Hardware and SW Tools

Introduction:

In this tutorial we will look at the basic setup required to get started with AVR series of microcontrollers. There are two aspects to it, the software and the hardware. Fortunately, we for AVR there are free software tools available and even some of it is open-source! In this entire tutorial series we will be demonstrating the hardware on aspects on Ultra AVR Development board and also on breadboard and Starter AVR development board wherever possible. Having said that we will release all the schematics and code for you to hack and build on your own.

Software

Let’s talk about software first:

  1. Atmel Studio 6.2: This is complete software suite from Atmel; it is an integrated development Environment that allows you to write C/C++ programs, complies with a free AVRGCC compiler and produces hex files. You can download it here. Choose the download option according to your existing setup.
  2. The Programming Software: The programming SW is required to transfer hex file to the target MCU. There are various options available depending on the programmer you’re using. In this tutorial series we will be using Xplore Flash. There are other software that you could also try
    1. Extreme Burner
    2. Khazama

Setting up Atmel Studio 6: