I've just purchased my first arduino and can't wait to start doing some cool things with it. I do have some questions though. I understand that the arduino is a prototyping board, but how do i go from the board to using it in my final project. By final project I mean something that won't need to be re-programmed very often/not at all. It would seem like an expensive waste to put the entire and bulky arduino into the project so is there a way to just use the chip?
I've been trying to research this and can't get a strait answer. I guess there is things like the timing crystal that need to be implemented and such. Am i overthinking things? do you literally just pop the chip out and use it in your project just like that?
Search for stand alone arduino. It is quite easy to do. You need the chip and crystal, capacitors and one resistor. Then if you want connection back to the computer you need a USB adaptor.
I've been trying to research this and can't get a strait answer. I guess there is things like the timing crystal that need to be implemented and such. Am i overthinking things? do you literally just pop the chip out and use it in your project just like that?
As already posted it's a very popular and easy thing to do, and one of the main feature that the arduino has over most any other hobby ucontroller platform out there. Once you have developed and debugged your project, you just buy a $5 replacement 328p chip with bootloader alread installed on it, plug it your arduino board and upload the sketch, then remove the chip and install it in your standalone circuit. Basically the 328p in your standalone only requires a reset pull-up resistor, a couple of .1ufd bypass caps for the power pins, a crystal and padding caps, or a simple three pin 16mhz ceramic resonator.
Here is an example of a nice parts kits for building a standalone on E-bay for a pretty nice price and has all the peices you need including the processor chip. And of course there are others avalible.
You can get all those same pieces from dipmicro.com too, have it shipped from MI for about $2.50 and build it up on a kit like this Starter Component Set 132pc w/ Proto PCB - dipmicro electronics
and have plenty of other bits to play with before that auction even ends (and with a price run-up, no doubt)
Order the kit, Atmega328, 16 MHz crystal, two 22pF capacitors.
I'd get a 5V wallwart from them too (they carry the switching regulators) and a barrel jack, so you can bypass the regulator & save on batteries during development. Or a 7.5V wallwart and go thru the 5v regulator if that's your long term power plan.
Follow the tutorials on using your Arduino as an ISP to program the bootloader onto it, using the kit parts and a solderless breadboard.
It doesn't tale much to make a bare bones arduino board. This solution below is enough to support arduino as long as you add some sort of TTL - RS232/USB.
For reply #2, it looks like pins hanging down with wires connecting them.
Here is a more complex card, zoomed in from another picture, all I have handy at the moment.
But yours can be as simple as the 10-12 connections shown in reply #2, which can be seen as similar traces on a PCB in pwillard's photo
I personally use a boarduino in sockets or directly soldered to the board. It speeds things up a bit, while retaining all the things that spoil me(tx,rx lights,reset button,pin13 led, and the ftdi chip for usb) There are some excellent pcb layouts available for fully standalone designs on google as well (if you make your own pcbs).
It doesn't tale much to make a bare bones arduino board. This solution below is enough to support arduino as long as you add some sort of TTL - RS232/USB.
