HOW TO - Make a WebVisitors blinker

P1090004
Dimme writes in -

WebVisitors blinker is a quick 'n' dirty Arduino project. Something very easy to do to get started with Arduino. If you have a web server where you live you can see when somebody visits your web site in real time. It gives you a warm feeling of knowing that somebody visits your web site.
HOW TO - Make a WebVisitors blinker - Link.


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Posted by: timmaah on January 10, 2008 at 6:59 AM

Fairly lame if you ask me...

Requires the arduino to be directly hooked up to the webserver..

No case

No resistor on the led

Code is completely uncommented. (whats with the val


Posted by: Dimme on January 10, 2008 at 7:12 AM

It's quick 'n' dirty.


Posted by: GiGaMoG on January 10, 2008 at 7:18 AM

What kind of lame comment was that?
He choose arduino because it's a easy programmable interface. If you want to do your very own microcontroller, go ahead...

Seriously, case or not. It's just a very minor optional thing.


Posted by: timmaah on January 10, 2008 at 7:38 AM

I mentioned lame because it is so quick and dirty.

The arduino is cool.. really cool, yet the first tutorial is to blink an led. This is one step above this.

Make has posted a bunch of nice arduino contraptions over the last few months. This seems to be going backwards in their coverage.

I understand how hard it must be to fill this blog with exciting "makes" day after day, but it has gone down hill lately and I'd rather see them post less then post more really basic obvious "makes"

Just my 2 cents...


Posted by: timmaah on January 10, 2008 at 7:43 AM

oh and not to mention this from last month..

Which I did like..
- its not as obvious as a blinking light
- it has detailed build instructions
- doesn't assume your arduino is hooked to a web server
- has nicely commented code

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/12/how_to_make_an_arduino_xm.html


Posted by: figgalicous on January 10, 2008 at 7:52 AM

A Make is a Make, especially given the variety of skill levels out there. When my arduino arrives in the mail, I might try this out - seems easy enough. I'ts not like this website is organized by a difficulty rating. It's a fallacy to say the coverage of DIY projects must constantly be looking for advancements & ignore anything that isn't at least a head above the previous posts. OF COURSE it's lame:I already wrote my first Arduino program. It's really simple but fun :)Your delivery has spoiled your message,
Requires the arduino to be directly hooked up to the webserver
No case
No resistor on the led
Code is completely uncommented.


Posted by: Icaruswing on January 10, 2008 at 8:28 AM

I Agree Figgalicious - I am just learning to use micro controllers, I have a webserver at home... this is a great intro project. There are plenty of projects that get listed here that are WAY over my skill level, it is nice to see some good introductory level posts - sometimes I wish there were more actually.
My two cents.


Posted by: ScrappyLaptop on January 10, 2008 at 9:05 AM

Hey, if you don't like the hack, "make some of your own" (my apologies to Skip the news guy on KFOG in the late '70's). I do question using a microcontroller to blink a LED when something much much simpler could be used, it seems like overkill. Then again, I assume it was intended not as the cleanest hack to blink a LED, but rather an excuse for a tutorial; in that case it is justified but not really a hack. Okay, I think you've convinced me: basic microcontroller projects are by definition, not hacks. Perhaps Make: should spin off the Arduino projects to a separate category/blog?


Posted by: ScrappyLaptop on January 10, 2008 at 12:19 PM

My apologies, I think I thought I was on Hackaday. This is totally appropriate for MAKE:. I blame the cold medicine...


Posted by: jammit on January 10, 2008 at 12:38 PM

I have a neat idea to add onto that. Instead of the LED, hook it up to the Digg counter.


Posted by: jammit on January 10, 2008 at 12:39 PM

I have a neat idea to add onto that. Instead of the LED, hook it up to the Digg counter. http://www.ladyada.net/make/digg/


Posted by: Pjotor on January 10, 2008 at 2:16 PM

Wow, this really reminds me of a project I did at my last workplace, Blinkenlights.
A nice map of the world that lit a little color coded light at a request (grean to red depending on response time), encoding depending on the type of request (uploads, special requests, etc.) everything driven by UDP and IP-lookup - built with Processing fed by a Rails app.
Maybe I should post it for everyone to play with.


Posted by: kanzure on January 11, 2008 at 5:37 AM

Anybody remember the XKCD map of the web? Print it out. Send a brief snippit of code to all of the websites, asking them to export real time visitor information. Then have a script poll this information, and you can have your own blinking map of the web.

- Bryan


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