The most popular development boards is without a doubt Arduino. It is open-source and it’s been around since 2005. There are lots of different models and libraries. My goal for now is just get started and see it in action. To achieve this, first stop is the official site where you can download the drivers and IDE. After download simply unzip the contents to a folder.

A great place to start playing with it is Adafruit. You can find the link for Arduino tutorials in the resources section below. I simply started with Lesson 1 and changed the speed of the onboard LED.

So it takes minutes to get started with it and comes loaded with a bunch of examples so they made it very easy for beginners.

Troubleshooting

Error: stk500_getsync() not in sync resp=0x00 This error means that Arduino couldn’t be found in the COM port. To resolve the issue:

• Use Device Manager and make sure Arduino is connected. It should be listed under Ports node. Note the COM port number
• Then from Tools –> Serial Port make sure the correct port is selected.

Resources

• Arduino Official
• Adafruit tutorials