Free and Open Source Embedded Designs

PC Interface to Six Digit Display via USB Port

2011-05-16T00:15:00.001+05:30

we have designed a digital display with USB interface to PC. This device is MODBUS compatible and data sent via USB interface from PC can display any value.

The attached photo is showing count for AMITYUNI page on facebook.

A sample program in PC picks up like counter for a facebook page is here

https://github.com/facebook/python-sdk Python + facebook SDK

http://pastebin.com/AgffVnUf - Application program as created by Anuvrat Parasher of Amity Univeristy Computer Science

http://kovshenin.com/archives/facebook-fans-count-using-python-and-the-graph-api/ - PC program was developed by using information from this link

http://pastebin.com/c1a3eN7Q Program for display of date and time with dot point is here

MODBUS specs for this device are on our facebook page and can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/gvcsystems#!/notes/gvc-systems/tech-specs-of-usb-2-display-devices/213868321973943

Arduino Based Starter Kit with LCD + IR + USB PORT + RTC + Sensors + LED DRIVERS

2011-05-16T00:04:00.000+05:30

We have designed a PCB with following features

Arduino ATMEGA 328 with boot loader for programming
Alphanumeric LCD (20 Char X 4 Lines)
Real Time Clock with battery back up
I2C based EEPROM
Infra red sesnor + Infra red remote handset with more than 21 keys
Light Sensor
Temperature sensor
USB port to connect to computer / program

We have also created test programs for quick starting up -

Lab 1 - Send "Hello World" to PC thru USB port
Lab 2 - Display "Hello World" on LCD and PC
Lab 3 - Same as Lab 2 + Display counting from 1 onward on LCD as well as PC
Lab 4 - Same as Lab 3 + counting starts from key pressed on PC Keyboard
Lab 5 - Accept Hours and Mins from PC. Display Digital Clock in Hours:Mins:Secs in 24 hour formar
Lab 6 - Read time from battery backed up RTC. Display time on LCD and PC, Time setting from PC when needed
Lab 7 - Decode key pressed on IR Remote handset based on uPD6121. Display all four codes on LCD/PC.
Lab 8 - Sequential switching on of seven leds one by one
Lab 9 - Remote controlled switch. Control of seven leds by IR Remote.

All these nine labs are here in a single zip files
http://www.box.net/shared/2bys2bz59o

PCB Design, Circuit Design and BOM are here

http://www.box.net/shared/2gs0u7uepu

Arduino based Traffic Light Dual Color Count Down Timer

2011-05-15T23:47:00.001+05:30

A construction article by Vinay Chaddha based on his commercial project of traffic light is published in May 2011 issue of Electronics For You.

This project is the advanced version of count down timers used in Delhi/Other metros.

The articles has complete software, hardware, construction details and even the programming instructions.

This is the sixth article by Vinay Chaddha. The other five are

Set Top Converter - June 1997
Caller ID for landline - Apr 1999
Remote Control Audio - Sep 1999
Access Control Systems - Oct 2002
Beverage Vending Machine - Oct 2006

We also plan to share few more designs based on same hardware but with different functions. The ones in pipeline are

Parking Counter
Gaming Timer
MODBUS controlled Display Unit

2009-12-02T00:11:00.003+05:30

Arduino Lab 2 0

View more documents from Vinay Chaddha.

2009-12-02T00:11:00.001+05:30

Arduino Lab 1 1

View more documents from Vinay Chaddha.

2009-12-02T00:10:00.001+05:30

Arduino Lab 1 0

View more documents from Vinay Chaddha.

2009-12-02T00:08:00.001+05:30

Arduino Labs

View more documents from Vinay Chaddha.

Open Source Embedded at google sites

2009-07-22T12:58:00.002+05:30

We created google site for open source embedded.

http://sites.google.com/a/gvc.in/open-embedded/home

This can be easily accessed via tinyurla or bitly also

http://tinyurl.com/open-source-embedded

http://bit.ly/open-embedded

Google Ad campaign launched on July 14,2009

2009-07-15T06:44:00.003+05:30

On July 14,2009 we launched ad camapaign for open embedded software development using google adwords. We started with a monthly ad budget of Rs 1000/- only.

We also created a google for to collect data from students and hobbyists so that they can be contacted and updated regularly. The link is

http://tinyurl.com/open-embedded

http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=tFdhmhTbMo1BeJL--rRR-HQ

Two new projects by GVC released

2009-06-30T22:46:00.004+05:30

GVC Systems has released two products under GNU General Public License V2.

Project 1 deals with CCTV switcher and is a commercially successful design. Details are at
http://code.google.com/p/camera-switchers/

Project 2 deals with remain time counter at a traffic signal intersection. Details are at
http://code.google.com/p/traffic-signal-timer/

License used by Arduino

2009-06-26T11:58:00.002+05:30

As we are also starting to publish open source hardware on the net, it is required to know about the license which is used by Arduino and other open source projects.
So i found the list of available open source license http://opensource.org/licenses

The famous Arduino project uses
Code license: GNU General Public License v2
Content license: Creative Commons 3.0 BY-SA

So to publish hardware content, we have adopted GNU General Public License v2

Why the Arduino Matters

2009-06-22T10:52:00.003+05:30

Why the Arduino Matters
http://www.urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2009/05/why_the_arduino_matters.html

A good story about how arudino will change the world of embedded development for hobbyists and bggineers and professionals

ARDUINO ON MAC OSX

2009-06-08T09:44:00.001+05:30

1. Use BAFO USB2SERIAL Converter. Installed driver. You can check installation using a normal PC and ZTERM program for MAC. (see other mail related to MAC)

Install Arduino. Select serial port from selection. There may be two options

dev/tty/usbserial

dev/cu/usbserial

select dev/cu/usbserial. This does not look for hardware signal for handshake.

2. Arduino on MAC works in 32 bit. To open application in 32 bit, press CTRL and left click on icon and select GET INFO.

Under get info, there is a box named as "Open in 32 bit Mode" check that box.

Arduino in an hour

2009-05-26T14:27:00.002+05:30

After working on arduino for over a month, i feel like sharing the information to all about how to start the basic working on an arduino. as i have arduino severino with me, I've created document as per it. you can download the file here.

Gobetwino

2009-04-29T14:55:00.002+05:30

Gobetwino is kind of a "genreric proxy" for Arduino. It's a program running on a PC (Windows only - sorry), that will act on behalf of Arduino and do some of the things that Arduino can't do on its own. So it works like a go between, hence the name.

Gobetwino is free, comes with a detailed user manual, and sample Arduino sketches to show how it can be used.

Gobetwino can bedownloaded here. Check this blog for information about updates, user suggestionns, and bugs.

What Is Bootloader?

2009-04-23T14:23:00.002+05:30

A Boot Loader program is placed inside
the Boot Section of the Flash memory.
This program handles communication
with the host PC, and facilitates programming
of both Flash and EEPROM.
Once programmed, different levels of protection
can be individually applied to both
the boot and application portion of the
Flash memory.

Read the complete article at:
http://embsys.technikum-wien.at/staff/veigl/MDBA/Projects/Bootloader_HowTo.pdf

Burning Bootloader in ATmega8 with STK500

2009-04-23T12:57:00.004+05:30

earilier i mentioned a post regarding how to burn bootloader in ATmega168 using STK500.
bit to burn bootloader in ATmega8, there was some problems as the fuses, memory and lock bits of ATmega8 are different than ATmega168.
so i created a new batch file, and followed the same procedure like ATmega168, to burn bootloader in ATmega8.

the commands of batch file are given below:

: We're assuming a few things:
: 1) Your firmware is at C:\arduino-0009\bootloader8, and it is the ATmegaBOOT.hex
: 2) Your STK software is at C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe
: 3) You're trying to program a ATmega168 using the high-voltage mode of the STK-500
:If they're not, make the edits below!

:Change to firmware directory
cd C:\arduino-0009\bootloader8

: Set fuse bits, lock bits, voltages
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega8 -ut5.2 -e -ua5.0 -!3686400 -lFF -LFF -fCAFF -ECA -mp -q

: Burn Arduino hex bootloader file
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega8 -pf -vf -ifATmegaBOOT.hex -mp -q

: Lock it down
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega8 -lFF -LFF -mp -q

@echo CHECK FOR PROBLEMS ABOVE before closing this window!
pause

A bootloader for the ATmega8 AVR microprocessor

2009-04-23T11:44:00.003+05:30

What is a bootloader?
What is it good for?
What is the main benefit of a boot loader?
Who does need a bootloader?
What was the motivation for creating the bootloader that is published here?
What is the history behind this piece of software?
What do I have to know about he hardware configuration?

All this and many more answers about bootloader can be found at
http://www.dl5neg.de/bootloader/bootloader.html

PIC TO LCD INTERFACE

2009-04-18T17:38:00.003+05:30

DESCRIPTION:
This article here is about how to interface PIC with LCD. Here in this project I am using PIC 16F84A and HD44780 compatible LCD. Though any character and line LCD can be used as long as it has HD44780 based controller, I used 16x2 line LCD. LCD can be interfaced both in 8 bit and 4 bit mode. I am using 4 bit interface mode so Port A and bit 0 of port B of PIC are free for any use.

DOWNLOAD FILE:
lcd4.asm
lcd4.hex
http://patna.sancharnet.in/guria741/pic2lcd/pic2lcd.htm

LOCK PROJECT WITH KEYPAD AND LCD USING PIC

2009-04-18T16:43:00.003+05:30

DESCRIPTION:
It is a simple combination lock with lcd and keypad both the harwares are interfaced with PIC micocontroller it is an eight bit controller.This project is written in C language. The basic user lock is of 2 Digits.The input is taken from a 4x3 Keypad (please see the schematic for more information) and Display the user input on a 2x16 LCD. A pin is assigned as output for activating and deactivating the lock. For demonstration I have connected an LED to that pin.
How combination lock works:
1. Turn switch on (5V DC voltage power supply)
2. A message name “Combination Lock” will display on LCD at first row,
3. Second row display “Enter Pass:” it asked you to enter password for open doors.
4. In this lock design it has three doors. These are the code locks to open doors “door1=05, door2=28, door3=82, door1 & door2 = 33”.
5. If you entered one of the codes in step 4 then press enter key that door will open. For example, you enter 05 for door 1 it’s then open and close door 1 after 5 seconds.
6. If codes you entered are not matched one of the code in step 4 then led door is not turn on.
7. If your first attempt failed the message “invalid code’ display on screen.
8. Then you pressed any key to clear and you can try for second attempt.After you have reached three attempts but you have not entered correct password. Next Any Keys press alarm will activate for 5 seconds.Using the Keypad:Keypad has 12 keys (4x3) starting from 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,*,0,# (please see the schematic for layout). Numeric keys are used for entering numbers. '*' is used as the Cancel key and '#' is used as the Enter key.

Download File Information:
Flowchart.jpg
Combination_lock.c
Diagram bitmap.bmp
Lock_EBES_MODEL.DSN ( Using Proteus to run this file)
Combination_Lock.hex
All the above files downloaded by this link
http://www.8051projects.net/downloads195.html

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE

2009-04-18T15:17:00.002+05:30

DESCRIPTION:
Electronic voting machine (EVM) is capable of saving considerable printing stationery and transport of large volumes of electoral material. It is easy to transport, store, and maintain. It completely rules out the chance of invalid votes. Its use results in reduction of polling time, resulting in fewer problems in electoral preparations, law and order, candidates' expenditure, etc. and easy and accurate counting without any mischief at the counting centre. It is also eco friendly.Our EVM consists mainly of two units - (a) Control Unit (CU) and (b) Ballot Unit (BU) with cable for connecting it with Control unit. Both the units consists of one microcontroller (8052) each. The CU consists of one LCD, one hex keypad and a couple of switches, while BU consists of a candidate panel, a votecast panel and a buzzer, etc. This project is based on assembly language programming. The software platform used in this project are Keil uVision3.

FILE INFO:
CIRCUIT:
8051_board.jpg : PCB layout diagram.
Ballot.jpg: Schematic diagram for ballot unit.
Controlunit.jpg : Schematic diagram for control unit.
CODING:
finalbu.a51: Assembly code for ballot unit.
nointerrupt.hex: Hex code for ballot unit.
voting.a51: Assembly code for control unit.
voting.hex: Hex code for control unit.
http://www.8051projects.net/downloads205.html

After you finish making the hardware. You have to do the following things:
1. Load cufirst.hex file in your controller.
2. Run your circuit.
3. Wait for 2-3 seconds.
4. Load voting.hex which is the real control unit program.5. Run it.

AUTOMATIC ROOM LIGHT CONTROLLER WITH VISITOR COUNTER USING MICROCONTROLLER

2009-04-18T15:04:00.002+05:30

DESCRIPTION:
This Project “Automatic Room Light Controller with Visitor Counter using Microcontroller” is a reliable circuit that takes over the task of controlling the room lights as well us counting number of persons/ visitors in the room very accurately. When somebody enters into the room then the counter is incremented by one and the light in the room will be switched ON and when any one leaves the room then the counter is decremented by one. The light will be only switched OFF until all the persons in the room go out. The total number of persons inside the room is also displayed on the seven segment displays.The microcontroller does the above job. It receives the signals from the sensors, and this signal is operated under the control of software which is stored in ROM. Microcontroller AT89c2051 continuously monitor the LDR’s 1 & 2 (Light Dependent Resistor), When any object pass through the LDR’s then the light falling on the LDR’s are obstructed , this obstruction is sensed by the Microcontroller.

FILE INFO:
Room.gif: circuit diagram
Room1.gif : circuit diagram
Light.a51: Assembly code.

PICTURE OF DIGITAL CLOCK

2009-04-18T14:56:00.002+05:30

Day, date , month , year , hour , minute and second on the LCD.

DIGITAL CLOCK USING RTC

2009-04-18T14:14:00.004+05:30

DESCRIPTION:

With the help of this project we can display the time ,month , year and day. we can also set the alarm,time increment or decrement the value. These all things are controlled by 8-bit microcontroller AT89C51 and RTC,for dispaly we will use the 1x16 LCD and for the alarm a buzzer we will use in our project . All the used components are easily available.

FILE INFO:

clock.hex : Direct hex file load and run.

lcd.c and lcd.h : lcd routine and header file.

rtc.c and rtc.h : routine and header file.

project.c and portc.h: routine and header file.

http://www.8051projects.net/downloads20.html

we can download above described all the files from this link.

DIGITAL VOLTMETER

2009-04-18T13:00:00.003+05:30

DESCRIPTION:

This is a Digital voltmeter project mainly focusing on designing condition circuits and demonstrating a use of Analog to Digital Converter (ADC).Voltage range is 0v to 15v. Sustem controlled with the help of 8-bit microcontroller AT89C51,and the voltage will be dispalyed on LCD.All the components are easily available.

File Info:

Voltmeter.hex: Direct hex file load and run

LCD.c LCD.h: LCD Routines and header file

Voltmeter.c: Main C file and ADC Routines

Volt.txt: Explanation of conditioning circuit

http://www.8051projects.net/downloads214.html

All the above mentioned file downloaded from this link .

Enjoy

Picture of my Arduino

2009-04-11T15:17:00.001+05:30

Open source hardware overview (slides)

2009-04-10T16:14:00.000+05:30

courtsy adafruit industry, a slide show of open source hardware is available here.

Open-Source Hardware is a Six-Layer Burrito

2009-04-10T16:12:00.000+05:30

The six layers are:-
1.Hardware / Mechanical Diagrams
2.Schematics & Circuit Diagrams
3.Parts List (BOM)
4.Layout Diagrams
5.Core/Firmware
6.Software/API

the complete article can be read here.

The Atmel STK500 EVB as an Arduino development board

2009-04-08T14:51:00.002+05:30

The Atmel STK500 EVB as an Arduino development board

With this notes I’ll show how I configured an Atmel STK500 as an Arduino-based development system.

I used the STK500 instead of a real Arduino PCB because I already had it and the board carries 8 switches, 8 LEDs and a variable, software programmable AREF voltage as well as a variable power supply. Great things to experiment with on a single board.

What follows applies to the STK500 evb equipped with an ATMega168. Please note I made my best to be as accurate as possible, some errors may be present though. Should you find some, please let me know.
AVR Studio 4.14 build 589 is used in the following; newer versions should be hopefully upward compatible.

Things needed :

One Atmel STK500 Evaluation Board with power supply
One Atmel ATMega168
One 16MHz crystal
One serial cable
One PC with AVR Studio 4 and one serial port
The Arduino software development system and the bootloader file for the ATMega168.

In case the PC doesn’t have a serial port but just USBs, a USB to serial adapter is necessary to interface the STK500 to the PC. I haven’t tried but it should work.

RS232 is needed in first instance to interface the STK500 evaluation board with the PC.

First the STK500 was wired and the jumper set as shown in the picture below.Click the picture for a larger version.

The ATMega168 must be on board, any other CPU must be removed.

The ATMega168 must be placed in the green 28pin socket and the 16MHz crystal into the socket as shown. The PC must be connected to the STK500 serial programmin port, the one labelled “RS232 CTRL” on the PCB. Take note what port of the PC you are using (say COM1 or COM2).

Launch AVR Studio and turn on the STK500.

From AVR Studio select “connect” (the “IC” icon below the menus) and select “STK500″ as platform and “COM1″ or “COM2″ ( the one connected before ) as port.

Press “connect” and the following should come up, the “main” tab :

Select ATmega168 for “device and signature bytes” then press the “Read Signature” button and check that the platform recognizes the device (the “Signature matches selected device” label is what you want to see ).

Press the “Erase device” button.

Next, press the “program” tab to display the following:

Check the “Erase device before FLASH programming” and “Verify device after programming”.

Now select the “…” button to the right of the “input HEX file” field and browse to the directory “\arduino-0012\hardware\bootloaders\atmega168″ starting from the place where you exploded the Arduino zip file you downloaded and select the ATmegaBOOT_168_ng.HEX file. Otherwise browse to where you saved the bootloader downloaded from arduino.cc

Press the “Program” button : after a few seconds the bootloader will be FLASHed into the micro and verified automatically. The bottom part of the window shall give some promising “OK !”s

Now click on the “Fuses” tab. Make it look like the following picture: make sure to un-check CKDIV8 and to select the “Ext Crystal Osc. 8.0 - MHz…”.

Changes are reflected in the “EXTENDED”, “HIGH” and “LOW” registers at the bottom: make sure they are the same as below.

Press “Program”.

Now, with the “lock bits” tab, the bootloader must be protected from overwriting :

The “BLB1″ must be changed to what is above and the “LOCKBIT” register should finally be 0xCF as above, press “Program”.

Now you’re done: you can remove the 6-pin ribbon cable necessary to program the micro and move the serial cable to the other serial port connector of the STK500 (the one marked “RS232 SPARE” on the PCB), make sure you leave connected the PD0 and PD1 to RXD and TXD because these pins make the serial port of Arduino !

Now you have and STK500 running Arduino with the added advantage of pushbuttons and LEDs on board plus variable power supply (useful when working with 3.3V external sensors) and variable Analog Reference (AREF).
The AREF short pin must be inserted when the on-board voltage reference is to be used. Remove the short otherwise. The Analog Reference Voltage can be controlled with the “Connect” dialog box. Target Supply voltage can be controlled there also.
The connections of teh ATMega168 are available at connectors J700 & J701 of the STK500.

The pinout is shown below along with the equivalent name to Arduino’s.

Again, the “spare serial port” of the STK500 is the one used to download sketches on the STK500-Arduino: remember to move the serial cable to this port to connect your PC to your Arduino !

The Reset button on the STK500 is now the reset button of the STK500-Arduino: it must be pressed to download sketches on the board as you would with a regular Arduino.

Connecting PB5 to an LED of the ones on the board gives a visual monitor where the LED blinks right after reset to show it is waiting for the code on the serial port.

Have fun and write for questions and comments.

GAINER-Another Open Source Hardware

2009-04-06T10:42:00.000+05:30

Gainer is an environment for user interfaces and media installations. By using the Gainer environment, the user can handle sensors and/or actuators with a PC on various programming environments such as Flash, Max/MSP, Processing and so on. The basic concepts are:

The user can use it for creative work from prototype stage to final output stage.
Using a breadboard allows the user to learn by mistake.
The user can build their own I/O module from components.
The user can choose a configuration from various configurations (software and hardware).
Open source software and hardware.

In the Gainer environment, "open source" means:

The user can use the Gainer environment for free.
Advanced users can freely modify existing hardware and/or software to create a new model for their project.

The Gainer environment consists of the following components:

Hardware (i.e. Gainer I/O module) >> more information
Software (i.e. drivers and libraries) >> more information
Documents (i.e. tutorials and cookbooks) >> more information

Hardware Processing

2009-04-06T10:32:00.000+05:30

http://hardware.processing.org/

This page is a short list of electronics prototyping systems that relate to Processing. The Wiring and Arduino systems utilize the Processing Development Environment (PDE). The Wiring programming language (used for the Wiring and Arduino boards) is based on the Processing language.

Day 4 - Interface with HyperTerminal

2009-04-04T14:35:00.000+05:30

So after interfacing with LCD and LED, next step was to start with serial communication.
HyperTerminal is a windows utility that lets us check serial communication with devices
So to start with it, I planned to send a text from arduino to HyperTerminal and display it on screen

I burned this code on Arduino, and saw "Hello, World!" being displayed on screen:

void setup()
{
//sets the baud rate and initializes serial communication
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
//send message
Serial.println("Hello world!");
//wait for one second
delay(1000);
}

There is no library required, so this this code will execute easily on any board

Day 3 -Lcd displaying seconds lapsed

2009-04-03T16:07:00.000+05:30

After interfacing Lcd and getting a idea of timer, next step is to combine the two together
I programmed Arduino blink LED after every second and then Counting the blinks and showing it on LCD
For this purpose, i changed the data ports of lcd, and attached a LED on pin 10.

The final code of the program is given below:

#include LCD4Bit.h>

#include TimerOne.h>
#include LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(11, 13, 12, 4, 5, 6, 7);
int s=0;
void count()
{
s++;
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(s);
}

void setup()
{
Timer1.initialize(1000000); // initialize timer1, and set a 1/2 second period
Timer1.pwm(10, 512); // setup pwm on pin 9, 50% duty cycle
Timer1.attachInterrupt(count); // attaches callback() as a timer overflow interrupt
}

void loop()
{

}

Day 3 - Led Blinking at 1 second

2009-04-03T15:21:00.000+05:30

After interfacing LED and LCD, my next step is to work upon Timer Interrupt of Arduino.
On searching, I found an Arduino library for timer, so i worked upon it.
The name of library is TimerOne
the code is given below

#include TimerOne.h>

void setup()
{

Timer1.initialize(500000);

Timer1.pwm(9, 512); // setup pwm on pin 9, 50% duty cycle

}

void loop()

{

}

It gives an output at pin 9 which is high for 0.5 sec and low for 0.5 sec

My Code for LCD Display

2009-04-03T14:36:00.000+05:30

#include lcd4bit.h>


#include liquidcrystal.h>

LiquidCrystal lcd(11, 13, 12, 7, 8, 9, 10);

void setup()
{
lcd.print("hello, world!");
}

void loop() {}

Day 2 - Interfacing Arduino with LCD-Software Part

2009-04-03T14:20:00.000+05:30

The hardware part was completed. Now the main part is software
I tried running the sample code provided on the arduino web site
http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/LiquidCrystal?from=Tutorial.LCDLibrary

But this program didn't diplay anything on screen. I tried changing my LCD but no luck.

On searching help on net, i cane across the fact that to interface LCD by Upper Nibble, you have to download a arduino library called LCD4bit(you can download it here) it is an unofficial arduino library.

extract the contents of zip file in your *.*\hardware\libraries section (here *.* represents path of your arduino compiler folder path)

on extracting the library, again open the program you was trying to run, and include the following library in the code on top:
#include

Compile the code, and then upload it. On successful upload wait for few seconds, as the system is reset. Finally you should get a display saying "hello, world!"

Day 2 - Interfacing Arduino with LCD-Hardware Part

2009-04-03T14:00:00.000+05:30

On Day 1 I interfaced a LED with Arduino Severino with was easy.
The next step was to interface a LCD with kit which was rather difficult and require a cetain level of idea of hardware, both for LCD and Arduino
I interfaced an 15 pin LCD, the connection of which is given below
Pin:

GND-Connected to Ground
Vcc-connected to +5V via 0.1u capacitor
Cont-Connected to Ground via 1K resistance
RS-Connected to Arduino
R/W-Connected to Ground
E-Connected to Arduino

Pins 7 to 10-No Connection
Pins 11 to 14-Data pins, connected to Arduino
Pin 15- Backlight. No connections

The Next step was to make connection to arduino. For my purpose, i made the following connections, but you can connect it accourding to your needs:
Pins of LCD-Pins of Arduino
1 0
2 5V
3 0
4 11
5 0
6 12
11-14 7-10

Day 2 - Interfacing Arduino with LCD

2009-04-03T13:39:00.000+05:30

After blinking LED on Arduino, i wanted to interface LCD.
First of all lets get a brief hardware description of LCD. I'm going to describe the pins of 15 pin LCD i've used:

GND-to be connected to ground
Vcc-to be connected to +5V ( a capacitor of 0.1u is connected between +5V and Pin 2)
Cont-this pin is connected to ground (a resistance of 1K ohm is connected between ground and PIN3)
RS-to be connected to arduino
R/W-to be connected to ground
E-to be connected to arduino

Pins 7 to 10 are lower nibble of data port(D0 to D3). we are not using it in our program
Pins 11 to 14 are upper nibble of data port (D4 to D7). these pins are interfaced with arduino
The pin 15

My first Arduino Program

2009-04-01T15:19:00.000+05:30

int ledPin = 13;                 // LED connected to digital pin 13

void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);      // sets the digital pin as output
}

void loop()
{
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);   // sets the LED on
delay(1000);                  // waits for a second
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);    // sets the LED off
delay(1000);                  // waits for a second
}

Burning Bootloader in ATmega168 using STK500

2009-04-01T14:32:00.001+05:30

Today i was finally able to burn bootloader using STK500 on ATmega168
There were many settings on, both on hardware and software, which i'll explain:

1) PINS Start by making sure you have jumper shunts across the first 4 pins: VTARGET AREF RESET XTAL1

With the last pin (OSCSEL), make sure the jumper on the two RIGHTMOST pins

The next two sets of pins are the troublesome ones.

From the STK-500 programming documentation, you need to run a jumper from the RIGHTMOST pin of BSEL2 to the pin "PC2" in the "PORTC" block near the left side of the board (assuming the RS232 jacks are to your right side). Use one of the spare STK-500 jumper cables to make this connection.

"PJUMP" needs jumpers running LEFT/RIGHT on the top and bottom sets of pins.

2) Connect 10-pin ribbon cable from "PROG CTRL" to "PORTD", and "PROG DATA" to "PORTB". You do not need the 6-pin ISP cable installed for High-V programming.

3) PROGRAMMING I cribbed a batch file from Seandockray. Copy and paste this into a batchfile , and run it:

Start copy below this line

: We're assuming a few things:
:   1) Your firmware is at C:\arduino-0009\bootloader168, and it is the ATmegaBOOT_168.hex
:   2) Your STK software is at C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe
:   3) You're trying to program a ATmega168 using the high-voltage mode of the STK-500

:Change to firmware directory
cd C:\arduino-0014\bootloader168

: Set fuse bits, lock bits, voltages
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega168 -ut5.2  -e -ua5.0 -!3686400 -lFF -LFF  -fDFFF -EF8 -mp -q


: Burn Arduino hex bootloader file
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega168 -pf -vf -ifATmegaBOOT_168.hex -mp -q

: Lock it down
"C:\Program Files\Atmel\AVR Tools\STK500\Stk500.exe" -dATmega168 -lCF -LCF -mp -q

@echo CHECK FOR PROBLEMS ABOVE before closing this window!
pause

End copy above this line

And there you go, your IC is ready to be plugged in Arduino Severino Kit.

To verify that the bootloader have been burned properly, press the reset button and see that the led on pin 13 (connected if required) should glow.

some precautions while uploading program/ sketches on arduino are:-

Be sure that you are resetting the board a couple of seconds before uploading.
on some computers, you may need to press the reset button on the board after you hit the upload button in the Arduino environment. Try different intervals of time between the two, up to 10 seconds or more.
Try uploading with nothing connected to the board (apart from the USB cable, of course).
Check that you're not running any programs that scan all serial ports, like PDA sync applications, Bluetooth-USB drivers (e.g. BlueSoleil), virtual daemon tools, etc.

Before starting programming IC on Severino kit, check the following jumper setting:

JP4 should be Shunted
Pins 2 and 3 of JP0 should be shunted

Day 1-Programming Arduino Kit

2009-04-01T12:31:00.000+05:30

On day one I procured ATmega168 and planned to burn bootloader on it to start working on arduino environment.

What I got with me was a STK500 kit by ATMEL, an Arduino SeverinoV3 and ATmega168. I also installed AVR Studio 4.16, WinAVR and Arduino Environment. You also need a serial port programming cord and a pwer supply (12V)

I initially thought that connecting Arduino with STK500 via ICSP will be the way to burn bootloader.
I connected the ISP6PIN header with ICSP header on arduino kit. There is no need to give power supply to Arduino as ICSP gives sufficient power (be careful while attaching the Ribbon, verify that the pin number 1 of both are connected correctly to each other)
It took me nearly half an hour to figure that out. But i was not able to program that.

Next i tried to burn the hex file of bootloader on ATmega168 by placing it on STK500. The slot to place ATmega168(or Atmega8) is the green IC slot. You also have to connect ISP6PIN WITH SPROG2(green). But that failed, and gave some ISP error.

So i thought to leave the bootloader and just program IC and run a test LED program on it.
I wrote a sample program to blink an LED on 5th pin of Port B. After building and burning the program on IC, I connected the PORTB pins to LEDS pins via 10 pin connector, and the LED5 was blinking!!!

During the entire process i came across two problems:-
1.ISP error:
This is an error which occurs, in most of the cases, when there is some problem with frequency settings.
So when you connect to STK500, and the program Dialog Box Appears, select MAIN tab, and set the frequency in "Programming Mode and Target Settings" to 57.60khz. Remember that this frequency should always be less than 1/4th of the clock frequency of device. If the problem still continues try decreasing the frequency, or check that the OSCSEL jumper is set to default.

2.Connectors error
Sometimes while connecting diffetent ports on board, the wires are connected wrongly. This can you an undesired output or error in Programming. So Check Connections properly while connecting.

Arduino-compatible hardware

2009-03-19T11:30:00.000+05:30

Here are some links for Arduido compatible hardware board

If you know about any other board, do let us know.

Arduino Mega

2009-03-18T15:27:00.002+05:30

New Arduino MEGA

A brand spankin' new big brother to the Duemilanove, the first pic of a new Arduino board has surfaced. The Mega uses an ATmega1280 surface mount chip and offers a whole big bunch of new features -

128KB of Flash
4KB RAM
4KB EEPROM
53 IO
4 HW UARTs
14 PWMs
I2C bus
16 Analog Input pins

Related:

It is possible to run this board on USB power or from 8V-12V power adapter. For using power adapter, we need one MOSFET, LM358 and LDO 1Amps. If not available rework the board and use it as USB only board.

iDuino - Breadboardable Arduino Clone

2009-03-18T15:09:00.000+05:30

The iDuino is the answer to several problems, primarily how to use an Arduino in a breadboard. There are many solutions now, but as far as we know, the iDuino was the first to include onboard USB.

See the complete specifications here.

PLAICE: Programmer, Logic Analyzer and In-Circuit Emulator Project

2009-03-09T16:11:00.000+05:30

The PLAICE is a powerful open source in-circuit development tool that combines the features of:

FLASH Programmer + Emulator + High Speed Multi-Channel Logic Analyzer
.... All Into One Device!

To find out more about this device, click here.

New! Arduino Duemilanove (2009)

2009-03-09T11:08:00.001+05:30

The Arduino Duemilanove has been upgraded to a more powerful microcontroller: ATmega328. It includes flash memory (32 KB instead of 16 KB)
RAM (2KB instead of 1KB)EEPROM (1 KB instead of 512 bytes)
Speed in the bootloader has been raised from 19200 baud to 57600 baud.

Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer.


	Read the full article here.

Arduino Single-Sided Serial Board (version 3)

2009-03-04T14:12:00.000+05:30

If you don't have an easy way to order an Arduino board or kit, you can etch this PCB design by hand and solder it together. It is pin-compatible with the Arduino Diecimila, and should work with any Arduino shield.

A4 Image for Toner Transfer (.png)
Schematic (.png)
EAGLE files (.zip)
Manual (.pdf)
Mounting diagram (.png)

Links to Arduino hardware and software

2009-03-04T11:46:00.000+05:30

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Each board of Arduino consists of atleast:

Atmel AVR microcontroller
5-volt linear regulator
16MHz crystal oscillator
RS-232 serial connection

Some good links for Arduino:

Arduino Home Page

Arduino Programming Notebook

Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web

The World Famous Index of Arduino & Freeduino Knowledge

Arduino Workshops

How to have fun with Arduino

Arduino Tutorial

Open Source Embedded Hardware - Starting new project

2009-03-04T11:43:00.000+05:30

I attended 2 days summit by MIT and Cyber Media on March 2 and 3,2009 and attended a session on open source hardware. It was presented by Vinnie Mehta of MAIT and Niyam Bhusham of MINT.

It gave me a new idea of how to share and learn in embedded domain. So firts thing that I did on next day is to create a blog for open-embedded at blog spot.

Based on information provided by Niyam, I started with Arduino hardware.

More details to follow