• Hardware

  • Arduino, ESP8266, raspberry pi in Lebanon

Quick questions, where can we find these types of boards in lebanon other than katranji, and is there workshops to learn here in leb, and is anyone willing to help me with my home automation project

And who can help me with my many stupid questions

Thank you in advanced
A noob in leb
About purchasing sources no idea.
But regarding this stuff i can answer here on forum, as it will be useful for other members as well.
I do have some experience with all aforementioned :)
Your best bet is ekt2. Other than that aliexpress or amazon and quick shipping that's like 20$ if you're in a hurry. What's wrong with EKT tho
Ekt2 is great, but doesnt specific small things available, like 200v to 3.3v tiny adapter, or the newest esp8266 12,

As for questions, ive heard i need to pull up and pull down a couple of pins, which ones are they, and how many ohms is considered good to pull up, and what about stupid resets. After a while of working fine it stops for a while, not sure how long exactly but the next day it works fine so ive read its power related or pull up related,

Do i need capacitors to control it or?

And would u mind passing and checking out my project near zalka, im turning a whole studio into a smart studio
hragterzian96 wroteEkt2 is great, but doesnt specific small things available, like 200v to 3.3v tiny adapter, or the newest esp8266 12,

As for questions, ive heard i need to pull up and pull down a couple of pins, which ones are they, and how many ohms is considered good to pull up, and what about stupid resets. After a while of working fine it stops for a while, not sure how long exactly but the next day it works fine so ive read its power related or pull up related,

Do i need capacitors to control it or?

And would u mind passing and checking out my project near zalka, im turning a whole studio into a smart studio
Pull up/down is important. It depends on module you are using, also. Some have internal ones.
Important ones:
RST better to pullup to VCC by 4.7K, lack of pullup might be exactly reason of resets.
GPIO0, GPIO2, GPIO15(this one pulldown) also important to pull, as if not your board might boot, and might not, they set boot mode.
Make sure you have decoupling cap near ESP, few uF, and sure supply should be capable to provide 200mA+ (means you can't power it from arduino LDO).
For reboot reason also you can check EspClass::getResetReason(void), it can tell if it was code issues (might be watchdog or exception), or something else.
Also if your ESP manages any high voltage/high current stuff, over relays or so, or there is high voltage nearby - your reboots might be due EMI. Make sure pullup circuits for CH_PD and RST are very close to module and in general all setup are EMI resistant.

Check: http://esp8266.github.io/Arduino/versions/2.0.0-rc2/doc/boards.html#generic-esp8266-modules
I recommend buying the Arduino Uno R3 for 5,000L.L each from an Armenian store in dora. I forgot it's name but I remember they used to sell a broad range of electronics.
2 months later
In Lebanon, we have 2 major players when it comes to original boards: EKT a.k.a. Katranji and CNC Lab. Katranji has the tendency to have a couple of defected items (I had a couple of Arduino Pro Micros that didn't work though I got the original ones). CNC Lab is in Tripoli (Bahsas to be exact), but all his products are top notch and never did I receive a defected item. You can also get them via RS On-line shop (Verdun, across Zara), but they are expensive.

You can also order them online via Massdrop and AliExpress for better pricing.

For electronic components to go with your boards, Katranji is your best bet, followed by Incotel and Boujikian (both located in Doura). Another good electronics provider is Kubbi (Bourj Brajni, best source for SMD components). You can also try Kanafani (Bchara El Khoury, next to Ministry of Finance and across Berytech Digital Park). Despite the friendly staff, they tend to have old stock (since they don't move their items as fast as Katranji or Boujikian). Boujikian is also the Armenian store that Johnaudi might be referring to (don't know if they etch and assemble the Arduino Uno boards though). In home automation projects you might be needing circuit breakers and other high current controllers, so I recommend Takom energy for that (Ghazieh).

For the workshops, Lamba Labs!! We do build nights on Wednesdays between 7:30pm and 10pm (sometimes we start earlier and sometimes we stay later, depends on the timing of keyholders). Check our FB page for events as well (we did an all Python workshop where we touched base with the Raspberry Pi; we're holding an intro to Arduino workshop and maybe an IoT workshop based on NodeMCU and Blynk app in January as well). Even if we don't have a dedicated workshop during Build Night, you can ask for help anytime from any attendee who is willing to help out (myself included). We always welcome questions, no matter how dumb or nooby you think it may be :) Contacts: 70/854780 (if you want me to add you to our whatsapp group notify me on that number as well), or email at contact@lambalabs.com. You can also PM me if you want to keep things private or whatever. Note: we provide the hardware during the workshops and Build Nights if you're curious about something and just want to test it out before buying, and majority of the workshops we hold are free of charge.

To be fair, BDD and some university clubs (like AUB Robotics Club and STC club at RHU) sometimes do workshops on Arduino and Raspberry Pi (though sometimes access is restricted and other times workshops are paid).

PS: between Dec 1st and Dec 5th I'm not available in the country, so best way to contact me then is via whatsapp.
3 months later
beirutronics.com

online shop, they deliver all around Lebanon, they have common products that are sometimes out of stock at EKT

As for the workshops, IEA make some free Raspberry Pi workshops for schools & universities.