December 11th, 2014, 02:56 PM
by Granz
UPDATED: I have updated this to restore the pictures dropped by TinyPics shutdown. Many of the URLs are not correct, and will be updated as soon as I can get to it.
I wanted to let everyone know about this project. It was a long time in coming, but I think that it turned out pretty well.
This is a development kit and book designed to answer the question: "how do I get started in microcontrollers?"
The book is written in an easy to follow format, and takes the reader from learning just what, exactly, a microcontroller is, through to building the development kit, connecting circuits and writing programs for the thing.
You can see more about the development process, and expansion of the development kit, in a couple of my blog posts: http://projects.granzeier.com/category/development-systems/2313-experimenter-system/
Materials needed:
You will need a few parts for this project. You can get most of these from your local Radio Shack, or you may mail order them from any of many different supply houses.
- a breadboard - you will need at least an 800-terminal breadboard, but that will give you limited expansion space.
The breadboard I show in these pictures provides two 800-terminal breadboards with dual power rails for each one. - an AVR programmer - we use the USBASP programmer here. I routinely find these on eBay for well under $5.00 delivered.
If you choose a different model, you will need to modify the directions in this 'ible accordingly.
- a way to connect the programmer to your breadboard. I used one of the AVR Breadboard Adapters http://zenstore.granzeier.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=14, but you could also use The Real Eliot's USB Ghetto Development Environment http://www.instructables.com/id/EDRQZ56F5LD8KDX/, or any other AVR programming system.
- 3 low-voltage, low-current LEDs (plus one more if you would like a pilot light to indicate when your development kit is powered.
- 3 (or 4 if you use the pilot light) 360 ohm, 1/4 to 1/8 watt resistors to limit the current through the LED.
You can get a pack of 6 LEDs and resistors from
http://zenstore.granzeier.com/index.php ... ducts_id=1.
- 3 small NO, SPST, Momentary action pushbutton switches - one for the reset circuit, and two for experiments. http://zenstore.granzeier.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=2
- a small speaker. (http://zenstore.granzeier.com/index.php ... ucts_id==5)
- An Atmel AVR ATtiny2313 microcontroller (this is also included in the Granzeier Consulting kit.)
- optional - a 5V power source. Your development kit can be totally powered by the programmer, this is only needed if you would like to disconnect your computer and take your experiments out to show them off. The kit comes with a battery box, using 4 AA-cells for a total of 4.8V or 6V, depending upon the type of cells used.
The build:
First, place the Tiny2313 chip and the programming header. Using the pinout of the 2313 and the AVR programming cable, it is just like playing dot-to-dot when you were a kid (err, sort of. )
Next, I added a few LEDs along with their current limiting resistors, going to ground (you may want to have some going to +Vcc, for negative logic.)
After this, I placed a few small NO pushutton switches and connected them to ground.
Lastly, I added a small speaker.
This will give you a small, simple dev kit. From here you can add whatever you want. For the simple stuff, you don't even need to add anything except the jumper wires to connect your peripherals to the Tiny2313.
This has been a brief overview of building the development kit for my book. In the book, I introduce programming one statement at a time, and then drill that into the students before adding another statement.
Is there some way for me to edit/update this?
I'm now thinking about changing back to Zen Cart, or something else.)