AVR Quick Start Tutorial

What you need:

1. Any computer with a parallel port. Most desktop computers have parallel ports.

If the PC has windows, you will need administrative privileges. I will proceed on the assumption that you have XP or newer windows. If you have Linux, no problems!In case you dont want to wreck the existing OS, you may try booting from a live-CD. In short, a live CD is a bootable disc that contains an OS. 2. A 9-12 volt DC adapter. Pick up any DC adapter in the market that has a DC output greater than about 7V. There are some in the market that have a small rotary switch for voltage selection and polarity selection - those will work just fine.3. Soldering Equipment:

A soldering iron, flux, solder, wire cutter, etc.

4. Multimeter:

Recommended but not esential

5. Components:

SCHEMATIC:

Construct the following circuit on your board.The Hi-res versions of the circuit are available here.

    1. Blank General purpose board. Get a large one so that components can be added on later.

    2. All components from the schematic bill of materials.

    3. In particular, the parallel port connector looks like the one shown on the right. It has to be a male connector, with pins on the back where wires can be soldered on.

    4. Along with the ATMega32, it it a good idea to buy a bunch of 40 -pin sockets. I find that the machined sockets are much better than the cheaper varieties in the long run.

Some hints:

    1. Do not solder the chip into the board, rather solder the socket into the board.

    2. If your DC adapter jack has pins that do not fit into the standard PCB hole pitch, consider using a hand drill to make holes as required.

PROGRAMMING:

Due to the great differences for Windows and Linux users, I will cover them both separately:

  1. AVR Programming in Windows

  2. AVR Programming in Linux - Ubuntu*

[*] I assume that if you have any other flavour of Linux you can make sense of the Ubuntu instructions.