New Articles: Preface, Introduction, and Commandments

[The Tone God]

Hello everyone.

Alright then. Time to get started. I have posted a few new articles at the site.

The first article is "Preface Your Face" which is an preface of what you will need hardware, software, and skill wise to get start as well as an idea of the future articles' range.

The second article is "Welcome to the Microcontroller". An introduction to uCs. A quick overview of what uC are, how to get your hardware and software working, a simple first program called "Hi There!", and how to use the software simulator with your first program.

The third article is a short tip sheet called "Microcontroller Commandments" which outlines a general set of rules you should follow when using uCs. The "commandments" are NOT processor or language specific so they apply to just about everything.

The Tone God's Domain

Andrew

[Peter Snowberg]

   Fantastic job!  

[mojotron]

Yes, Thanks Andrew 

[bioroids]

I'm reading this tonight!

Thanks

[gaussmarkov]

awesome!  many thanks.

[The Tone God]

Thanks for the good words everyone. Feedback is always welcome and will help shape future articles.

Andrew

[Transmogrifox]

Pick up some Shakespeare in old english to help in setting the gothic tone for the commandments.   

Otherwise, excellent.  I was introduced to development tools for AVR's that make the Atmel chips that much more attractive.  I have started out with PIC's, and have no complaints...but a free C compiler is a great plus.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write that up.  I think that this forum will become a great place for gathering a pile of Stompbox related source code as it has become an amazingly rich source for analog circuit schematics and how-to's and theory for making them real stompable objects.

Maybe in 20 years when the proprietary source code secrets leak, we'll be reverse engineering "classic" delay and amp modelling software and distributing DSP source code in addition to tracing circuit boards and distributing schematics. Do you think we'll be using fiber optic processors to model digital amp modellers? 

Forum post in 20 years:  TS-9 modeller compiled, but...

[gez]

Forum post in 20 years:  TS-9 modeller compiled, but...

...do simulated Ge diodes sound better than simulated Si?? 

[bioroids]

Thank's a lot for the articles!

They are very clear (in spite of a few typos ) and it's a good thing you choose to do it in C instead of assembler.

I think I read them too fast, so I'll give them another round today

One thing than confused me at first when playing with the STK500 is the fact that LEDs and switches work in negative logic (the Led turns on when you clear the bit, etc). Maybe it is not relevant for the "hello there" project but for other stuff it is probably a good idea to state that.

Luck!

Miguel

[mojotron]

Forum post in 20 years:  TS-9 modeller compiled, but...

...do simulated Ge diodes sound better than simulated Si?? 

I remain surprised by what happens in collaborative "open" efforts - technology flourishes and a lot of people benefit. I've seen some open/collaborative efforts in technology areas that have ended up being a huge driving force behind fundamental progress in some industries. And, I think that's what's made the analog projects really take off - we are only constrained on the analog side by the time/education/experience/creativity and mostly the altruism of those on the leading edge, as well as the interest and perseverance of those behind them. In the last couple of years since I've been involved with this site I've seen the number of people contributing quality stuff multiply. 

If we are successful in enabling eachother on the digital end now - I think we will all be amazed by what we are posting about a year from now.

Alright - well, I can never really say thanks enough to so many here. OK, enough cheerleading - back to studying...

[gaussmarkov]

i just went through the simulator part of Introduction - Welcome to the Microcontroller.  it was like putting a hot knife through butter--couldn't be easier.      the result of T.T.G.'s careful work.

two minor suggestions that one might add to the text:  toggle on "Show Bitnumber" in the I/O View to get what is in the figures.  i found it by right-clicking on an item in the I/O View window.  and it's nice to know, because the loop is an infinite loop, that the pause button (also CTRL+F5, or Debug/Break) pauses execution, and the stop button (also CTRL+SHFT+F5, or Debug/Stop Debugging) stops things altogether (available once you have paused).

thanks andrew!     we have having guests for dinner tonight--so it will be pretty late before i can get back to doing the hardware part.  but i am looking forward to trying that.

[The Tone God]

Once again thanks for the kind words all.

Pick up some Shakespeare in old english to help in setting the gothic tone for the commandments.   

They were were more in that vain when I first wrote them but as I seem to be attracting more global attention I thought it would be better to keep it closer to modern english with just a hint of Ye Ole' English to keep it sounding somewhat more grandiose.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write that up.  I think that this forum will become a great place for gathering a pile of Stompbox related source code as it has become an amazingly rich source for analog circuit schematics and how-to's and theory for making them real stompable objects.

I agree. I could see in maybe a few years there will be a link above next to "Schematics" with something like "uC Libraries" from various submitters. That would be weird/interesting.

They are very clear (in spite of a few typos ) and it's a good thing you choose to do it in C instead of assembler.

Okay I suck at the english and writing. ;P I know this already as due the trail of broken english teachers I have left in my wake. I have broken a few grammar checkers in my time too. I'm not kidding either.

One thing than confused me at first when playing with the STK500 is the fact that LEDs and switches work in negative logic (the Led turns on when you clear the bit, etc). Maybe it is not relevant for the "hello there" project but for other stuff it is probably a good idea to state that.

It was not really an important point for "hi_there.c" but I have mentioned it in the next article which I am busy with right now. I learned that one quickly too the hard way. 

If we are successful in enabling eachother on the digital end now - I think we will all be amazed by what we are posting about a year from now.

Right now I'm less interested in handing things over and more interested in giving people the tools to make their own stuff. Hopefully if things are successful around here then I hope to see a nice rate of return from the current investment of the small group here. It should be interesting to observe what happens as I'm not sure and have mixed feelings. Anyways back to writing.

i just went through the simulator part of Introduction - Welcome to the Microcontroller.  it was like putting a hot knife through butter--couldn't be easier.      the result of T.T.G.'s careful work.

Excellent. Thanks for the feedback of letting me know that it worked for you.

two minor suggestions that one might add to the text:  toggle on "Show Bitnumber" in the I/O View to get what is in the figures.  i found it by right-clicking on an item in the I/O View window.  and it's nice to know, because the loop is an infinite loop, that the pause button (also CTRL+F5, or Debug/Break) pauses execution, and the stop button (also CTRL+SHFT+F5, or Debug/Stop Debugging) stops things altogether (available once you have paused).

D'oh! Good point. I guess if I'm going to tell people how to run something I should tell them how to stop it too. I'll make some additions to address that. I also forgot that stock installations don't enable bit numbering. I'm just used to it always being there. I'll mention that too.

thanks andrew!     we have having guests for dinner tonight--so it will be pretty late before i can get back to doing the hardware part.  but i am looking forward to trying that.

Great. Thanks for the report and if could let me know if the hardware side works that would be of great comfort.

Andrew

[gaussmarkov]

Thy will only engage in uC development with a calm and focused Zen-like mind. If thy are tired, angry, distracted, hyper-caffinated, intoxicated, or otherwise not of Zen mind thy will stop and wait until Zen is achieved to proceed.

After the guests left last night, I could not complete the hardware part without violating this commandment--so i waited until tonight.

success!  first a firmware upgrade was necessary (as predicted by T.T.G.) and the instructions from AVR Studio were clear and worked. 

second, i followed the instructions in section 3.6 (esp. table 3-2) to hook everything up for programming.  be sure to make the connections required between PORTE and PORTB as well as the 6 pin connection between ISP6PIN and SPROG1.    clicked on the AVR button and the STK500 dialog came right up.  clicked on fuses and no errors. 

third, added the jumper wire for LED0 and went to program the uC and couldn't find the .hex file for a moment.  discovered it under a "default" subdirectory that had been created and then hit "Program" to be rewarded with a blinking "hi there!"   

awesome, andrew!  i guess i should say that "Introduction - Welcome to the Microcontroller" has been verified. 

[The Tone God]

awesome, andrew!  i guess i should say that "Introduction - Welcome to the Microcontroller" has been verified. 

Excellent! Congrats as well. Thanks for letting me know. This give me some peace of mind to know that everything works therefore newbies will hopefully have a good first experience.

Guess I should try to get the next article out so you do some other stuff.

Andrew

[bioroids]

Damm, I need to get one of those Tiny13 soon!

Miguel

[gaussmarkov]

Damm, I need to get one of those Tiny13 soon!

Miguel

which reminds me ... the Tiny13 did not come packaged with my STK500.  order a few separately.

[gaussmarkov]

Guess I should try to get the next article out so you do some other stuff.

Andrew

no pressure!  i would prefer that you have plenty of time to put an article together and enjoy doing it at the same time. 

also, it's worth repeating R.G.'s suggestion for anyone looking for an immediate additional fix of STK500 play:

OK, start the Atmel/AVR stuff with this:
http://www.xdesignlabs.com/guide/index.html

cheers.