The main focus of this book is the Arduino Yún board; so, of course, you will need one of the Arduino Yún boards to make all four projects of the book. Depending on the chapter, you will also need several hardware components. The details of these components required are given at the beginning of each chapter.
You will also need to have some software installed on your computer to make the projects work. The first one is the Arduino IDE's latest beta version (the only version that can work with the Yún). For all these projects, I used the Arduino IDE Version 1.5.6-r2, but all the newer versions should work as well. You can download the Arduino IDE at http://arduino.cc/en/main/software#toc3.
You will also need a web server running on your computer for some of the projects. I recommend that you use a software that integrates a web server and a database, and that handles all the details for you. If you are using Windows, I recommend using EasyPHP, which is available at http://www.easyphp.org/.
Under OS X, I recommend using MAMP, which is available at http://www.mamp.info/.
With Linux, you can follow the instructions to install a web server provided at http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/lamp.
Make sure the server is running at this point; we are going to use it in several of the projects in this book.
All the projects assume that your Arduino Yún board is already configured and connected to your Wi-Fi network. To configure and connect the Yún to your Wi-Fi network, there are only a few steps to follow. The first one is to plug the Arduino board in to the wall and wait for a moment.
After a while, you should see that a new Wi-Fi network has appeared in the list of Wi-Fi networks on your computer, created by the Yún. Connect to it, open a browser, and type the following command:
arduino.local
This should open a page served by the Arduino Yún board. You will be prompted to enter a password for your Yún board; please enter one that you can remember easily, as you will need it many times while attempting the projects in this book.
Then, you will be taken to a new page that contains some information about your Yún board. You can change the name of the board (which we will use later in all the projects), and also set your Wi-Fi parameters. You have to set these parameters so that the board can connect to your home Wi-Fi network. Choose the correct network from the list, enter your password, and click on Configure & Restart.
The Yún will then restart and connect to your network. At this point, you can also reconnect your computer to the local Wi-Fi network. After a while, you can type the following command in your browser along with the name you gave your Arduino board:
myarduinoyun.local
You should be taken to the same page again, but this time, with the Yún board connected to your local Wi-Fi network. If this is working, it means the Yún board is ready to be used for all the projects in the book.
You will also need to open the REST API of the Yún. This setting is configured on the configuration page of the Yún, where you have to select OPEN, which is close to REST API ACCESS. Reboot the Yún board again when the option has been changed.
Note that you have two ways to program your Yún board: you can either plug it directly into your computer via micro USB, or plug it into the wall via a USB adapter and upload the sketches via Wi-Fi.