Yahoo Groups archive
Thread
2004-12-20 by honamos@yahoo.com
Hello everyone, I have SOME experience with the PIC line, but I was told that AVR is way better. I have absolutely no experience with AVR's, so I was hoping someone could help guide me. What do I need to get, etc, etc. I look forward to learning a lot from all of you, and I hope to contribute when I am knowledgable enough to. Thank you, Shamoon
2004-12-20 by Tony Vandiver
Shamoon, Depends on a lot of stuff. Do you have a hardware target in mind? Will you be developing under Windows or Linux? Do you use C or want to use strictly assembly? The first two toys I would get in terms of hardware are and AVRISP (about $30US from digikey), and an AVR Butterfly. If you just want to see some code run, these two tools will allow you to program an AVR that's connected to some typical hardware. Download AVR Studio from atmel.com for asm development and ISP programming. That's the dirt cheap approach, and in my opinion it's a big part of the reason why AVR is so popular, i.e. it doesn't cost a fortune to get your feet wet. If you're looking to start coding in C tomorrow, I'd get codevisionavr, but if you're comfortable with doing your own makefiles and don't mind open source stuff, get the free winavr for Windows or avrgcc for Linux. hth, Tony Vandiver ----- Original Message -----
From: <honamos@yahoo.com> To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 8:22 PM Subject: [AVR-Chat] Complete Newbie > > > Hello everyone, > I have SOME experience with the PIC line, but I was told that AVR is > way better. I have absolutely no experience with AVR's, so I was > hoping someone could help guide me. What do I need to get, etc, etc. > I look forward to learning a lot from all of you, and I hope to > contribute when I am knowledgable enough to. > > Thank you, > Shamoon > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > >
2004-12-20 by Brian Dean
On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 02:22:50AM -0000, honamos@yahoo.com wrote:
> I have SOME experience with the PIC line, but I was told that AVR is
> way better. I have absolutely no experience with AVR's, so I was
> hoping someone could help guide me. What do I need to get, etc,
> etc. I look forward to learning a lot from all of you, and I hope
> to contribute when I am knowledgable enough to.
If you don't have to worry too much about pinching pennies, on the
hardware side, I'd recommend an STK500 which usually runs around $80.
This one tool will get you a nice development board and device
programmer in one which has sockets for nearly every one of Atmel's
DIP parts, and will come with a sample part to play with right away.
It is well worth every penny.
But you can get started very cheaply. My first experience with the
AVRs was with an AT90S2313 and a homemade cable programmer - probably
about $5 of parts. And since I was using Unix and Atmel did not have
any tools for my OS and nothing else was available at the time, I
wrote my own software to download my programs to the on-chip flash.
That program became what is now AVRDUDE today.
On the software side, if you are running Mac, Linux, or FreeBSD you'll
want to be familiar with AVRDUDE at least for downloading programs to
your chip. This is a program that simply takes your hex file and
loads it into the flash of your AVR where it can then run. Also,
you'll want to take a look at the GNU toolset - binutils and gcc which
will give you an insdustrial strength C compiler and assembler. The
avr-libc project will give you a mostly complete C runtime environment
for the AVR. Quite a comprehensive development environment. Most
Unix folks will feel right at home with this environment.
If you are using Windows, grab a copy of Atmel's AVR Studio. This is
an IDE that includes an assembler and simulator and allows you to
program the chip. Commercial C compilers are available for Windows,
but GCC is also available there in the form of WinAVR - the GNU
toolset already built for you, ready to be installed. Also, you might
want to take a look at BASCOM-AVR - a Basic compiler for the AVR. A
demo version is available at no charge which can generate up to 2K of
code before requiring you to purchase the full version.
I recently ran across a Forth implementation for the AVR - PFAVR:
http://claymore.engineer.gvsu.edu/~steriana/Python/pfavr/
You need a good chunk of RAM to run this, though, but it is pretty
neat. It runs on my MAVRIC boards which have external RAM, or my
MAVRIC-II boards with the ram expansion add-on board.
If you know or would like to learn Forth, this looks pretty
interesting.
-Brian
--
Brian Dean
BDMICRO - ATmega128 Based MAVRIC Controllers
http://www.bdmicro.com/2004-12-20 by wbounce
I am using a 128 with WINAVR producing a dwarf2 and using avrstudio 4.1 for debugging. I use timer0 with a SIGNAL routine in most of the programs I have written to provide a 1 ms timer. When I debug my code I have problems with delays. I have a function called delay that does this cli(); ms_count = 0; sei(); while (ms_count< pnDelay) ; Even small values for pnDelay take a long time in the simulator. Is there some setting in AVR Studio that affects this? I remember somewhere seeing a screen of options including speed for the MCU My timer setting are based on 16MHZ but that was not one of the options. Am I the only who experiences this? It is a pain having to wait 10 minutes until a 100 ms delay is done or having to step into certain functions so I can skip the delay part. I do not want to change the values to a really low value because I am afraid I would forget to set them back. This leads me to my 2nd question. I have debug print statements to the UART. Today I added a define efkdebug and put #ifndef efkdebug around the code that actually sends the charactors to the uart so I would not have to wait for them to timeout. Right now my define variable is hardcoded. I would like to set up a new menu item in PN called Build Debug and be able to have the Make file set the efkdebug define. I know there is a compiler command line option -D or -d that allows the defining a variable. But how do I have PN pass the make file a parameter that tells it to define debug. Working with make files is not my strong suite. From what I read any variables are global. I only want to set it if I am doing a build debug. If I get an answer for #2 I could create 2 sets of delay constants the real one and a short set used for debugging. Question number 3 is how do you deal with debugging code that handles TWI (I2C) Right now I have to step into those functions and jugdicously skip those steps. Is there a better way?
2004-12-20 by Brian Dean
On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 12:06:39AM -0500, wbounce wrote:
> This leads me to my 2nd question. I have debug print statements to the
> UART. Today I added a define efkdebug and put #ifndef efkdebug around
> the code that actually sends the charactors to the uart so I would not
> have to wait for them to timeout. Right now my define variable is
> hardcoded. I would like to set up a new menu item in PN called Build
> Debug and be able to have the Make file set the efkdebug define. I know
> there is a compiler command line option -D or -d that allows the
> defining a variable. But how do I have PN pass the make file a parameter
> that tells it to define debug. Working with make files is not my strong
> suite. From what I read any variables are global. I only want to set it
> if I am doing a build debug.
You can pass Makefile variables on the 'make' command line, like this,
for example:
make CPU_FREQ=16000000
Then, in your Makefile, you can pass that on to your C compiler by
adding this to your C command line, either directly, or by adding it
to typically the CFLAGS variable, i.e.,:
CFLAGS += -DCPU_FREQ=${CPU_FREQ}
Be sure that comes _after_ any direct assignment of CFLAGS, otherwise
your addition will be overwritten.
Or more directly to the C compiler command line, i.e.:
avr-gcc -DCPU_FLAGS=${CPU_FREQ} ...
If your variable can have spaces, be sure and use quotes as necessary.
Sorry I can't help with the others.
-Brian
--
Brian Dean
BDMICRO - ATmega128 Based MAVRIC Controllers
http://www.bdmicro.com/2004-12-20 by Russell Shaw
wbounce wrote: > I am using a 128 with WINAVR producing a dwarf2 and using avrstudio 4.1 > for debugging. > I use timer0 with a SIGNAL routine in most of the programs I have > written to provide a 1 ms timer. > > When I debug my code I have problems with delays. I have a function > called delay that does this > > cli(); > ms_count = 0; > sei(); > while (ms_count< pnDelay) > ; > > Even small values for pnDelay take a long time in the simulator. Is > there some setting in AVR Studio that affects this? The simulator runs much slower than real hardware, so you'll need to use a smaller count or comment it out.
2004-12-20 by Graham Davies
--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, honamos@y... wrote: > ... What do I need to get ... As others have said, we do need to know what you have to spend and what features you want. The STK500 is probably where most people start, but if you want to use the high-end MCUs such as the ATmega64 and up, you'll also need an STK501 which pushes the price up to $160. A better option in this case might be a MAVRIC from BDMICRO. If you're prepared to limit yourself to the AVRs that have JTAG interfaces, I would recommend getting a JTAG interface instead of an ISP programmer. Non-Atmel versions, such as my AVR ICE-Cube, are available for only a few dollars more than the Atmel AVRISP. What you get if you take this direction is on-chip debugging. Personally, I don't think a programming environment is complete without a debugger (unless you're working with the very small MCUs, I suppose). The AVR Butterfly suggestion is a good one. But again I don't know why you'd spend $30 for an AVRISP without debugging if you can get a JTAG interface for $40 and have debugging too. If you want to go further with the Butterfly, you could get one of my Butterfly Carriers which will add a power supply, DB9, reset button, a prototyping area and other convenience features. If you're flexible and just want a suggestion to act on, mine is to get an STK500, an AVR ICE-Cube or other JTAG interface and an STK500 adapter (I have these, but I don't know who else). This will get you going with on-chip debug on the ATmega16 that (probably) comes with the STK500 or an ATmega32 (which I also have in stock). You can move down from here to the smaller MCUs without JTAG because the STK500 has built-in ISP. Moving up would require another cash outlay for an STK501 or MAVRIC. Graham. http://www.ecrostech.com
2004-12-20 by Steve Bennett
Howdy I am just getting started with the AVR line as well. I'm keeping myself plenty busy with the Butterfly. I am using WINAVR and studio for the software. This is alowing me to get familiar with the environment and build up chunks of useful code.. The buy in was way low, about twenty something bucks for the butterfly from Digikey and a simple home made serial cable adaptor, about $2.00 in parts. I bought one of Graham's JTAG boards but have not had the need to use it yet, that will come later.... The Butterfly has it's limits but as a cheap and quick way to get your hands on hardware and start coding, it's hard to beat. By the time Graham came out with his Butterfly support board I had already made up a support setup for my board, but if I where doing it again I would probably get his board, it would save some time and make for a neater setup. Steve
2004-12-21 by David Kelly
On Dec 19, 2004, at 11:06 PM, wbounce wrote: > > Even small values for pnDelay take a long time in the simulator. Is > there some setting in AVR Studio that affects this? I remember looking and not finding a way to set the timer0 clock frequency different than the main CPU clock in the simulator. Thought it would be nice to have a 32kHz clock in the simulator the way my real hardware would. So while playing in the simulator I moved the timer0 clock back to he main CPU and set the divisor so that it ran very fast. Another way to deal with it is to set breakpoints at the places you are interested in seeing. Then let the simulator run at its full speed until it gets there. Another way to say it is, "Learn to choose your battles. Only debug broken or suspect code." :-) (as if it were that easy) -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net ======================================================================== Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
2004-12-21 by wbounce
What do you mean full speed? I have a 500 ms delay at the start of my program so I can get my fingers off the switch before my robot moves. If I set a break point after this and just tell the debugger to run it takes 10 minutes to get past the .5 second delay. My Program makes heavy use of TWI (I2C) And the functions I am using for that have a timeout of 1 seconds. So they are just as bad as the delay at the start. So it takes me several minutes of run to here, skip of that, run top there skip over this, substitute a value that should have been returned, etc before I can get to the part I need to really step through. I was thinking the has to be a beter way hence my question. Playing with the divisor may be a viable solution to thanks
-----Original Message----- From: David Kelly [mailto:dkelly@hiwaay.net] Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 8:52 PM To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] 3 debugging questions On Dec 19, 2004, at 11:06 PM, wbounce wrote: > > Even small values for pnDelay take a long time in the simulator. Is > there some setting in AVR Studio that affects this? I remember looking and not finding a way to set the timer0 clock frequency different than the main CPU clock in the simulator. Thought it would be nice to have a 32kHz clock in the simulator the way my real hardware would. So while playing in the simulator I moved the timer0 clock back to he main CPU and set the divisor so that it ran very fast. Another way to deal with it is to set breakpoints at the places you are interested in seeing. Then let the simulator run at its full speed until it gets there. Another way to say it is, "Learn to choose your battles. Only debug broken or suspect code." :-) (as if it were that easy) -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net ======================================================================== Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad. Yahoo! Groups Links
2004-12-21 by wbounce
As always you have great advice. Hopefully I'll get this in place this week.
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Dean [mailto:bsd@bdmicro.com]
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 12:20 AM
To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] 3 debugging questions
On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 12:06:39AM -0500, wbounce wrote:
> This leads me to my 2nd question. I have debug print statements to the
> UART. Today I added a define efkdebug and put #ifndef efkdebug around
> the code that actually sends the charactors to the uart so I would not
> have to wait for them to timeout. Right now my define variable is
> hardcoded. I would like to set up a new menu item in PN called Build
> Debug and be able to have the Make file set the efkdebug define. I
> know there is a compiler command line option -D or -d that allows the
> defining a variable. But how do I have PN pass the make file a
> parameter that tells it to define debug. Working with make files is
> not my strong suite. From what I read any variables are global. I only
> want to set it if I am doing a build debug.
You can pass Makefile variables on the 'make' command line, like this,
for example:
make CPU_FREQ=16000000
Then, in your Makefile, you can pass that on to your C compiler by
adding this to your C command line, either directly, or by adding it to
typically the CFLAGS variable, i.e.,:
CFLAGS += -DCPU_FREQ=${CPU_FREQ}
Be sure that comes _after_ any direct assignment of CFLAGS, otherwise
your addition will be overwritten.
Or more directly to the C compiler command line, i.e.:
avr-gcc -DCPU_FLAGS=${CPU_FREQ} ...
If your variable can have spaces, be sure and use quotes as necessary.
Sorry I can't help with the others.
-Brian
--
Brian Dean
BDMICRO - ATmega128 Based MAVRIC Controllers http://www.bdmicro.com/
Yahoo! Groups Links2004-12-21 by David Kelly
On Dec 20, 2004, at 10:10 PM, wbounce wrote: > > What do you mean full speed? I have a 500 ms delay at the start of my > program so I can get my fingers off the switch before my robot moves. > If > I set a break point after this and just tell the debugger to run it > takes 10 minutes to get past the .5 second delay. My Program makes > heavy > use of TWI (I2C) And the functions I am using for that have a timeout > of > 1 seconds. So they are just as bad as the delay at the start. So it > takes me several minutes of run to here, skip of that, run top there > skip over this, substitute a value that should have been returned, etc > before I can get to the part I need to really step through. I was > thinking the has to be a beter way hence my question. > > Playing with the divisor may be a viable solution to thanks > > -----Original Message----- > From: David Kelly [mailto:dkelly@hiwaay.net] > Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 8:52 PM > To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] 3 debugging questions > > > > > On Dec 19, 2004, at 11:06 PM, wbounce wrote: >> >> Even small values for pnDelay take a long time in the simulator. Is >> there some setting in AVR Studio that affects this? > > I remember looking and not finding a way to set the timer0 clock > frequency different than the main CPU clock in the simulator. Thought > it would be nice to have a 32kHz clock in the simulator the way my real > hardware would. > > So while playing in the simulator I moved the timer0 clock back to he > main CPU and set the divisor so that it ran very fast. > > Another way to deal with it is to set breakpoints at the places you are > interested in seeing. Then let the simulator run at its full speed > until it gets there. > > Another way to say it is, "Learn to choose your battles. Only debug > broken or suspect code." :-) (as if it were that easy) Then either bypass your startup delay with a compile-time define or manually advance your PC (program counter) to the code of interest. Hence the "choose your battles" advice. Only debug the broken code. No need to debug the startup delay. -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net ======================================================================== Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
2004-12-21 by honamos@yahoo.com
Hey Tony, For my first AVR project, I would like to build a small digital voice recorder with a tiny radio-remote control. Suggestions on how to get started? Shamoon --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Vandiver" <tony.vandiver@c...> wrote: > Shamoon, > > Depends on a lot of stuff. Do you have a hardware target in mind? Will you > be developing under Windows or Linux? Do you use C or want to use strictly > assembly? The first two toys I would get in terms of hardware are and > AVRISP (about $30US from digikey), and an AVR Butterfly. If you just want > to see some code run, these two tools will allow you to program an AVR > that's connected to some typical hardware. Download AVR Studio from > atmel.com for asm development and ISP programming. That's the dirt cheap > approach, and in my opinion it's a big part of the reason why AVR is so > popular, i.e. it doesn't cost a fortune to get your feet wet. If you're > looking to start coding in C tomorrow, I'd get codevisionavr, but if you're > comfortable with doing your own makefiles and don't mind open source stuff, > get the free winavr for Windows or avrgcc for Linux. > > hth, > > Tony Vandiver > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <honamos@y...> > To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 8:22 PM > Subject: [AVR-Chat] Complete Newbie > > > > > > > > Hello everyone, > > I have SOME experience with the PIC line, but I was told that AVR is > > way better. I have absolutely no experience with AVR's, so I was > > hoping someone could help guide me. What do I need to get, etc, etc.
> > I look forward to learning a lot from all of you, and I hope to > > contribute when I am knowledgable enough to. > > > > Thank you, > > Shamoon > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
2004-12-22 by honamos@yahoo.com
Is this too difficult of a starting project with the AVR? Shamoon --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, honamos@y... wrote: > > Hey Tony, > For my first AVR project, I would like to build a small digital voice > recorder with a tiny radio-remote control. Suggestions on how to get > started? > > Shamoon > > > --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Vandiver" <tony.vandiver@c...> > wrote: > > Shamoon, > > > > Depends on a lot of stuff. Do you have a hardware target in mind? > Will you > > be developing under Windows or Linux? Do you use C or want to use > strictly > > assembly? The first two toys I would get in terms of hardware are > and > > AVRISP (about $30US from digikey), and an AVR Butterfly. If you > just want > > to see some code run, these two tools will allow you to program an > AVR > > that's connected to some typical hardware. Download AVR Studio from > > atmel.com for asm development and ISP programming. That's the dirt > cheap > > approach, and in my opinion it's a big part of the reason why AVR > is so > > popular, i.e. it doesn't cost a fortune to get your feet wet. If > you're > > looking to start coding in C tomorrow, I'd get codevisionavr, but > if you're > > comfortable with doing your own makefiles and don't mind open > source stuff, > > get the free winavr for Windows or avrgcc for Linux. > > > > hth, > > > > Tony Vandiver > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: <honamos@y...> > > To: <AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com> > > Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 8:22 PM > > Subject: [AVR-Chat] Complete Newbie > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello everyone, > > > I have SOME experience with the PIC line, but I was told that AVR > is > > > way better. I have absolutely no experience with AVR's, so I was > > > hoping someone could help guide me. What do I need to get, etc,
> etc. > > > I look forward to learning a lot from all of you, and I hope to > > > contribute when I am knowledgable enough to. > > > > > > Thank you, > > > Shamoon > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
2004-12-22 by John Samperi
At 06:48 PM 22/12/04 -0000, you wrote:
>Is this too difficult of a starting project with the AVR?
I would say it is a bit difficult with any processor.
>> For my first AVR project, I would like to build a small digital
>voice
>> recorder with a tiny radio-remote control.
There is an Atmel application note on a sound recorder and
playback. May try that for a start.
Regards
John Samperi
******************************************************
Ampertronics Pty. Ltd.
11 Brokenwood Place Baulkham Hills, NSW 2153 AUSTRALIA
Tel. (02) 9674-6495 Fax (02) 9674-8745
Email: samperi@ampertronics.com.au
Website http://www.ampertronics.com.au
* Electronic Design * Custom Products * Contract Assembly
******************************************************2004-12-25 by wbounce
I am trying to change the address on my SRF08s. I have confirmed they
work ie I did a ping on each of them with the default address. In order
to change the address I need to send A0, AA, A5 and then the desired
address. This I put into cmd before calling the routines.
I called the following routine. I do not think I have the TWI calls
right. It returned invalid address.
int8_t srf08_ChangeAddress(uint8_t device, uint8_t Newdevice)
{
uint8_t cmd;
uint8_t addr;
/* start condition */
if (i2c_start(0x08, 1))
return -1;
/* address slave device, write */
if (i2c_sla_rw(device, 0, TW_MT_SLA_ACK, 1))
return -2;
// write to the command register
addr = 0;
/* write address */
if (i2c_data_tx(addr, TW_MT_DATA_ACK, 1))
return -3;
/* repeated start condition */
if (i2c_start(0x10, 1))
return -4;
cmd = 0xA0;
/* write command */
if (i2c_data_tx(cmd, TW_MT_DATA_ACK, 1))
return -5;
cmd = 0xAA;
/* write command */
if (i2c_data_tx(cmd, TW_MT_DATA_ACK, 1))
return -6;
cmd = 0xA5;
/* write command */
if (i2c_data_tx(cmd, TW_MT_DATA_ACK, 1))
return -7;
/* write command */
if (i2c_data_tx(Newdevice, TW_MT_DATA_ACK, 1))
return -8;
if (i2c_stop())
return -9;
return 0;
}
Do I need to need to write the device and address for each byte of data?