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  3. Entering the world of programmable microcontrollers

Entering the world of programmable microcontrollers

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  • S Simon P Stevens

    I ordered my first Arduino[^] at the weekend. Trying to decide what I should build first. I'm split between remote controlled sharks with fricking laaaazer beams or some robots in disguise that have more to them than meets the eye. ;) Any tips?

    Simon

    Mike HankeyM Offline
    Mike HankeyM Offline
    Mike Hankey
    wrote on last edited by
    #21

    Welcome to the world of uControllers. I've had mine for a while now and love it. There are plenty of tuts and projects to be had by googling. If your just starting out you may want to check out this article on my site to set up programming environment[^]. It says for the ATMega1280 buts it applies to most boards. Good luck and enjoy, Mike

    Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

    H 1 Reply Last reply
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    • S Simon P Stevens

      I ordered my first Arduino[^] at the weekend. Trying to decide what I should build first. I'm split between remote controlled sharks with fricking laaaazer beams or some robots in disguise that have more to them than meets the eye. ;) Any tips?

      Simon

      S Offline
      S Offline
      Steve Mayfield
      wrote on last edited by
      #22

      Here[^] is another very inexpensive development platform based on the TI MSP430 family - only $4.30 for the hardware and the development software can be downloaded for free from the Texas Instruments website. The board includes an on-board flash emulation tool which makes software development a snap...

      Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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      • S Simon P Stevens

        I ordered my first Arduino[^] at the weekend. Trying to decide what I should build first. I'm split between remote controlled sharks with fricking laaaazer beams or some robots in disguise that have more to them than meets the eye. ;) Any tips?

        Simon

        H Offline
        H Offline
        halciber
        wrote on last edited by
        #23

        I love the arduino. This weekend I got a grill, and thought: I could use a temperature sensor. The ideas didn't stop there. I started thinking about the advantage of having multiple sensors in the grill, and using a display for the output. If you like to cook, this could be a fun project. Enjoy

        Mike Goldweber

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        • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

          Welcome to the world of uControllers. I've had mine for a while now and love it. There are plenty of tuts and projects to be had by googling. If your just starting out you may want to check out this article on my site to set up programming environment[^]. It says for the ATMega1280 buts it applies to most boards. Good luck and enjoy, Mike

          Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

          H Offline
          H Offline
          halciber
          wrote on last edited by
          #24

          Thanks for mentioning the programming environment web page. I didn't know about these other tools. Sincerely, Mike

          Mike Goldweber

          Mike HankeyM 1 Reply Last reply
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          • H halciber

            Thanks for mentioning the programming environment web page. I didn't know about these other tools. Sincerely, Mike

            Mike Goldweber

            Mike HankeyM Offline
            Mike HankeyM Offline
            Mike Hankey
            wrote on last edited by
            #25

            Mike, Glad it helped. Mike

            Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

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            • S Simon P Stevens

              I ordered my first Arduino[^] at the weekend. Trying to decide what I should build first. I'm split between remote controlled sharks with fricking laaaazer beams or some robots in disguise that have more to them than meets the eye. ;) Any tips?

              Simon

              S Offline
              S Offline
              stephen hazel
              wrote on last edited by
              #26

              I don't know what to DO for a project, but for platform I gotta Chameleon: http://www.xgamestation.com/view_product.php?id=51[^] An AVR -and- a Propeller on one board with all support circuitry including plenty of memory.

              Mike HankeyM 1 Reply Last reply
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              • S Simon P Stevens

                I ordered my first Arduino[^] at the weekend. Trying to decide what I should build first. I'm split between remote controlled sharks with fricking laaaazer beams or some robots in disguise that have more to them than meets the eye. ;) Any tips?

                Simon

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Lilith C
                wrote on last edited by
                #27

                I've always wanted to use something like that to build an LED waterfall with changing light sequences embedded at the top of the water flow.

                I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office

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                • S stephen hazel

                  I don't know what to DO for a project, but for platform I gotta Chameleon: http://www.xgamestation.com/view_product.php?id=51[^] An AVR -and- a Propeller on one board with all support circuitry including plenty of memory.

                  Mike HankeyM Offline
                  Mike HankeyM Offline
                  Mike Hankey
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #28

                  Nice, a lot of horse power..Have you done anything with it? Mike

                  Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

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                  • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                    Nice, a lot of horse power..Have you done anything with it? Mike

                    Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

                    S Offline
                    S Offline
                    stephen hazel
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #29

                    Fraid not. It comes with a TON of demo projects to try. But as cool as that thing is, my priority is http://pianocheater.com[^] And I can't seem to justify any free time away from it for doin uC stuff :(( Well, technically, :-D I like my lil sequencer:thumbsup:

                    Mike HankeyM 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • S stephen hazel

                      Fraid not. It comes with a TON of demo projects to try. But as cool as that thing is, my priority is http://pianocheater.com[^] And I can't seem to justify any free time away from it for doin uC stuff :(( Well, technically, :-D I like my lil sequencer:thumbsup:

                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                      Mike Hankey
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #30

                      Nice app I can see why you don't have any free time. I've found that the uC does take a lot of time and the learning curve can be steep, depending on what you expect to get out of it. Mike

                      Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

                      S 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                        Nice app I can see why you don't have any free time. I've found that the uC does take a lot of time and the learning curve can be steep, depending on what you expect to get out of it. Mike

                        Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        stephen hazel
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #31

                        It IS a pretty cool app (biased a little) :rolleyes: The AVR doesn't have tooo much of a learning curve if ya know C already. Well, ok, the timer,"somewhat remote" flash memory for data,interrupts... That propeller is wierd. It's "spin" language is a wierd combination of basic and c++ or SOMEthin. Has 8 threads (processes?) running INSTEAD of interrupts. Anyways, my project is gonna be a 4 legged robot. google "issy done yet" or somethin. I forget the link... Buuuut, that won't be for about 2 years I'm guessin:)

                        Mike HankeyM 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • S stephen hazel

                          It IS a pretty cool app (biased a little) :rolleyes: The AVR doesn't have tooo much of a learning curve if ya know C already. Well, ok, the timer,"somewhat remote" flash memory for data,interrupts... That propeller is wierd. It's "spin" language is a wierd combination of basic and c++ or SOMEthin. Has 8 threads (processes?) running INSTEAD of interrupts. Anyways, my project is gonna be a 4 legged robot. google "issy done yet" or somethin. I forget the link... Buuuut, that won't be for about 2 years I'm guessin:)

                          Mike HankeyM Offline
                          Mike HankeyM Offline
                          Mike Hankey
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #32

                          If it's This one?[^] that's a pretty ambitious project.

                          stephen.hazel wrote:

                          That propeller is wierd. It's "spin" language is a wierd combination of basic and c++ or SOMEthin. Has 8 threads (processes?) running INSTEAD of interrupts.

                          Yeah I was reading about it in the first link you had and it's definitely a different animal than the AVR line. The software is pretty easy, I've done Assembler, C and C++ pretty extensively over the years (been a while so have to refresh) and the electronics (some experience but many years so more than a refresh), making the PC boards, the mechanics, etc.. Just a lot of different areas of expertise that even though I'm a pretty hands on guy it is a lot to absorb. Plus I'm older and have CRS (Can't remember s&^t) so makes it challenging. But over all it's worth the effort. Don't know as I'll ever do the walking robot thing but went to the flea market a couple of weeks ago and got an RC car without remote for $2 and had a board hooked into it and chasing the cat around the living room by days end. (I love to torment the cat, he gets his revenge) Mike

                          Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

                          S 1 Reply Last reply
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                          • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                            If it's This one?[^] that's a pretty ambitious project.

                            stephen.hazel wrote:

                            That propeller is wierd. It's "spin" language is a wierd combination of basic and c++ or SOMEthin. Has 8 threads (processes?) running INSTEAD of interrupts.

                            Yeah I was reading about it in the first link you had and it's definitely a different animal than the AVR line. The software is pretty easy, I've done Assembler, C and C++ pretty extensively over the years (been a while so have to refresh) and the electronics (some experience but many years so more than a refresh), making the PC boards, the mechanics, etc.. Just a lot of different areas of expertise that even though I'm a pretty hands on guy it is a lot to absorb. Plus I'm older and have CRS (Can't remember s&^t) so makes it challenging. But over all it's worth the effort. Don't know as I'll ever do the walking robot thing but went to the flea market a couple of weeks ago and got an RC car without remote for $2 and had a board hooked into it and chasing the cat around the living room by days end. (I love to torment the cat, he gets his revenge) Mike

                            Age doesn't make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things to remember makes you forgetful. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] My Site

                            S Offline
                            S Offline
                            stephen hazel
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #33

                            Yeah, that's the one. Not the full scale thing tho. Probably just 2 ax-12+ servos per leg. Side to side and up/down fixed 90 degree legs. You can buy em seperately from the full scale robot kit. (again, i forget the name of the kit - robot magazine will find it gREAT magazine) Arbotix controller (which has an avr+zigbe wifi) No top half like he added with the lazer,sight stuff. Soooomethin like that. We'll seeee...

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