Embedded Programming

This week's assignment was to program the circuit boards we made last week. As you can see, some of my traces were backwards, mixed up, or not connected to anything! Fortunately I was able to correct them with little wires and solder. Getting to the programming step took a while, as there was a lot of testing connections with the voltage meter. Once we all got together to learn how to program, we had to install certain drivers, and update the Arduino software. This website was helpful in figuring out how to add our AtTiny44 to Arduino. I learned from the microcontroller data sheet that the AtTiny44 can operate anywhere between 2.5 and 5.5 volts. Also, in Arduino, you must set everything up correctly. Make sure your board tab is set to ATTiny. The clock should be at 8MHz. The processor should say ATTiny44. Our USB to serial converter, a cp2102 breakout board, had some trouble connecting to the computer. This was an easy fix after downloading the correct driver.

This was my first time ever using Arduino, and after learning how to make my LED blink, I think I have a better understanding of it. The example codes were necessary for someone who has never seen code before. The punctuation will get you if the code doesn't! This web page was very helpful for learning the references. SoftwareSerial can be tricky, I learned about pulling the power high or low to determine how fast the LED will blink. I am looking forward to working with more code, perhaps with an RGB LED. For my final project, I want to make a solar powered cell phone charging bag. I may use a blinking light to indicate whether the power is getting to my phone!