Hello. I'm thinking about getting a arduino controller, it's been something I've wanted to do for a long time now. But my question is is there any way to program other chips or something so that I can do other projects. Example say I wanted to make a ambient lighting system using the micro controller for my house, is it possible to do this without dedicating the board to one purpose?
thanks
Yes, many people do this. They develop the hardware interfacing and the software on their development system and then later build a dedicated controller that has just the support required for the project. If you search around this site you should find many references to 'bare bone' type processor set-ups either home made or using vendor supplied PCB.
Lefty
You can use the Arduino board to program the chips (booloader and program if necessary) and then transfer the chips to an external circuit.
Of course this circuit must contain a resonator and ll the other bits of circuitry that is necessary for an ATmega to run.
/me
You can always just make a standalone arduino [google it]
[edit]/me was a bit late on this one :-[[/edit]
or would a protoduino be the answer? http://eastham-lee.com/protoduino.html
Thanks for all the replies!
So I've done my research about the standalone arduino's so correct me if I'm wrong but all you need to do is program your atmega chip in the arduino, pop it out, and hook it up with a resonator and a good 5 volt supply?
Pretty Much. Or you could connect the Rx/Tx lines from an empty Arduino to the standalone chip with the necessary hardware [a few resistors I think].
/me