Ask HN: How to get started in hardware hacking?

I'm not a hardware expert as well. I've a technical ham radio license from when I was at school (pre 2000) which gave me a small advantage when getting into hardware hacking.<p>IMO Arduino's are great for getting started - especially the Arduino Uno as it's not stripped down like the Mini or Nano and can nicely be used with a breadboard. Plus in case you blow up the Atmel chip (e.g. by shortening pins so that they are dead) you could get a replacement chip for a few dollars and pull the old one out of the socket.<p>I would recommend browsing over the tutorials here: <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage" rel="nofollow">http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage</a><p>That should give you a hint on what you can do (programming and electric circuits).<p>There's Arduino IDE which hides the toolchains from you (which is not bad at the beginning). As soon as you advance you can setup your own toolchains and use C directly.

Much like an approach to learning software, I'd say pick a project that you'd like to control in some fashion. Could be something like:<p>- Turn on a desklamp when I enter the room<p>- Remotely open my garage door without modifying the hardware<p>- Tell me the status of the sprinkler system<p>One good place to get ideas is look at a product that does something interesting, but you want it to do more. Examples from my own current project list:<p>- LED strips with a remote control that give the option of 16 colors. Modifying said controller to give me more colors (as the LEDs are RGB LEDs)<p>- Hacking a wireless power socket to not need the remote but be computer controlled.<p>If nothing else, pick up a copy of Make magazine and have fun...

Would you mind sending me an email (in profile). I'm working on a product aimed at people like you and would like to give you a test run.

jdrake3, from your comment history it appears that you have been hell-banned.