Hardware to consider and where to buy

[Eric]

I currently have a Arduino Mega , Im looking to get a Raspberry Pi.

You can get both at Adafruit where its fairly priced. That site also has pretty much anything you need for electronics.

Arduino ranges from $30 to $65 (Cheaper on ebay $15 - $25)

Raspberry Pi is $39 on Adafruit (only place I found that had them in stock)

I found the Arduino gives you more flexibility if you want to do alot with I/O such as LED's and servos. Who ever has the Pi, add on to discuss the pro's/con's of it as well.

Arduino gives you PLENTY of I/O ports white the Pi you need to get a ribbon wire to use I/O and does not have as many ports.

I also recommend getting the Ethernet shield for the Arduino if you want to do some internet interfaces, as well as the LCD screen for Arduino.

Links:

http://www.Adafruit.com

http://arduino.cc

[David Noyes]

Here's two other sites to check out:

http://sparkfun.com

http://makershed.com

[Martin Andrews]

I received my raspberry Pi this week from allied electronics:

http://www.alliedelec.com/lp/120626raso/

While they warned of a possible 2 month backlog it only took me 2 weeks to get it.

I haven't had a chance to play with it yet.

[tom_d_f...@yahoo.com]

I got my Pi from Allied as well in about 2 weeks. 

I had to also order this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080D3Z24/ref=ox_ya_os_product

as I didn't have an HDMI capable monitor laying around. This converts HDMI to VGA and works with only very minor config tweaks to the PI.

[Martin Andrews]

The Pi comes with vga output along with hdmi, so you should not need a converter (I have used mine with vga output).

[tom_d_f...@yahoo.com]

Really? Mine has RCA and HDMI, so to connect an old VGA monitor, I thought I needed a converter. With the RCA, I could have connected to a TV, I believe. This is my first attempt at hardware hacking, so I'm a bit out of my depth.

[Mark Ryan]

Mine has RCA/HDMI as well

[David Snyder]

In case people are still looking, I bought my Raspberry PI from MCM Electronics for $35.  They show just about everything in stock.  Shipping is a bit pricey, and also they charge sales tax in Ohio unfortunately.  I also picked up a decent case for around $8 and a bluetooth USB for $6 (not sure if it works in the Pi yet).