SparkFun Forums

[epl692]

ok, iv never done anything like this before, but im wondering, if i get the AVR 8 Pin 10MHz 2K 4A/D - ATtiny13 what else do i need? (note: i dont even know how to plug one of thease things in to get i/o or anything... so any help would be nice...) basicly i want to build something but dont know anything about this type of thing... but i want to learn... so basicly, what do i need to get started (i can learn the c elsewere i think)

[andrey]

Well, you AVR needs power (a 5V regulated supply) and an in-system programmer (there are several options) to burn code to its Flash. Not much else. I guess the rest depends on what you want to do with it. I would recommend at least a serial port (buy one of the SparkFun USB UART breakout boards, like the CP2102 one) so that you can talk to the chip from your PC. You should be able to build a complete ATtiny13 system on a breadboard.

I don't really recommend microcontrollers as an introduction to C. Nothing stops you from writing C programs on/for your PC, which is a much better way to learn. Buy a book and/or take classes and write command-line PC programs using the standard C libraries and you will find that things migrate over to your AVR nicely. On the PC you have more debugging capabilities and an operating system to help you along. When you're on the AVR, your code is 'it' and there's nothing else to help you.

As for first time AVR project, I guess get it to say things over the serial/USB port, then get it to read voltages from the A/D, and go from there. The avrfreaks.net site has some 'newbie' guides with example code and instructions for getting set up.

Good luck!

[epl692]

thanks, and it is not how im geting interdused to c, i have a school robotics team where im going to be programing stuffs, i just want to build a cool little device, (also can someone put links to the diffirent things?)

[wiml]

You will also need a compiler (avr-gcc is perfectly good) and a program to load the compiled program onto the AVR (the program might come with the programmer, or it might not, I use avrdude with a PG1B I bought from sparkfun).

You'll probably want some LEDs and resistors (and switches?) so that you can write a program to make an LED blink (always a good first step when getting started with a new microcontroller).

[stevech]

For C you can start with a limited version of CodeVision - it's IDE makes it all much easier for newbies. Later you can decide to purchase that or go to free AVR GCC with your own IDE, or with a GCC IDE for AVRs such as www.atmanecl.net

Of consider Zbasic.net - as a rapid app development platform. Needs no ISP, just PC serial port. That (free) compiler for a VM is very much like Visual Basic 6.

I'm not a fan of BASCOM and FastAVR basic for AVRs because they are one-of-a-kind goofy languages.

You can buy a chip and board with a pre-programmed serial bootloader; no ISP needed. Several $50 or so products.

lots of options.

[nihil]

If you have the cash to spare (~$80 US) I highly recommend the STK500 from Atmel. I'm pretty new to this myself, and with electronic circuits not being my strongest point, having a self-contained, and near idiot-proof, development board has let me progress much more quickly than I would have if starting with a basic breadboard. I received mine as a gift from a friend who worked at Atmel, but after having it survive many mistakes that would have fried other components, I'd say its worth every penny of the price and more.

[epl692]

thanks everybody, but i was just scraping up around 32$usd to buy a microcontroler and all of its friends... il see if anyone with the robotics team im in at school has done anything with this type of thing (that is basicly what our robot is... its the ifi controler made by microchip) so after this year il see if i have a beter understanding of this all...