breadboard
Let me say to set the scene, that I am a complete beginner with electronics, not having done anything since my school days. I can write code, but hardware is another thing entirely.
I got myself an Arduino, and bought a breadboard from Maplins. The only thing is, the layout is very different to what I see on most tutorials, and I don't want to risk damaging anything.
Can anyone link to any tutorial which uses this breadboard layout?
The spikes you are seeing are just an effect of your breadboard allowing coupling. This is expected with any breadboard.
The best way is to get a pin header and solder it into place.
The pin headers look something like this:
The standard distance is 2.54 mm, which should be same as the distance between holes on the breadboard and on the PCBs. These pin headers are usually easy to break into smaller sections, so you can buy a bigger one if the exact size is unavailable.
The exact type you want would be 2.54 mm pitch, single row straight male pin header.
Best Answer
Connections would be wired together as such:
EDIT: I am not sure about the bottom connections. can someone confirm?