Debunking Arduino Myths: 5 Misconceptions Cleared Up!

As a longtime writer for sites like Hackster and the official Arduino Blog, I spend a lot of time exploring the maker community and these are the five biggest myths about Arduino that I come across on a regular basis.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
0:22 Myth 1
1:05 Myth 2
2:17 Myth 3
3:19 Myth 4
4:20 Myth 5

[boycefenn]

I disagree with your first point, shortening "microcontroller board" to just "microcontroller" is perfectly valid and i think getting caught up on the distinction is pedantic. Its not just hobbyists that do this, im an electrical engineer and everyone i know will say microcontroller when referring to either a microcontroller board or a microcontroller chip.

[markbooth]

Interestingly, it looks like the Raspberry Pi 5's RP1 'south bridge' chip, has an unused Cortex-M3 core, so at some point in the future it could potentially be used to run microcontroller firmware with direct access to the Raspberry Pi I/O pins, even before the Pi has booted.

[orclev]

Point of contention, I'd argue an "Arduino" is both a microcontroller AND a development board. The name Arduino has come to be used as a shorthand for referring to ANY 8-bit AVR based microcontroller, as they were the first to successfully popularize that CPU architecture. While the _company_ Arduino does make _some_ non-AVR development boards, those are not what most people would refer to as Arduino boards, and in fact the overwhelming majority of development boards produced and sold by Arduino are in fact 8-bit AVR based. When someone says "I used an Arduino" most of the time what they mean is "I used an 8-bit AVR based microcontroller", the fact that it most likely was embedded in a development board (which may or may not have been manufactured by the Arduino company) is largely secondary to the discussion. Further, in addition to being a microcontroller and a development board, Arduino is to a certain extent _also_ an IDE, programming language, library ecosystem, and associated tooling.

If you're being absolutely pedantic, Arduino is a _company_, that makes a variety of products, some of which are development boards. _Technically_ the microcontroller is *not* the Arduino, but *neither* is the development board, any more than a Gameboy is a "Nintendo".

[alexcrouse]

I've never had an issue with a clone board.

[fitbdx]

Cool desk lamp. Any links to buy or make it?

[MitchDavis]

Under 300 subs!?‽ well that’s going to change real soon. Awesome video, I’m saving this for people who ask me these questions. Very well worded!

[mrlazda]

Sexond point is for all practical prpose true, bat strictly looking is false. Raspberry PI do not need operating system to run, you can "easily" write bare metal program that will run on Raspberry PI (been there done that). And other way is true you can run some OS on arduino board (for ARM based arduino biards there is even Linux distribution)

[emnul]

The blue light in the video background is so cool. Did you make it yourself?

[EveryFlavorRobot]

Great content! Keep it up :) I've found myself explaining a lot of these myths to people but never as clearly as you have here!

[daniellehwing]

I do use an Arduino clone called RGBduino, which have, soldered in the board, a peizo buzzer, two RGB leds and ten micro leds on each digital pins (from pin 2 to 11).
I really like it because of the functuality and even the USB connector is the micro version (instead of the B version).
Nice video, you have got a new sub.

[yash]

2:39 _"deriv of cpp"_

i thought it was derivative of embedded C?!

[joonglegamer]

I love Arduino boards, they are the most handy "quick" fix you can imagine, as he said in the video - you have the advantages of instant boot time, and thats a big deal. You program it, tons of ready made code (like libraries and drivers for screens, sensors etc.) add a little code, and your project is up and running in hours, not months. It's such a good thing to have around that I literally have 100's of nano's in my shelves, yes, they're super addictive.

[djjackson]

Great video for beginners getting into maker space or hobby electronics. One small caveat, you can absolutely use RPi as bare metal.

[BertoLaDK]

I wouldnt say arduino is a programming language, but its definitely not C++ as you would know it. I like to refer to it as "Arduino Flavoured C++", though I don't really use it because IMO arduino library just adds a lot of clutter like most general libraries.

[georhodiumgeo]

I just want to put this out somewhere. The standard arduino has a bootloader that manages USB and some other things.

Yes, you can get a board that doesn't have the bootloader installed on the MCU. This doesn't mean the board is bad, just flash the bootloader onto the chip with JTAG.

More importantly you can also go the other direction. You can make a program with Atmel Studio and flash it over the bootloader and use it just like a ATMega328 standalone but with headers pre installed.

This is a nice stepping stone for moving from a dev board to a standalone design. Using the dev board leaves a lot on the table that a good design will take advantage of but you don't need to make the move all at once.

For example if you want a little more out of the board and want to move your project to Atmel Studio but you aren't ready to print a custom PCB you can make this step without any physical changes.

Pay attention to inputs and clock settings to do this without causing problems. Unless you do something extreme you can just flash the bootloader back onto it to return it to working condition.

[essmene]

Idk. Those "Myths" feel like nitpicking. When I said in the past a Mac is not a PC - I would mean Motorolla vs. Intel. So most people will understand on a Microcontrollers vs. Arm vs. Intel. You could mention that a Motherboard or even a Raspberry Pi will have Microcontrollers to achieve some tasks. Which would lead down to the definition of a Microcontroller vs a CPU.

Next is the definition of "work". The Rapsberry Pi starts working when you power him up with what you told him to do. He loads an operating system. You could do without, but a OS is a good abstraction for a complex chip like a CPU and the ability to run multiple programs in (sometimes simulated) paralellity.

[JeffreyJibson]

I don't know if this is still a problem.. beware of counterfeit Arduinos. The first time I tried buying an official Arduino, but got a counterfeit. It didn't work.

[CosmicPAX]

Great video debunking common myths about Arduino! It's important to clarify misconceptions to help beginners and enthusiasts alike. Thanks for sharing!

[critter]

I think the concept of the Arduino Uno, Mega, etc being development boards for their respective MCUs has really fallen by the wayside in recent years, especially with the move away from socketed chips - which was really disappointing to me. I ain't never gonna let go of my socketed Uno :-D. I mean, I get that to maintain the form factor yet advance the technology they had to move to SMT, but it makes things harder for the individual developer, especially those who suck at SMT soldering 😀. For instance, I got interested in POV - where you see words, pictures, etc formed by rapidly blinking LEDs while moving the assembly in space. Using a whole Uno is a waste of space, so I breadboarded the circuit and programmed the ATmega328 in the Uno. Then I just made a bare-bones tiny PCB with just the LED array, necessary discrete components, battery holder and an IC socket. All I needed to do then was unsocket the MCU, socket it into my POV board, hit the power switch and I had a cool little toy I could attach to my key ring and show off to people randomly.

[norbert.kiszka]

Atmega (Arduino) can be programmed in C and CH340 doesnt require drivers if You are using Linux (Linux has built in and tested drivers for most of new and old devices).