On this page... (hide)
Glad you asked, we have a great introduction page on Arduino, click here to read it.
Open-source hardware shares much of the principles and approach of free and open-source software. In particular, we believe that people should be able to study our hardware to understand how it works, make changes to it, and share those changes. To facilitate this, we release all of the original design files (Eagle CAD) for the Arduino hardware. These files are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, which allows for both personal and commercial derivative works, as long as they credit Arduino and release their designs under the same license.
The Arduino software is also open-source. The source code for the Java environment is released under the GPL and the C/C++ microcontroller libraries are under the LGPL.
You can buy an Arduino board from the official store online or from one of the distributors listed on this page. If you'd prefer to build your own, see the Arduino Single-Sided Serial board, which can be easily etched and assembled.
The official Arduino boards are the ones listed on the product page. These are boards whose manufacturers work with the Arduino team to ensure a good user experience, compatibility with the Arduino software, and a quality product. In return for their status as official boards, the manufacturers pay a licensing fee to the Arduino team to support the further development of the project.
In general, we restrict use of the name "Arduino" to the official boards. If you find a product under a different name but described as "Arduino compatible", it’s probably not an official board and doesn’t fund continued work on the project.
Read about Clones, Derivatives and Counterfeits by Massimo Banzi (Blog)
Learn about how to spot a counterfeit (Website)
If you're creating tutorials, managing a local community of Arduino users, opening up an Arduino-focused page online (ie. social networks) you can use the Arduino Community Logo! This will allow people identify better what comes directly from us, and what comes from the community.
The reference designs for the Arduino boards are available from their specific product pages. They're licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, so you are free to use and adapt them for your own needs without asking permission or paying a fee. If you're looking to make something of interest to the community, we'd encourage you to discuss your ideas on the hardware development forum so that potential users can offer suggestions.
If you're making your own board, come up with your own name! This will allow people identify you with your products and help you to build a brand. Be creative: try to suggest what people might use the board for, or emphasize the form factor, or just pick a random word that sounds cool. "Arduino" is a trademark of Arduino LLC and should not be used for unofficial variants. If you're interested in having your design included in the official Arduino product line, please see the So you want to make an Arduino document and contact the Arduino team. While unofficial products should not have "Arduino" in their name, it's okay to describe your product in relation to the Arduino project and platform. Here are a few guidelines that explain which uses we consider reasonable.
Note that while we don't attempt to restrict uses of the "duino" suffix, its use causes the Italians on the team to cringe (apparently it sounds terrible); you might want to avoid it. (It's also trademarked by a Hungarian company.)
Yes, with the following conditions:
In all cases, the exact requirements are determined by the applicable license. Additionally, see the previous question for information about the use of the name “Arduino”.
See instructions for Ubuntu Linux, for Debian Linux, for Gentoo Linux, for Linux, or for Linux on PPC. This this forum thread has more information. Or, you can use Arduino from the command line, and not have to install Java.
In fact, you already are; the Arduino language is merely a set of C/C++ functions that can be called from your code. Your sketch undergoes minor changes (e.g. automatic generation of function prototypes) and then is passed directly to a C/C++ compiler (avr-g++). All standard C and C++ constructs supported by avr-g++ should work in Arduino. For more details, see the page on the Arduino build process.
It is possible to compile programs for the Arduino using other build tools (e.g. Makefiles and/or AVR Studio). You'll need to configure these to link against the appropriate files in the Arduino core libraries. See the description of the Arduino build process.
Sure. It's just an AVR development board, you can use straight AVR C or C++ (with avr-gcc and avrdude or AVR Studio) to program it.
Yes, you can use Create web editor to program your board without the need of download the classic IDE.
Yes, although it may require some modifications to the Arduino core libraries.
These questions have moved to the troubleshooting section of the Arduino guide.
Yes, check out our Privacy Policy page.
There you will see how we handle visitor's information and our non-disclosure policies.
Please always make sure to use your username, not your email to login.
Please make sure you spelled your username right, including capital letters if present.
We've just migrated to a new authentication system with improved security.
We haven't finished migrating everything, you'll probably experience some hiccups.
Send an email to support[at]arduino.cc
