[dorkbotpdx-blabber] RE: A Brief Tutorial on Programming the AVR without Arduino

[Jim Larson]

Great tutorial, Chris! Since using the AVR processors (ATtiny2313 and 
ATmega168 especially) is my passion, I really enjoyed this. Perhaps I 
can offer a few additional pointers that I have found very useful and a 
couple of pointers to things I've written that may be of interest to 
this group as well.

First, for those wanting to set up the programming environment and the 
gcc tool chain, I can think of no better or simpler place to start than 
this Instructable. The Ghetto Development system is *really* cheap and 
the set up of the tool chain worked great. This is what got me started 
on the AVRs. I still use the parallel port version of the programmer, 
but I'll buy the USB version when I'm working again.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto-Programming%3a-Getting-started-with-AVR-micro/

Here's my version of a button reading program:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Reading_Switches_with_ATtiny2313/

For those interested in I2C communications, check out this Instructable 
(I also wrote this one):
http://www.instructables.com/id/I2C_Bus_for_ATtiny_and_ATmega/

Another great source of ideas, inspiration, and answers is the AVR 
Freaks website and forums. Check out my tutorial on using PWM on the 
AVR's here. You have to sign up to get the article - well worth it. 
Don't miss the tutorials on the serial port and on Counter/Timers. TSign 
up will also get you access to their Projects area.
http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=76406

Finally if anyone wants to set up Eclipse to do AVR development, or just 
wants general help, I'll be more than happy to pass on my experiences. 
I'm just finishing up a stepper motor controller (32 step microstepping 
capability) using ATtiny2313. My next projects are a microSD card data 
logger and a 320x240 color display controller.

The AVR's are great fun. Moving beyond Arduino can open a whole new world.