Atmel AVR and Arduino

[MisterFuji]

I am still a little confused on the role of the Arduino. Is it just a
nice to have, development platform? Do you need anything other than
the AVR chip, a programmer, and a compiler to program an AVR chip?

Thanks,
Randle

[Matthew Nuzum]

It's just a base platform. A common configuration so that everyone who
says they have an Arduino can have a similar experience. You program
it through a USB cord so no programmer is needed.

I bought a couple of the kits where you get all the pieces ready to go
but you assemble them yourself at
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/nkc_store_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ
(they also have completed boards there but not really at a discount
from the normal distributors)

There are many kinds of AVR chips so you have to decide which you
want, build a circuit board and then program it. You can save a lot of
money if you have simple needs (for example maybe you just want an 8
pin part for $1). You will need a programmer. Lady ADA has one that's
USB and quite cheap (or as a kit)
http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/index.html

--
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, identi.ca and twitter

[MisterFuji]

Thanks. I finally stumbled upon a Useful (for me) tutorial,

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=57&page=2

Cheers,
Randle

On Jul 10, 10:58 am, Matthew Nuzum <n...@bearfruit.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 10:26 AM, MisterFuji<randle.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am still a little confused on the role of the Arduino.  Is it just a
> > nice to have, development platform?  Do you need anything other than
> > the AVR chip, a programmer, and a compiler to program an AVR chip?
>
> It's just a base platform. A common configuration so that everyone who
> says they have an Arduino can have a similar experience. You program
> it through a USB cord so no programmer is needed.
>
> I bought a couple of the kits where you get all the pieces ready to go

> but you assemble them yourself athttp://shop.ebay.com/merchant/nkc_store_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

> (they also have completed boards there but not really at a discount
> from the normal distributors)
>
> There are many kinds of AVR chips so you have to decide which you
> want, build a circuit board and then program it. You can save a lot of
> money if you have simple needs (for example maybe you just want an 8
> pin part for $1). You will need a programmer. Lady ADA has one that's

> USB and quite cheap (or as a kit)http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/index.html

[Randle Boyd]

Matthew, are you using the Arduino or the Freeduino?

Cheers,
Randle

[newz2000]

On Jul 14, 6:43 pm, Randle Boyd <randle.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Matthew, are you using the Arduino or the Freeduino?
>

It would technically be a Freeduino, a slightly older version of this
one: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/nkc_store_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

The main difference is that if it's one built from the reference
design but by an org that is not "Arduino" then for copyright reasons
they call it something else, even if it's identical.