[dorkbotpdx-blabber] AVR Philosophy

[Dan Strother]

If you don't mind only 10 bits of ADC resolution (albeit at ~8x the
conversion rate), you may be better served by something from Atmel's
"PicoPower" line: http://atmel.com/products/AVR/default_picopower.asp
. These are basically just lower power versions of the mainstream
parts ( < 1uA to run an RTC in sleep mode). Most of them have a much
more conventional set of peripherals (including UARTs, except on the
ATtinys...).

- Dan S.


On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 11:56 AM, dave madden <dorkbot at mersenne.com> wrote:
> "ddd" == Donald Delmar Davis <ddelmardavis at gmail.com> writes:
>
>  ddd> How did you wind up starting with [the ATmega406] as an introduction?
>
> I've wanted to build a nixie wristwatch for a while now, but my first
> attempt (based on an LPC2102) didn't go very far.  It was my first
> self-designed uC PCB, first SMD board, etc, and I made too many mistakes
> for it to even be a useful learning experience.  (I chose the NXP
> because I'd been hacking successfully on an LPC2148 prototyping board,
> and had a pretty good handle on the software side.)
>
> So, fast forward a few months, and I've had success with two SMD uC
> boards using Luminary parts.  In addition, I built a test boost
> converter on the LPC2148 prototyping board and got 40V out of a tiny,
> hand-wound inductor and the 3.3v supply, so I start eyeing the nixie
> tubes again.
>
> The Luminary parts are great, easy to use, but no RTC, and probably not
> so good on battery power.  The LPC is also kinda old, and I still
> haven't gotten one working on my own terms.  I've looked at PICs a
> couple of times, but the architecture is wack and it doesn't look like
> GCC can handle it.
>
> So I poke around the Atmel site, and (eventually) figure out which chips
> are low-power and have an RTC.  It never occurred to me that they
> wouldn't have a UART.  But the 12-bit A/D would be useful for
> controlling the DC-DC converter and reading the 3-axis accelerometer,
> the RTC works at really low current, and there are (probably) _just_
> enough GPIOs to do what I want.  Viola, the ATmega406 is the chip for
> me.
>
> d.
>
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