[DiverDude]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

ok so looking around would this be a good kit to order for playing around?

http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=1205

I figure it has a temp probe so I could play by getting it to turn off and on lights at different temps.

Steve

That would be a great place to start.

As for the number of programs you can have, I think you're having a conceptual issue. You can write one program that will handle multiple types of meat and/or timing cycles. the question is: How much program space (i.e memory) does any particular chip have ? THAT will limit the size of the program.

When I sold HVWTech.com, the Arduino was just starting to be known and I don't know a tremendous amount about it myself. From what I can gather though, with previous C++ experience and some electrical/electronics background, you are FAR better equipped to get into this than many people I used to sell development tools to !