can anyone recommend a beginner project?

A very simple, beginner, lighting project would be to light up a row of LEDs. Then have it pulse back and forth like a Cylon helmet or the front of Kit from Knight Rider.

The goals:

1. Light up the bar

2. Light individual LEDs. And lighting certain ones.

3. Then light them in particular orders.

Cabe

A really simple way to experiment with programming is the IQ3 board. You can link up a number of LEDs to some PICs on a board and program them using simple keystokes.

http://www.mutr.co.uk/index.php?cPath=4_567

I have tried to program PICs in the past but it's not really my forte. I tried using PIC kit 2 and PICAXE, even Atmel's Butterfly, but they weren't for me.

I came across the previous version of the IQ3 (unsurprisingly the IQ2) and found it really easy to experiment with. A friend of mine is a fire station officer and asked me if I could design some LED flashing lights to fit on his dashboard. Now I wish I could I say I developed a fantastic high power system, but I didn't, but came up with a simple red and blue flashining system, using Superflux LEDs. Also I experiented with pulsing RGBs to get different colour combinations. Good fun.

Many people add scenery and buildings to model train layouts.  A bit more difficult project would be the inclusion on lights in various windows each with its own control.  You might start with an LED and determine the optimum current limiting resistor in series for the light level desired, dim blue light for a tv and harsh yellow light in the kitchen or workspace.  Follow up with a powersupply using the 7405 chip and then connect the system to a pair of TTL chips with 4 AND gates each so that different combinations of input will turn on different lights.  Finally conncect the input pins of the TTL chip to the parallel port of an old computer (new computers have dispensed with this "printer port").  Remember that  TTL "open collector" chips require a pull up resistor on each output (single IC with 8 resistors is easy solution).

Here is a very simple project for beginners RGB LED CONTROL with ATMega32 C++

This is one of the first works for students

2x5mm RGB LED with 3xAnodes and 1xKathode

6xBC547C

6x1kOhm between controler pins and bases

3x100Ohm between +5V and 2xCollectors

2x10kOhm between +5V and switch with GND to create logic1

2xTact Switch (second one at the right lower corner  with cut off leg.)

Attachement with SprintLayout5 file

If you want something more interesting then try this

http://sound.westhost.com/project60.htm

when you say beginner projects how beginner do you mean

led name [link]http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Name-Switch-Toy-for-Toddler/http://

wrist watch turn tables [link]http://www.instructables.com/id/wristwatch-turntables/http://

robots [link] http://http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-technology/channel-robots/

greeting cards [link] http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-technology/channel-robots/http://

nes work bench [link] http://http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Workbench-playable-NES/

                                 For more projects go to http://http://www.instructables.com/

                                                       hope this is helpful

                                                                  Emil Robinson