Portable diagnostic link

[jleemero]

...that's what SHE said...

She never said it to me...


Meh, I s'pose I could try...
Then again, I don't remember the last time I soldered an SMT component to a board.
In fact, rarely do I use PCBs for anything.
Even when prototyping, I just stick any SMT chips to the board with double-sided foam tape and solder each wire I need by hand. (<3 30 guage)

 

[XCVG]

Wouldn't a toaster oven overheat and kill all the components?

Also, how good is this programmer, and what microcontroller is good to start with? I've heard the ATMega168 is good. It seems to have plenty of features, and oh-so-cheap!

 

[jleemero]

Wouldn't a toaster oven overheat and kill all the components?

Not if you know what you're doing silly!
You'd be surprised how much heat most electronics can take, and for how long.

 

[robm]

Also, how good is this programmer, and what microcontroller is good to start with? I've heard the ATMega168 is good. It seems to have plenty of features, and oh-so-cheap!

I am not familiar with either the website nor the company that makes that programmer; if you want to give it a shot for all of two dollars less than the one I showed on eBay, go for it.

There is a long-standing battle on which is better, Microchip or Atmel, (thus between the PIC and AVR class of microcontrollers.) I don't have any personal experience myself with PICs. I can tell you that there is a huge pool of information to draw from for either class. The '168 is cheap, easy, and has much more capability than the average beginner will ever need. The free software available at Atmel provides all the PC-side tools you would need for AVRs; it's a complete, ready-to-go development environment where you can code in either Assembly or C, compile the program, and flash it to the microcontroller - all in one program. AVRStudio is the name of the program. Any programmer you're likely to buy will come with it.

Do you have experience in either Assembly or C?

 

[jleemero]

Wouldn't a toaster oven overheat and kill all the components?

Also, how good is this programmer, and what microcontroller is good to start with? I've heard the ATMega168 is good. It seems to have plenty of features, and oh-so-cheap!

THAT is a USBtinyISP.
And it's WONDERFUL, it's what I use.
HOWEVER! Don't buy it from there! DO NOT.

Grab it from Adafruit Industries, the chick who actually designed the thing.
You can even buy a kit! (Just kidding! You can only buy a kit.)
But yeah, it's opensource, and as a result, a number of folks have started selling them, but in the process, LadyAda gets no commissions or anything like that.
At least buying from her shows a little support


HOWEVER!
The cheapest/easiest way to get started with AVRs will ALWAYS be: DAPA.
DAPA cables are fugly little things.
A direct link, from your parallel port (if you have one) to the AVR/board.
All you need is wires.
You can make one of these things for LITERALLY <$4.
Yeah, sweet huh?





Note:
HVW is still a cool place, run by some cool people.
I recommend them as much as I do Sparkfun.

 

[robm]

A direct link, from your parallel port (if you have one) to the AVR/board.
All you need is wires.

I've heard Vista has problems letting that happen, is that true in your experience?

I didn't know LadyAda designed the AVRISP... that's pretty awesome. And makes me feel bad for buying them elsewhere, she's pretty awesome. Ok really awesome.

You know, come to think of it, I think it was Sparkfun where I was buying those dirt-cheap 168s... I wonder what happened to that, now they have these units prepacked with the Arduino bootloader for almost 5 bucks. http://www.digikey.com has been my choice of electronics components for quite some time now.

 

[XCVG]

Wouldn't a toaster oven overheat and kill all the components?

Also, how good is this programmer, and what microcontroller is good to start with? I've heard the ATMega168 is good. It seems to have plenty of features, and oh-so-cheap!

THAT is a USBtinyISP.
And it's WONDERFUL, it's what I use.
HOWEVER! Don't buy it from there! DO NOT.

Grab it from Adafruit Industries, the chick who actually designed the thing.
You can even buy a kit! (Just kidding! You can only buy a kit.)
But yeah, it's opensource, and as a result, a number of folks have started selling them, but in the process, LadyAda gets no commissions or anything like that.
At least buying from her shows a little support


HOWEVER!
The cheapest/easiest way to get started with AVRs will ALWAYS be: DAPA.
DAPA cables are fugly little things.
A direct link, from your parallel port (if you have one) to the AVR/board.
All you need is wires.
You can make one of these things for LITERALLY <$4.
Yeah, sweet huh?





Note:
HVW is still a cool place, run by some cool people.
I recommend them as much as I do Sparkfun.

HVW is in Canada so shipping is cheaper. And I can get the other stuff there too. I know it's not as nice but I don't have a lot of money.

I don't really trust a homebuilt parallel port cable. Plus I heard it's really picky about your computer or something. But it's nice knowing that others have had sucess with that device. I think that one's a kit too.

 

[jleemero]

A direct link, from your parallel port (if you have one) to the AVR/board.
All you need is wires.

I've heard Vista has problems letting that happen, is that true in your experience?

I upgraded to Vista long after I got my USBtinyISP, so I've never actually tried a DAPA cable under Vista.
I'm sure there's some Hacky way to make it work though.

I didn't know LadyAda designed the AVRISP... that's pretty awesome. And makes me feel bad for buying them elsewhere, she's pretty awesome. Ok really awesome.

Yupper!
Or, just the USBtinyISP, but yeah.
Based off of a different USB ISP, don't remember what it was called...
Oh, and hey, the USBtinyISP uses that V-USB thing I told you about

In fact, a handful of programmers do.

 

[robm]

I don't really trust a homebuilt parallel port cable. Plus I heard it's really picky about your computer or something. But it's nice knowing that others have had sucess with that device. I think that one's a kit too.

There's nothing wrong with a homebuilt parallel cable, as long as you don't do something silly. As I referred to Jleemero, I've heard of problems with Vista not liking that kind of port manipulation, but there may be ways around that. Moot point if you don't have Vista installed anyway; looks like I'm going to manage skipping that piece of Microsoft history altogether, thank God.

Actually, xcvg, I've got a spare programmer, I just realized. Let me dig it up once I heal up from surgery a bit more, and if shipping isn't too bad, mayhap I'll ship one out to you.

It's serial instead of USB, but should still do fine.

 

[XCVG]

It better be bloody cheap.

Amazingly, the mobo I have has serial and parallel ports. That's actually why I chose this one.

 

[robm]

Heh, no worries mate, was planning on just sending it out to you.

I'll test it before I ship it out once I dig it out (I know where it's at, but I can't get to it until I am allowed to move heavy things again.) It just has the six pin header cable, but that shouldn't matter a bit.

 

[XCVG]

It just has the six pin header cable, but that shouldn't matter a bit.

I'm too cheap for a development board anyway

 

[jleemero]

Breadboards are made of love, and win.

 

[XCVG]

Breadboards are made of love, and win.

I should use mine more. My electronics/robotics teacher (who also does the club we have) says I should keep doing electronics stuff at home. He wants to send me to a competition in the near future. Not that I have a chance, everything I build looks like crap.

Anyway, I've jacked this thread enough so I'll shut up now.

 

[robm]

Heh, this thread now has no purpose anymore as I started a WIP in the Other section.

Breadboards are great, but can cause frustration when flashing a chip if you use the wrong gauge wire - don't use something to small. The connections will jiggle when you breathe just to piss you off, and you'll think the programmer I sent you is bad.

Building stuff that looks like crap is better than building stuff that looks great and doesn't work.

 

[XCVG]

Soooo, what programmer is it? Some info would be nice, though the old adage beggars can't be choosers certainly applies here.

Can I have a free chip too?

 

[robm]

Hehe, I'll see what I've got. I'm working with a '168 right now, but not for long - mayhap I'll ship it out to you also.

Here's the programmer. Only comes with the 6-pin cable.

 

[XCVG]

Wow, I didn't know it was invisible!

 

[robm]

>.<

Sometimes, my awesomeness blinds even myself.



http://www.robotgames.net/atmel/avrisp.htm

 

[XCVG]

Wow, that must have cost you a pretty penny. Why did you get a new one? Computer not have serial? My old one didn't either, but my new one does. PM me please.