Some folks who may have favorite dev boards which aren’t Arduino UNO might be wondering, why Arduino instead of a more advanced board? I certainly agree that there are more powerful boards for the money. My mind immediately wanders to the Blue Pill.

For a beginner in electronics, Arduino UNO and clones may be a better choice since there is a vast amount of information available for Arduino UNO. Yes, the form factor is big and clunky. Yes, the MCU is long in the tooth, but for someone who is just learning the ropes, it is really easy to internet search “Arduino Multimeter” for instance, or “Arduino Capacitance meter” and get lots of good results to learn from.

For you who are just starting and may have picked up an “Arduino Starter Kit” from the online retailers or auction sites, I suggest stepping through the Getting Started guide, and then some of the Basics Tutorials to get a feel for how Arduino operates. Don’t be afraid of the information overload. It’s good for you.

I lied. The next electronics article will be about RC time constants and how to measure them with Arduino.