The ATMEL ATtiny 45 is an 8-bit programmable microcontroller chip. Some weeks ago I stumbled upon this How-To article by Matt from MAKE about the ATtiny 45 and with my last electronics order I got one (actually two, just in case I accidentially blew one up).
Yesterday I took the time and got it up and running:
Following the tutorial at the MIT Media Lab page it took no longer than 30 minutes to make the microcontroller drive two LEDs.
Although the tutorial was very helpful some things have changed in the current software versions, so (as promised in my last blog posting) this is what I did differently:
1. Copying the ATTiny files
- doing so as described in the tutorial
- but: they are showing up as simple devices under “Tools”, “Board”
2. Preparing the Arduino Uno
- connect the Arduino Uno via USB to the PC
- start the Arduion IDE 1.0.1
- open “ArduinoISP” from “File”, “Examples”
- upload it to the Arduino Uno
- when finished, connect Arduino Uno to ATtiny on its breadboard, see tutorial for details
3. You(r) program
- open the blinking example, change pin 0
- select “Tools”, “Programmer”, “Arduino as ISP”
- upload program using “File”, “Upload Using Programmer”
4. Done
- depending on your program and breadboard setup, the LED(s) should be blinking now
What’s next?
I’m not quite sure, but I think the ATtiny 45 is a cool chip, so I’m really looking forward to finding a good way to integrate it into upcoming projects.
Links
ATMEL ATtiny 45 http://www.atmel.com/devices/attiny45.aspx
MAKE article http://blog.makezine.com/2011/10/10/how-to-shrinkify-your-arduino-projects/
MIT Media Lab page ATtiny http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1695
My ATtiny 45 video at YouTube http://youtu.be/Jv3yjzZJJ2c