best AVR kit?

[zamboniman60]

I have a very good knowledge of electronic concepts, but I have yet to work with microcontrollers (I think they would be useful in some of the switching power supplies I am designing). After some research, I think that Atmel's ATmega and ATtiny series would be most useful to me. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good starter kit that would include programming software, a development board, and a beginner's guide? I'd prefer it to be USB compatible, since I've heard that USB to serial adapters can cause problems with programmers.

[Brandon121233]

I got just what your looking for! The Arduino Board fits your description perfectly. It is USB enabled, uses the Atmega168, and it comes with free software you can download, its based on C and C++ so its pretty easy to pick up. Whats more is that they have probly over 50 tutorials and example code for all the beginner stuff you could possibly want on their website. It costs $35 from sparkfun
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=666
http://www.arduino.cc/
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

I used it in my robot Walbot you can see my instructable here with source code
http://www.instructables.com/id/EXDGV5CF36FEUOP/?ALLSTEPS

this is a good instructable on how to get started with arduino
http://www.instructables.com/id/EF5TG5EF3B4B34I/?ALLSTEPS

hope that helps

[zamboniman60]

Thanks. I assume being fluent in TI-BASIC will help somewhat with the programming too...

[zamboniman60]

Ack... After some research, it's looking like the Arduino board must be installed on the final project. This would be rather bulky, and quite expensive. Does anyone know of a nonconsumable programming board I could use?

[Admin]

Does anyone know of a nonconsumable programming board I could use?

A what?

Check this
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=1124.0
(perhaps you want the AVR butterfly?)

[Brandon121233]

hmmm, the arduino is actually one of the smaller AVR prototyping platforms, I guess if your robot is really really small then it might be to big, but sooner or later you will need some kind of board to attach the MCU to.

[JesseWelling]

These seem to fit the bill
http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/Info.jsp?item=57
http://www.newmicros.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newmicros.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fstore%2Forder.cgi%3Fform%3Dprod_detail%26part%3DTiniAVR%26id%3DVC5NM152k7s0KkvEMnheUNnf3C5NPGHs