# Arduino newby



## Hunter’s Haunts (Dec 14, 2021)

I am trying to convince myself to jump into building my own controllers for my haunt. The frightprops controllers are great but they can get expensive.
The research I’ve done on YouTube etc. is terrific, lots of info. But my question is can I build the arduino prop controller using an apple computer, it seems everyone uses windows. Buying a new computer really messes with the cost effiency of building my own controller.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Welcome to the forum. I think quite a lot can be done with the arduino. 95% of the time, if I have an idea for something I want to do, I just search that and the code is already out there. By compiling short/simple functions into an overall sketch, you can get quite a bit of custom functionality. Of course, there are the 'standard' arduino prop controllers already out there, too. So overall, quite a rich environment for development.

What I have no clue on is the arduino<>apple interface. Looking at the arduino IDE download page, they show a version for "MAC OS X 10.10 or newer". Though offhand, I don't know if that is a 2020 operating system or 2002. If your apple meets that requirement, I would suspect once you get into the arduino IDE, then all arduino code/functions/programming/etc would be the same.









Software


Open-source electronic prototyping platform enabling users to create interactive electronic objects.




www.arduino.cc





Hope this helps.


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## Hunter’s Haunts (Dec 14, 2021)

It does and it did. Thanks. I hate the bugs and virus problems on windows, so I like using Mac.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

OK - good to know it works! Let us know how some of your projects turn out.


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## Hallowed31 (7 mo ago)

Hunter’s Haunts said:


> I am trying to convince myself to jump into building my own controllers for my haunt. The frightprops controllers are great but they can get expensive.
> The research I’ve done on YouTube etc. is terrific, lots of info. But my question is can I build the arduino prop controller using an apple computer, it seems everyone uses windows. Buying a new computer really messes with the cost effiency of building my own controller.


I just bought a used Windows 8 laptop off a guy online for $100. Never Arduinoed with Apple, don't like Apple if I'm honest, but if you're looking to dive into Arduino, recommend a cheapy (64 bit, quad core i3 or greater with at least 4GB of RAM, SSD ideal but you can always clone up one of those after, fresh Windows 7 to 11 install). Easy to move around, make code revisions, incorporate with Processing. I love Arduino builds, can really make unique stuff with them.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

Check out buttonbanger.com. His controller show software is great. And best of all free. Not sure if he has an apple version though. You may want to get a cheap windows laptop just for prop programming.


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