesting USB breakout kit (USB control of a bunch of output and input lines).

Go to the library and get a bunch of books on electronics. Then go to Radio Shack and buy a bread board. A bread board is a board where you test circuit designs out. You don't need to do any soldering on it. A strip board is for a more permanent circuit that you don't plan on changing. One thing I recommend if you're going to be soldering on a strip board is FLUX. It makes soldering a hell of a lot easier. Components to buy from Radio Shack: A soldering iron, solder, flux, a breadboard or two. Also get a few 9 volt plugs to plug into the bread board or strip board and 9 volt batteries. Radio Shack also has a few cases you can put your circuit in, although there isn't much selection. You're going to need wire of course.

Now the question is - what do you want to build? The library books will have some circuits. So will bookstores. You can find them on the net as well. This girl from MIT has a lot of cool circuits and kits. Once you decide what to put together you will also probably be getting some other components like capacitors, resistors and chips like 555 timers. You can find 555 timers and chips like that from Radio Shack, but for more obscure chips you might want to look to see if there are electronics components stores in your area that sell this stuff. If not, go to Mouser.com or Digikey where you can usually buy whatever you need, unless it is a specialized chip that they don't have. This should get you a start on putting boards together.

I'd suggest that you buy an Arduino starter kit from Lady Ada's site, and try her Arduino tutorial.

And join a nearby Arduino user group!
David Mellis just started one in Boston, which led me to purchase an Arduino last night!
The forums on the arduino site mention quite a few regional user's groups, maybe you can find one near you?

I'd suggest that you buy an Arduino starter kit from Lady Ada's site, and try her Arduino tutorial.

And join a nearby Arduino user group!
David Mellis just started one in Boston, which led me to purchase an Arduino last night!
The forums on the arduino site mention quite a few regional user's groups, maybe you can find one near you?

What about the Arduino (open source hardware) or others based off it (Boarduino [I'm getting one of these], Freeduino, etc.)?

Some of us would be interested in reading more. Even without design info, I would be interested in costing information. It could appear next to an add-to-cart button on http://store.makezine.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=20 or http://www.adafruit.com/ if you like.