Hi there!
I'm very new to arduino and i wanted you to ask, how can i make my finished project , a standalone electronic circuit...
I know how to make a circuit from 220 VAC to 12 or 3.3 or 5VDC.
I searched the net and it only mentions how to make an arduino programmer standalone.
Is there a cheaper and easiest way to make a circuit that you will first program on the original arduino board?
I mean that I dont want to program it on the stripboard, but through original arduino and then stick it to my circuit...
Please send me any useful links on how to do that please....
the only difference between the atmega168 and atmega328 is the epprom size?
I mean that, if I program my arduino (atmega328) and the code is smaller than the epprom size of the atmega168, I can use an atmega168 to my circuit, as well?
First off it is not eeprom your program goes in but flash.
Yes there is half as much flash but also there is less RAM 1K as opposed to 2K, this means you can store less variables in the smaller device.
I mean that, if I program my arduino (atmega328) and the code is smaller than the epprom size of the atmega168, I can use an atmega168 to my circuit, as well?
If you are going to use a 168 chip in your strip board installation you must first program the chip as a 168 in either your Arduino board and then remove it and install it into your strip board. That or else get a 168 chip with a bootloader already installed and use a USB serial cable to program the chip while it's on your strip-board.
The 328 chip has double the program space, ram space and eeprom space as a 168. More fundamental the Arduino IDE software has to be set-up via the tools menu to compile and upload for a type 168 chip and not a 328 for the upload to be successful.
these days there is not much cost difference to buy 328 chips Vs 168 chips.
I can easily remove my atmega328 from my arduino, replace it with the 168, and then upload the sketch and remove it again to put it to my stripboard....?
So when i insert my original atmega 328 to my arduino ots all going to be ok?
I can easily remove my atmega328 from my arduino, replace it with the 168, and then upload the sketch and remove it again to put it to my stripboard....?
Yes
So when i insert my original atmega 328 to my arduino ots all going to be ok?
Garbled question? But if you mean can you then reinstall your original 328 into your Arduino board will all be the same original? Yes as long as you remember to reselect the board type to a 328 before attempting to varify or upload.
One last thing.. I want to buy an atmega from my neighborhood shop, so I dont wait for it to come...
Is there too hard to upload the bootloader yourself?
I dont want a lot of info about that, cause I'm not gonna do it now...
But i want to know if its as easy as to make the arduino circuit....
I think there ius going to be a lot of info on the net about this issue...
Am i right?
Something you don't want to do, though, nathanas, is make this a "habit". The reason being that the socket that is on the Arduino board is not designed for repeated insertions and extractions; over time you will wear it out, and contact will become intermittent.
If you absolutely need to do this, there are some options:
Switch to bare-bones ICSP programming (will require some investment in hardware, time to learn the process, and a minor update to the Arduino configuration), and put a header for it on your standalone PCB.
Continue to use a bootloaded ATMega in your projects, but use an FTDI cable or breakout board and put a header on your standalone PCB for this purpose.
Build a ZIF (zero-insertion force) socket interface for the ATMega, either separate from the Arduino board, or as a shield (I've posted before how this might be possible using a prototyping shield, and I think there may be manufactured versions for sale - I also know of an example floating around the arduino.cc website, maybe in the playground somewhere).
One other thing, if you haven't already experienced it: When inserting a new IC into a socket, you may find that the pins of the IC are spread "wide" and the IC doesn't want to "seat" into the socket. Sometimes you can get it in, but more likely you will bend pins if you try to force it.
What you can do first, though, is place the IC on its side, one set of pins against a flat surface, and -carefully- bend them all in a little, then do the other side. They don't need to be bent much, just a tiny bit - but once you do that, it should fit into the socket with less fuss.
I wont insert another atmega to my arduino board.
Now I realise why everyone is giving information on how to make an arduino programmer....
So my question has been answered now....
Everytime I make an arduino project, I make an arduino programmer on the circuit so I can program it directly...
The other thing I want to find out ...is a schematic on how to make an FDTI cable by myself....
I dont want o pay for 10 USD for a cable I can make on my own..
I think that there will be needed just a usb cable, thats cut on the one edge....right?
And i neeed info on where to connect its cable...
The reason being that the socket that is on the Arduino board is not designed for repeated insertions and extractions; over time you will wear it out, and contact will become intermittent.
I hear what you are say and I can't disagree with the possible failure mechanism, however I've cycled chips into and out of my Arduino 328 clone board literally hundreds of times and have never had a problem. I've also plugged the chip in backwards and off-by-one a couple of times without chip or board damage, but of course I don't recommend one do that on purpose.
I hear what you are say and I can't disagree with the possible failure mechanism, however I've cycled chips into and out of my Arduino 328 clone board literally hundreds of times and have never had a problem. I've also plugged the chip in backwards and off-by-one a couple of times without chip or board damage, but of course I don't recommend one do that on purpose.
Maybe they've gotten better since the 1980's? I know that on the old 8-bit microcomputers that I started with, it was always warned about such things (and people now experience them directly refurbishing these old machines), especially in regards to memory (which was a bunch of plug-in DIP RAM into sockets).
Perhaps they've made the socket's metal contact springs out of better material since then? Or maybe you've gotten lucky with your board?
There is one thing about a ZIF socket, though - its much easier to put an IC in it and extract it than from a regular socket (which is easy to bend pins on)...
Could be just lucky. One thing about the Arduino is that it is inexpensive and pretty simple to troubleshoot and repair, so I'm one not to worry too much about trying things with it. Other then a bad FTDI chip I think I could fix just about anything possible that I might damage and in the mean time I'm having a ton of fun.
It's not like those first micro computers and boards from the late 70s and 80s where your initial investment was so high that one was afraid to attempt to mess with it at first.
On a slightly related note, so as not to duplicate what is already a fab thread, and apologies for the newbie question, I'm on my first foray into Arduino...
When mounting more than one Atmel onto a board, I take it that the power supply can be shared amongst say 3 chips, howver, what about the crystal?
Are there any other considerations that need to be taken into account?
When mounting more than one Atmel onto a board, I take it that the power supply can be shared amongst say 3 chips, howver, what about the crystal?
Of course you can share the power supply, provided it can provide enough current to handle everything you are running off of it. If you are running multiple processors and other things, you have to add up the currents you are expecting to be able to size the power supply properly - don't just throw a regulator on there and hope.
As far as the crystal is concerned...
Let me say this - I know of at least one person who has done this successfully with -2- ATMegas; he had them running in tight sync with each other. Whether it could be expanded to more, it is unknown.
With that said, you -should not- do this; it isn't the proper way to provide an external synced clock to multiple devices. There are clock driver chips out there that -can- provide a synced external clock to the ATMega, but you would have to use avrdude to set the fuses properly to handle this application.
Clean power supply that is gonna be able to provide the current
Independant clock timing to each chip.
In my proposed use, there is no real need for the timing to be closely synched as each chip is going to be handling differing data and outputting independantly anyways.
In my proposed use, there is no real need for the timing to be closely synched as each chip is going to be handling differing data and outputting independantly anyways.
Most applications with multiple micro-controllers don't need it, but there could be certain applications where it would be desireable or necessary (for instance, a multiple micro-controller parallel processing implementation where you need things in tight sync for the code to work properly between/across the processors, or perhaps where you have two processors on the same address bus sharing memory - those kinds of apps).
In that kind of a situation, you need an external clock circuit, and there are other issues related to timing and clock signal trace lengths that can come into play (though less likely at the slower speed of the ATMega - but it is still possible, depending on the distance between the processors on the PCB and a whole host of other reasons). This is an area where things can get arcane and touchy; one of the "magic" areas of electronics and computer design (generally in electronics, when things start moving into the analog realm - which of course all electronics is based on mainly - it starts to almost become an art instead of a science - magic!).