I’m a huge Arduino fan. Before Arduino I used to spend hours writing C code for PIC controllers just to get an LED blinking. What a time waster. Now with Arduino I can much quicker get my cool projects up and running. As a thank you for all the Arduino community, I decided to compile the list Top 5 Must Have Arduino Tools.
This are my top favorite tools, time savers, that took me a lot of research to find them. They are a perfect match to get you going in your Arduino project. Of course, some of these tools could also be used in other platforms such as Beagle board and Raspberry Pi. But Arduino is my focus.
Tools 1 to 3 I use a regular basis. Tool #4 I really recommend for beginners. Tool #5 is still TBD and I wanted to share with you. It was pretty easy for me to come up with items 1 through 3. I use those tools in a very regular basis. Number for I have not used much, however
TOP 5 Must Have Arduino Tools
1. PLX-DAQ Data Acquisition for Excel
If you have analog data you want to plot, look no further for another tool. PLX-DAQ is all you need. Simple, easy & does the job.
I spent lots of hours trying to find a simple tool that could plot analog data, and after trying many complicated software, I came across this tool that’s pretty use to use. Check out my Arduino sketch at the bottom of this article, to jump-start your data plotting.
- Why: easy way to plot serial data in Excel
- Download from:https://classic.parallax.com/tabid/393/Default.aspx
- Great doc to help you using it: http://robottini.altervista.org/arduino-and-real-time-charts-in-excel?doing_wp_cron=1382484593.4194939136505126953125
2. Terminal
Don’t let the generic name trick you. Terminal is an excellent tool when you want to go a step beyond Arduino IDE’s Serial Monitor, which is a very very basic serial terminal. There are so many feature you will enjoy such as seeing data as DEC, HEX and BIN, all at same time.
Another great feature is the ability setup a serial message to be send automatically every x seconds. Perfect when you’re debugging the serial receive capabilities of your project.
The one downside of this tool, is that I could not get the graph to work fine… maybe I need to give another try someday…
- Why: ability to create macros & assign buttons; see data in DEC, HEX and BIN
- Download from: https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/
3. Notepad++
- Why: easy zoom, code folding, compare two files, HEX editor
- Download from: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- HEX Editor Plugin: http://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/Hex%20Editor/
4. Fritzing
- Fritzing (Circuit Design Software): easy way to document your project. Highly recommended for new Arduino users because it makes it easy for you to ask other people help when you have your circuit well documented. Also, documentation is also handy in case you want to disassemble and rebuild your project another day.
5. OPEN SPOT – What’s YOUR top tool?
please help me complete this list, and submit your suggestion as a top Arduino tool. Thank you so much for the help!!!