Hi all,
All forum members that responded, have received a personal message with more details about the workshop and workshop kits.
=== UPDATE 12 ===
Ok, we now have a final date and location for the Arduino Workshop:
The date: Sunday 28-11.
The location: Tolsduinerlaan 18, Velsen-Zuid next to the Telstar stadium. Forum member Michel (spierie) was kind enough to offer this location (a soccer clubhouse) to us. (So, although it might not be the exact center of the country, we get this location for free, including all facilities, such as beamer and internet.)
===
Responses: 19 (rene, louis, gjniewenhuijse, jakkes, Verkenner, r_255, spierie, Lempens, Bwired, Viper1970, j.hoekstra, Tiz, Alexander, Esteban, esschenk, Sanka, Mversluis, Bjochems, wwolkers)
Sun 28-11 positive: 16 (rene, louis, gjniewenhuijse, jakkes, Verkenner, r_255, spierie, Lempens, Bwired, j.hoekstra, Tiz, Esteban, esschenk, Mversluis, Bjochems, wwolkers)
Kit A: 17 (rene, louis, gjniewenhuijse, jakkes, Verkenner, r_255, Lempens, Bwired, Viper1970, j.hoekstra, Tiz, Alexander, Esteban, esschenk, Sanka, Mversluis, Bjochems)
Kit B: 19 (rene, louis, gjniewenhuijse, jakkes, Verkenner, r_255, spierie, Lempens, Bwired, Viper1970, j.hoekstra, Tiz, Alexander, Esteban, esschenk, Sanka, Mversluis, Bjochems, wwolkers)
Kit C: 6 (louis, gjniewenhuijse*, r_255, Alexander, Bjochems*, j.hoekstra) (*= including upgrade)
===
As you might remember, some time ago Robert (Digit) announced an Arduino Workshop for forum members, with a minimum of 15 attendees.
Read up on the details in this post:
Arduino Workshop
As we got >20 positive responses to this announcement, we are going ahead with the plan!
=== THE DATE ===
The first step is deciding on a suitable date for this workshop. The workshop will be all-day during the weekend (one Saturday or one Sunday), let's say from 10 am to 4 pm.
The dates we are looking into, are:
Sun 14-11
Sun 21-11
Sat 27-11
Sun 28-11
Sun 12-12
Sat 18-12
Sun 19-12
In order to plan this, we need to know the availability of the potential attendees. We'll choose a date depending on maximum availability and finding a suitable affordable location for this date.
=== THE WORKSHOP KIT ===
Beside a date and a location, we (or actually you) will need some hardware to be able to attend. That's where it gets interesting

We'll build the workshop around the Arduino platform and Home Automation. A nice Arduino compatible series of boards is available from JeeLabs (http://www.jeelabs.org), specifically the JeeNode. Furthermore, recently some code got published for integrating JeeNodes and sensors/actuators connected to it into Homeseer (http://jeelabs.org/2010/09/22/homeseer-and-jeenode-wsns), which is a nice starting point. So, we'll build a workshop kit around a JeeNode.
The minimum workshop kit - that everyone will need - is:
Kit A:
- An (unsoldered) JeeNode v5 (wireless microcontroller board)
- An (unsoldered) Room Board (motion, temp, humidity, light sensors)
- An (unsoldered) USB-BUB (USB board used to program the JeeNode)
Beside these JeeLabs goodies, everyone will need some additional gear:
Kit B:
- Large breadboard
- Jumper wires
- Mini USB cable
- Resistors
- LEDs
- Transistors
- Diodes
- Sensors and actuators
Very useful will be the following optional gear:
Kit C:
- Soldering station with a thin tip (http://www.eleshop.nl/aoyue-936-soldeer ... -p-61.html)
- A selection of tools: small pliers, tweezers, etc.
- Soldering tin
- Desoldering wick
In the near future. we'll publish a list of the exact components that everyone will need to have, and we'll be offering kit A, B and C at cost price, for your convenience. (Including a small discount, if we can arrange that.)
The cost of the workshop will consist of the cost of these kits and the cost of hiring a location. To give you an estimate:
- kit A: (max) EUR 68,50
- kit B: (approx.) EUR 25,-
- kit C: (approx.) EUR 60,- (optional)
- location: still unknown
Bringing or buying the contents of kit A and B will be mandatory to be able to attend the workshop (we just need to be sure that everyone brings the right/same stuff). As far as the soldering tools go: we'll bring a number of soldering stations and tools, but if you have it yourself, please bring your own, or just order kit C if you were planning on buying soldering tools anyway. Otherwise the workshop may consists mainly of waiting for a soldering station te become available

So, attending the workshop will set you back approx. EUR 95,- to EUR 155,- in hardware - depending on what you need to buy - and some additional euros for the location. Payment will need to be arranged before the workshop. For your convenience, we might bring some additional JeeLabs goodies to the workshop, for sale at a discount (Ether Card, JeeLink).
=== WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW NOW ===
What we need to know now from each of the potential attendees:
- Which of these dates would you be able to attend the workshop?
Sun 14-11
Sun 21-11
Sat 27-11
Sun 28-11
Sun 12-12
Sat 18-12
Sun 19-12
- Which kits would you need and want to buy?
Kit A
Kit B
Kit C
Please reply to this post; an aggregation of the replies will appear in an update at the top of this post.
We're looking forward to a fun and useful workshop!
Robert (Digit) & Lennart