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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

ATtinyShield: Video of Programming ATtiny85 using Arduino

INTRO…

The whole programming procedure of transfering a sketch from Arduino to an ATtiny85, can be shown here on a short video I made.
The full guide with all the nessecary steps can be found in my previous post.

VIDEO…

Comming soon...

Friday, May 24, 2013

Attiny_LCD_595 Board: LCD controlled by ATtiny85… stand-alone

INTRO...

      LCD’s are projects most common output method. We can display any sensor’s value, print information alerts on screen, or even scroll big messages.
LCD screen using the
Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller
      Also, a screen for setting up parameters, or generally having a visual of your project status, is always useful.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

RGB-tiny: RGB Led controlled by ATtiny85

INTRO...

      An RGB Led has two variations. The Common Anode and the Common Cathode. Both of them have 4 pins, 3 of them are the three colors Red, Green and Blue and 1 is the common pin.
Typical 4 pins RGB Led
RGB Pin-Out Schematic
         As shown in the pin-out diagram of the Common Anode (CA) RGB Led, Vcc input goes to pin 1 and the rest are: Red-2, Green-3 and Blue-4. When these three goes LOW, the colors lights up. With the proper combinations we can simulate all the colors on the RGB scale. Furthermore by using the PWM function of Arduino we can adjust the level of each color and create a fading sequence.
 

Monday, May 20, 2013

ATtinyShield: Arduino ATtiny85 Programmer Shield

INTRO…

Arduino projects are very popular but also big and expensive. There are many times that we don’t need so many input or output pins. As a matter of fact, most projects could be accomplished with only 2 or 3 inputs and outputs. Besides the size, using one Arduino board for each small project can be costly.

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Atmel's tiny... ATtiny85
     So the solution is given (again) by Atmel with the ATtiny microcontrollers. Especially the ATtiny85 chip, which has 8 Kb flash memory, 6 input/output pins, low power supply at 1.8-5.5V, small 8-pin packaging and costs only 2-3$.
 
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ATtinyShield - easy Arduino programming
     It is very easy to program the ATtiny85 using our own Arduino board based on the tutorial Arduino-based ATtiny programming (http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1695) published by MIT’s High-Low Tech research group. So we have to connect the ATtiny85 (pins 1, 5, 6, 7) with 4 digital outputs of our Arduino (pins 10, 11, 12, 13), give 5V and Ground to pins 8 and 4 of the microcontroller and finally place a 10uF Electrolytic Capacitor between the Reset and Ground of the Arduino.

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Image Hosted by ImageShack.us     In my project I have added an indicator LED on pin 9 of the Arduino that shows that the programmer is running properly and a reset tact switch for the ATtiny85.
 
     So by creating a small shield with all these connections, it’s easy to plug it on our Arduino and worry only about the programming stuff. This is what ATtinyShield is doing for us.

If you want to buy this shield check, my EBay listing:

You will get:
  • The shield with printed and already etched PCB with color silkscreen on it, and of course the components soldered on it. It will be fully functionable ready to program.
  • An Attiny85 20PU chip for your first experiments.
  • A detailed printed (and pdf) guide (in color) for the connections and the whole programming procedure.
  • The RGB-Tiny board, a small PCB with RGB Led, controlled by an ATtiny85 for your first experiments. With code provided you will be able to fade the Led to all colours or any other programming you want.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Welcome to my blog

Here you will find some projects of mine about Arduino and ATtiny85.

I hope you'll find it interesting enough.