Using the Arduino MC standalone

Using Arduino Microcontrollers
1

Hello,

So i've been trying to learn all the things i need for the MSP430 launchpad because the launchpad boasts that it can upload a program to the mc and then the mc can be removed and it'll work just fine.

Can the arduino do that? Do i have to get a fresh Atmega328? How would i do that?

2

Yep. I can think of three ways:

  1. Upload the sketch to your Arduino, remove the ATMega328 chip, use that chip for your project, buy a new ATMega328 chip from DigiKey, SparkFun, AdaFruit, etc. that has the bootloader preloaded.

  2. Buy a new blank chip, program the bootloader via tutorial at http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP, follow step 1

  3. Buy an ICSP programmer, program the chip directly from AVRDude.

Good luck!

3

So i'm curious, does each pin on the atmega correspond to their own pin on the Arduino?
So the bootloader won't interfere at all with the program mmkay

4

does each pin on the atmega correspond to their own pin on the Arduino

For the most part yes. The digital and analog I/O pins from the ATMega are connected directly to the header pins of the Arduino board, reset is reset, etc. There are a couple of pins on the ATMega (like the clock crystal) that don't have header pin connections.

You can see all the details yourself by looking at the schematic for one of the Arduinos. Here's the one for the Uno:

So the bootloader won't interfere at all with the program mmkay

The bootloader lets you program the chip from USB. It takes up a small amount of flash (512 bytes for the new one; 2K for the older one) but otherwise doesn't interfere with your program. You can also program the chip from ICSP and skip the bootloader completely.