SunFounder Mega 2560 Project Ultimate Starter Kit with Mega2560 Board and Tutorial for Arduino

I downloaded the IDE from Arduino official site, the Linux 64 bit version. After installed the software, with the bare board connected, the usb port will appear on the Tools>Port menu. And you have to tick it. The other thing you need is to select, at Tools>Board, the mega 2560 board, and then Tools>Processor, mega 2560. That is, if you brought the bigger one, the mega 2560 board. Just be careful if you plug the board in and out repeatedly. Ubuntu may detect several usb devices and fails them.The bundled servo didn't work. I brought 5 others from Amazon and every one of them worked, on the IDE sweep example without modification. Also, this is a compatible product that needed the open source software. Understandably the maker do not mention any IDE or how to install software and compile the code. Also, the tutorials booklet and CD probably aren't required. You can find them at the sunfounder website or the Arduino website, or the examples on the IDE. Sorry, no 5 star.For total starters, after downloading the IDE, the Ubuntu default archiver can extract it. Then you need to go into the folder to run at a terminal> sh install.shI think you can't run the script directly because the access mode isn't correct. You can also change mode, whatever.You plug the board into the USB first, then run the IDE. There's an icon on your desktop after install. At Tools>Port, the usb port will be detected automatically, but still you have to check it. Then select the correct board (mega 2560) and processor (2560).If you just click the arrow button to upload the blank code to the board, it should say successful. The other thing you can try is to upload the blink example and vary the on-off intervals. There's an LED on-board so you don't need to do anything for the example to work. For the servo, the brown wire is the gnd.Troubling shooting:Without any software installed and without anything connected to the board, if you connect the board to the pc, the green ON light will be on (of course). There's an orange LED blinking to say that there is a bootloader.If you type the command dmesg on a terminal, you should find your board usb entry as detected by the OS. This shows that the board is detected (without any software installed). Before you connect, there should not be an usb entry of the board. After connection, there should be one and only one entry for the board. If there's any error, you can clear the usb ports, the simplest way being reboot.

I received the MEGA 2560, proto board, USB cable, and bag of parts in a timely manner from the distributor. The MEGA board was of good quality and checked out OK. The components seemed to be all there. My advise to the experimenter is to check out each hookup wire with an ohmmeter before use, as I found an open one which led me to a bit of unnecessary debugging. The only documentation in the plastic box was a sheet with the resistor color code. It would have been nice to at least to have had a card with a URL to a web site covering some projects using this particular collection of parts. Google Search turned up little except references to the Arduino web site and to Fritzing web sites. Found nothing particular to this kit.For me as an amateur radio operator, it served my purposes as I already had other projects in mind along with my own collection of parts. Plus, it was reasonably priced. If you're just getting started, or wanting to get your kids interested in electronics / micro controllers, then I'd recommend stepping up to a more complete kit.

Arrived on time with all components. However, I spent a few hours to get it to work. I just couldn't update the driver no matter how much I googled it. I even tried different computers but nothing helped. Eventually, I started packing it all back thinking I'll have to send it back, because even the arduino's 'on' led wouldn't light. Then I thought maybe I'll try a different USB cable, and that worked like a charm. The cable that came with it wasn't working! I wasted hours on this...Now everything seems to work properly.

I'm giving this kit five stars, but I could have given four just as easily. Four and a half would have been perfect. I have some problems with the contacts in the breadboard pushing out of the bottom of the breadboard. I have to push them back in periodically. And the push button switch doesn't fit the breadboard, making it difficult to use the button unless you attach some leads to it.

Original arduino didn't work. After several back and forth emails from the company they sent me a new one. The new one worked perfectly but lost interest with all aggravation and lost time.

Really great product for the price. Recommend for people who are beginners and mid lvl hobbyists, students, or enthusiasts who are willing to be productive/do side projects with Arduino.Community feed back is great! Just by following the simple directions the booklet gives you can get you started.

This is a great device. Being a retired computer engineer I was hooked quickly. I've built many electronic projects in the past but this was a quick start and I was seeing results in one evening. I am now working with it to create a cross band repeater for my amateur radio shack.

Came as expected-- everything just works! Not for absolute beginners though, you'll need a bit of googling to follow the example exercises and some tweaks. But a great deal for the enthusiast or someone warming up to electronics and DIY arduino.