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ATtiny Who?

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ATtiny85-20  DIP-8
Fits nicely on a breadboard.

I followed this guide to get it working with the Arduino IDE: http://highlowtech.org/?p=1695

I downloaded the 64bit Linux 1.6.5-r5 version of the IDE, extracted it to a folder in my home directory. This newer version has the extra board support!  I also put the ATtiny ide files in the sketchbook folder under "hardware".  See the guide above.

 When uploading, it tries to use its built-in avrdude (failing and complaining), but since I have the latest and greatest (6.1) in my /usr/bin, I (moved and) replaced it with a simlink to my system avrdude.  Then I loaded up Blink to test on "Pin 0", and wala, we have a blinking tardis:

A TARDIS working.  It's totally bigger on the inside.

I can use the power from my USBmicroISP (power jumper installed) to give it 5V.  Very nice.

Sometimes the programming wouldn't initiate.  I found that I had to close the IDE, unplug the USBmicroISP, then replug it in, and restart IDE.  Then I had no problem changing the fuse settings ("burning the bootloader") to increase the internal clock to 8MHz, and reprogramming Blink.  So far so good!

ATtiny85 Arduino IDE pinouts reference

ATtiny datasheet pinout

Hex Madness

A friend had asked me about using the hex file from the IDE to upload with avrdude.  I wasn't totally sure, given the bootloader needs.  Well, it works great!  Here's what I did:

  1. Make sure your programmer can see your ATtiny.
    $ avrdude -c usbtiny -p t85

    avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

    Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.01s

    avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e930b

    avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:FF, H:DF, L:E2)

    avrdude done.  Thank you.
  2. Make sure the fuse bits are set correctly.  If not, use the IDE to "burn the bootloader". Usually you only have to do this to change the clock to 8MHz.
  3. Verify a sketch you want to upload in the IDE, which does the build and outputs a hex file (among other things).
  4. Find the hex file in the build directory.  On my Linux machine it is in "/tmp/build<lots-of-random-#'s>.tmp"  It is usually called <Project-name>.cpp.hex.  On Windows it is under "Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Temp" or something similar.
  5. Fire up the command line again.
    $ avrdude -c usbtiny -p t85 -U flash:w:/tmp/build6237348845015981915.tmp/Breathe.cpp.hex:i
    -c is the programmer
    -p is the part, attiny85
    -U is memory operation (flash : write : <hex-file-location> : intel hex file format)
Now we are free to update the firmware with just avrdude and the hex file!

~JWilly

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