Hey,
I was just wondering as i was progressing with my current project...how can i take the Arduino out of the equation. I was thinking i would buy the ATMEGA328 IC, put it in a programmer....program it... then put it in my perfboard......but where do i go from there? I mean do i need to make a whole arduino on the perf....? Any ideas or links? :-/
Any ideas or links?
There has got to be a hundred posts on this forum about standalone operation, try a search using "standalone". Here is a link to a Arduino playground article about setting up a chip for standalone operation. It's a little dated as it doesn't talk about the 328 chip, but the hardware requirements are identical to the 168 chip.
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/AtmegaStandalone
Lefty
I figured so. I did try searching the forums, but i did not know what to search. Thanks for the link...It is very helpful.
Then you must need this tutorial.
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Tutorials/ArduinoBreadboard
I recently took my old bootloaded ATMEGA168 and tossed it together with several extra parts on a breadboard, with the help of the tutorial. Not hard at all. Oh, I would buy a couple spare bootloaded ATMEGAs just in case 
and get a zif socket (ZIF Socket 28-Pin 0.3" - PRT-09175 - SparkFun Electronics) or even two so I can easily program the chip by transferring it to an arduino board. You don't have to build that Serial-USB chip. A couple of zif sockets are cheap and can do so much.
All necessary parts can be found at sparkfun.com
Would the ZIF socket from SFU fit in a stock arduino board? either replacing the existing socket, or perhaps being inserted into the socket like a chip... That would be an ideal way to program lots and lots of chips with very little fuss or muss...
Would the ZIF socket from SFU fit in a stock arduino board? either replacing the existing socket, or perhaps being inserted into the socket like a chip... That would be an ideal way to program lots and lots of chips with very little fuss or muss...
You -might- be able to get it to plug into the socket (if the pins are long enough), but I think if you tried to remove the socket and mount it directly, it wouldn't work, because other parts on the board would likely get in the way.
What you might want to do is instead try soldering a socket, or socket strip to the pins, then inserting it into the existing socket or board.
Another option (one I've expressed before) is to build a "ZIF shield" - essentially you build a shield (using a protoboard shield) with the ZIF socket on it, and another resonator (because the crystal lines on the chip aren't brought up on the headers). Hook the lines from the headers to the appropriate pins on the socket for the chip, and hook up the crystal. Remove the ATMega from the Arduino, plug in the shield, then put the ATMega into the ZIF socket. Fairly basic, and it should (in theory) work.
Would the ZIF socket from SFU fit in a stock arduino board?
It certainly wouldn't fit, but you could build a board like this: Using AVR microcontrollers: Minimalist target boards | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
I've used one of the Sparkfun pocket programmers to program it (like http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9231) but am working on one of the fabISP boards (http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.09/people/mellis/fabisp/index.html) to simplify things (I'm hoping to build one this week for fun using parts I've got laying around).
But maybe this is more than what you're looking for.
Brad.
You can build up most boards from a kit with a ZIF. You may need
to adjust the height or stagger one row of pins. I built up one
of my ZB1 boards as a programmer --
When you place the programed ATmega in your perfboard you may need
a fair amount of peripheral circuitry -- XTAL + caps, decoupling caps,
ADC filter, reset protection. You may be better off using a simple board
that has these components and plug the board into your perfboard.
On my PICO1TR board
http://wiblocks.luciani.org/PICO/PICO1TR-index.html
I use a long pin socket so all the ATmega pins are brought out.
It could be plugged into a perf board or a breadboard.
(* jcl *)
The zif I suggested does fit nicely on my arduino Duemilanove, over the 28-pin DIP socket. Everything clears.
The zif I suggested does fit nicely on my arduino Duemilanove, over the 28-pin DIP socket. Everything clears.
Sorry, I stand corrected. The ZIFs I've seen wouldn't fit and I thought the SFU one was the same.
Brad.
