Buying Arduino in Hong Kong

Didn't expect it would be so hard to buy Arudino open source prototyping platform hardware in Hong Kong. On a brief stopover in Hong Kong to attend Gnome Asia 2012. It would take a lot of time to hunt for Arduino boards in Hong Kong's famed electronics markets. It would be wise to do some homework before hitting the markets.

Got a lucky break while digging through the Dimsum Labs facebook page. Found the Candy Chan's shop address in Sham Shui Po in Kawloon. The shop's website lists all the Arduino boards, shields and various electronic components. Navigating the maze of shops in Sham Shui Po is not for faint hearted. You won't have any problems finding these shops with the direction given below.

• Tell How Technologies



• G37, Wonder Building, 161-175 Fuk Wa Street, Shamshuipo, Kawloon, Hong Kong


• Phone: 27427881 / 68085307 / 86-15012528870


• Email:tellhow37 (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) hk


• Website: www.tellhow-tech.com

Take the MRT to the Sham Shui Po station, exit through Gate D2 on to Fuk Wa street. You will find yourself facing the Golden Computer Center, the Wonder building is on your right. You will find the shop on the ground floor of this building.

Stumbled upon Man Wai-Yun's shop that offered a large collection of sensors, kits from DFRobot.com. You need to wait few days for the components to be shipped in from Taiwan.

• Rainbow Computer Peripherals



• LG No.60, Golden Building 146-152 Fuk Wah Street, Kawloon, Hong Kong


• Phone: 2728-1819


• Email: info (at) abcde (dot) com


• Website: www.rcpcomputer.com

The shop in the basement level of the Golden Computer Center. The best way to find the shop would be to ask the guard at security desk to guide you to the shop No. 60.

It is easy to find open hardware online but finding a shop that stocks them would be really hard. Next time I'll buy the open hardware online at DealExtreme.com .

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Getting Started with Arduino in Hanoi

Spent the weekend learning basic electronics with Arudino open source prototyping platform. La 4uatrieme creative lab organized a two day Arduino workshop in Hanoi.

Designer and teacher Eoin Kinsella delivered a very interactive workshop. We learnt basic electronics, Arduino hardware and software environment by tinkering examples from the popular Getting Started with Arduino book. We spent the day building simple prototypes with sensors, switches and LED's on solderless breadboard and programed it using Arduino development environment.

The Arduino IDE on Linux is not well tested. During the workshop I found a minor bug in Arduino package in Ubuntu and fixed it right away.

The inexpensive Arudino hardware makes it easy to build interaction design and physical computing prototypes. With 3D printing services such as Shapeways you can now bring your ideas to life much faster than ever.

You can buy Arduino hardware in Vietnam from Soatec (www.sotatec.com) in Ho Chi Minh city.

Watch Arduino The Documentary (2010)

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Arduino workshop in Hanoi (May 2012)

La 4uatrième: Arduino workshop 12th/13th May at la 4uatrieme//Hộ...: Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.



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Affordable Braille Display ?

Steve talks about some of the frustrations working with braille displays in this live journal entry Bring On The Braille. I think he speaks for all of us. He writes,

I've been on a constant lookout for affordable braille display technology. For years, this stuff's been anything but. Spending over $2000 for a measley 12 cells is something I would never justify, and the price-to-cell ratio doesn't get much better with the more costly units. Prices have actually come down over the years, and it looks like it may be happening again.

The price is a big barrier. Why can't we have a device that is affordable to all. Braille displays isn't rocket science it is simple enough to build one with a arduino toolkit, I think Edward Rogers(does anyone have his email address?) has built one such device. What do you reckon ?

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Prayas The Tinkerer

Ran into Prayas the tinkerer while in Bangalore. He introduced me to two of his really interesting projects.

CANOPY: temporary roofs for tea-shops

CANOPY is a series of temporary (flexible, mobile, sturdy), multi-purpose roofs for shops on Indian streets.


The first set of canopies are for tea-shops in Chandni-Chowk (New Delhi) and will attempt to have these features:

1. water collection (rain, dew, fog)


2. space for growing vegetables


3. space for sleeping


4. LIVE solar mobile charging


5. storage


6. marking (creating an identity for the tea-shop through art on the canopy)

MausamChowk: a set of local weather stations that help you decide where to go

SMS a query to a local weather station. Receive a reply with the temperature, humidity and noise levels of the space. Decide if you want to go there or someone else. This project uses the arduino

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