Getting Started with Your Arduino Starter Kit — Installing Drivers and Setting Up the Board and Port

So, you bought yourself an Arduino starter kit. and maybe some other cool cool components of interesting components of interesting components — what now? How do you actually start programming this Arduino thing ? How do you set it up and download some code? Read on and I’ll explain everything.

I’m assuming you have an Arduino Uno board because it comes with most Arduino starter kits.

Driver installation

MacOS X:

On a Mac, it’s easy. Just download the latest Arduino package, install it, and then run attached driver FTDIUSBSerial . When it’s done, drag the app to your apps folder. You will need to reboot for the new drivers to work.

Arduino starter kit

When you first connect the Arduino, OSX will tell you that a new interface has been detected. Just click » Network Settings» and press » Apply» — there are no settings here.

Windows 7

Nothing is easier on Windows, especially when it comes to drivers. Start by downloading the latest version and unzipping, keeping the folder structure. It’s a fairly large download — 85MB when I checked, fully expandable to 230MB, so it might take a while to download.

Connect your Arduino using the included USB cable. It may try to find the drivers, but it will not work. Just close the wizard and open Device Manager. The quickest way to do this, instead of trying to navigate through the confusing set of layered menus in the Windows Control Panel, is to simply click the » Start» and enter devmgmt.msc . Press Enter and you will open Device Manager directly.

arduino kit

In chapter » Other devices» you must see Arduino Uno with one of those yellow «problem» signs. Double click, select » Update Drivers» and select » View my computer for driver software».

arduino kit

Select Options » Let me choose a driver» press » All Devices» , «Disk» and go to the download folder. In the drivers folder you should see the file Arduino Uno . Choose it. The driver installation process will recognize it as a «communication port» and will result in an «unsigned driver error» during installation. Ignore this and install anyway.

arduino kit

If you’re using XP, the process is a little more complicated and involves two sets of drivers. Read the full set of instructions on the Arduino page.

Set up the board and port

Launch the Arduino application from the downloads folder or from the applications folder. The first thing we need to do is set up the port and board. On any system, you should have a tool menu. Click on this and make sure:

The corresponding board is selected. Uno is the default and was already selected in my setup, but it’s always good to check.
The serial port is correct. On Windows, I found that I only had one option (see screenshot) and it wasn’t selected, so the choice wasn’t difficult.

Arduino

On a Mac, the port names are a little more convoluted, but it will basically be one of the two USB ports listed. cu-USB was the right choice on my car, but it may be different for you.

Arduino

check this

Let’s take a quick look at the toolbar.

Arduino

From left to right:

— Play symbol : compiles your code to test it without actually uploading it to the Arduino, but pressing the upload button will do that too.
— Stop character: this will stop the COMPILE of your program, not stop any running application already loaded into the Arduino.
— New file : starts new project code
— Up arrow : Open — Loads an existing project. There are hundreds of example programs, but leave that for now.
— Arrow to down : Save
— Right Arrow : upload current code to Arduino.
— Serial Monitor : This allows you to check the communication coming from the Arduino while it is connected to the computer, but don’t worry about it just yet.

Okay, time to launch your first application. Click » Open» and in the dialog select the sample application from 1. Basics -> Blink. You should see the following code:

Arduino starter kit