The very cheapest AVR board?

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clawson
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Posted by clawson: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 04:02 PM
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Hi,

Can anyone point me in the direction of a board that has an AVR (even just a socket), a MAX232 and a D9 connector, hopefully with a crystal. I'm thinking sub-$10, The more sub- the better!

Cliff

PS doesn't matter which AVR (even 8 pin would have enough IO)

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AVR Microcontrollers, megaAVR and tinyAVR
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theusch
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Posted by theusch: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 04:13 PM
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Quote:

a MAX232 and a D9 connector,

Quote:

PS doesn't matter which AVR (even 8 pin would have enough IO)

Gonna bit-bang that serial comms? :twisted:

What is the quantity?

My first thought is Olimex or ERE.

http://www.olimex.com/dev/avr-p8...

AVR-P8-10Mhz prototype board for 8 pin AVRs 	EURO 9.95
AVR-P8/PCB ONLY 	EURO 4.50

Pretty darn close to your price-point and specs. Also includes power supply.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.

I've never met a pig I didn't like, as long as you have some salt and pepper.

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clawson
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Posted by clawson: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 04:20 PM
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Thanks Lee, I had that one on my list already. I had a look at both ERE and etteam.com in Thailand but surprisingly didn't find anything down at that level.

As an alternative Sparkfun have a $6.95 "AVR stick" which uses a tiny85 and V-USB which might be a possibility.

I assumed there'd be lots in site:.in, site:.tw or site:.cn but surprisingly nothing I could find easily.

Cliff

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leon_heller
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Posted by leon_heller: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 04:34 PM
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I've got a very simple Tiny2313 board design that I could adapt for you:

http://www.leonheller.com/Designs/2313.gif

It should be possible to build it for well under $10.

Leon Heller G1HSM

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DocJC
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Posted by DocJC: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 04:46 PM
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Quote:
a MAX232 and a D9 connector

Quote:
and V-USB

Don't ya just hate it when the Newbie's can't nail down their specifications before posting their Thread? :)

BTW, the SFE AVR Stick is $9.95 USD, not $6.95..., last I looked.

JC

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RickB
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Posted by RickB: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 05:58 PM
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This is on the wrong side of the pond for you and it's just a bare pcb, but worth a look. Scroll down to the AT8A board.

http://www.fun4diy.com/

Rick

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smileymicros
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Posted by smileymicros: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 06:20 PM
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Cliff,

Dare I ask why?

Smiley

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Bingo600
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Posted by Bingo600: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 06:23 PM
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@Cliff

http://www.elecont.de/shop/index...

But you have to supply the DB9 , as the RS-232 is on a 1x3 pin jumper

T2313 + M8 is sub 10 €

I have used the M168 boards , and they are fine (6-pin isp + rs-232 driver + xtal)

Bare PCB's
http://www.elecont.de/shop/index...

/Bingo

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clawson
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Posted by clawson: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 07:11 PM
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Quote:

Scroll down to the AT8A board.

http://www.fun4diy.com/

Rick


Rick,

Thanks for that - below the AT8A is a $3 "AVR JTAG-ICE" board that is even cheaper (and possibly better).

Quote:
Dare I ask why?

Joe, well you can but I'm not going to tell you (yet). I'm just researching an idea. But I'll avoid looking like an idiot until I can prove the concept.

(actually there's probably no avoiding that anyway just by my posts here :-))

@Leon, if the proof of concept worked I'd probably look at the cheapest possible way of getting boards made.

@Bingo, those look interesting too - the advantage of an EU supplier is lower shipping and no worries about import duty/VAT etc.

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leon_heller
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Posted by leon_heller: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 07:21 PM
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That board of mine was mainly surface-mount, with a prototyping area, and could be made very small.

Leon Heller G1HSM

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meslomp
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Posted by meslomp: Mon. Aug 9, 2010 - 07:28 PM
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hack together the proof of concept and then make a board yourself?
That does not take to much time.
The only question is the quantities wanted and how chepa can you get the components

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donblake
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Posted by donblake: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 04:42 PM
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clawson wrote:
Quote:

Scroll down to the AT8A board.

http://www.fun4diy.com/

Rick


Rick,

Thanks for that - below the AT8A is a $3 "AVR JTAG-ICE" board that is even cheaper (and possibly better).

Cliff, I have used several of Mengjin Su's prototyping boards including the AVR JTAG ICE and have had no problems. Note, however, that he only accepts orders within the continental US.

Don

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clawson
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Posted by clawson: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 05:11 PM
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Quote:

that he only accepts orders within the continental US.

Yes I spotted that. :-(

Believe it or not I've now dug out my copy of Eagle, Viewplot and so on and am thinking about trying out Sparkfun's www.batchpcb.com service.

I figure than even an electronics virgin can probably wire up about 4 components on a board without getting it wrong (famous last words!)

But I'm still researching "cheap" ideas - strip board has the nice property that a "finger" that is four strips wide plugs nicely into a USB A to make a VERY cheap V-USB (or, dare I say it, PIC18F13K50 - gulp!) connection to a PC.

But the more I research this the more I think it may be a ticket to nowhere and I may just abandon it. Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas (and any who still might do).

Cliff

PS I know that Atmel have mega8U2 and mega16U2/mega16U4 in the pipeline but they really need a "cheap" USB chip and preferably a DIP package optioned one like the PIC18F13K50/PIC18F14K50. It's almost as cheap as running V-USB in an 8/16K AVR.

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zbaird
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Posted by zbaird: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 05:53 PM
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What were those TI Launchpads? $4.30 or so? With USB, drivers, etc.

I only mention it because you mentioned the P word.

I think they were $4.60

Chuck Baird

"I wish I were dumber so I could be more certain about my opinions. It looks fun." -- Scott Adams

http://www.cbaird.org

Last Edited: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 06:00 PM
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leon_heller
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Posted by leon_heller: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 05:57 PM
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I'm still waiting for mine! I've got a couple of samples of the chips, though (the top of the range ones with an ADC), and have designed my own PCB.

I started designing a board using the PIC18F14K50 when the chip first came out, if that is of any interest. It's very simple. Microchip has a dev. kit using the chip for just under £27.

Leon Heller G1HSM

Last Edited: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 06:10 PM
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zbaird
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Posted by zbaird: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 06:03 PM
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I've got 3 in hand and 6 backordered. When they got to $2.30 with free shipping (because of Alan's half price coupon) I couldn't resist.

The USB is physically connected but architecturally separate. I was playing around with the idea of dropping an AVR in place of the TI chip, but it would probably be easier to bite the bullet and learn the compiler and architecture instead.

Anyway, nice board for the price, and probably ideal for classroom work (I'm sure it was part of THE PLAN).

Chuck Baird

"I wish I were dumber so I could be more certain about my opinions. It looks fun." -- Scott Adams

http://www.cbaird.org

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clawson
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Posted by clawson: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 06:10 PM
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Chuck,

You have got to be psychic - between my last post here and coming back to read this thread guess what I was looking at!

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/in...(MSP-EXP430G2)
http://uk.farnell.com/texas-inst...

Sadly the UK Farnell site says

Quote:
Out of Stock

US StockUS Stock items that have a service charge indicated are coming from our Newark warehouse. The service charge will be 15.95 per order, in lieu of a freight charge for Newark items.

Delivery Charge: £15.95 once per order.


for a £3.58 item!!

I also fear that like the LPCXpresso 1343 that I have that the target device on the board cannot use the existing USB as a direct channel to the PC. At least on a 1343 it implements USB-device itself and can make a second USB wire connection to the PC. As the MSP430 is just 2K I doubt it could do a V-USB style trick.

Cliff

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ArnoldB
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Posted by ArnoldB: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 08:26 PM
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The MSP430 Launchpad provides a serial emulation via USB for the MCU. But the thing is, the two MSP430G2xxx MCUs that come with it both don't have a hardware UART. You need to implement a software UART.

Stealing Proteus doesn't make you an engineer.

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sparrow2
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Posted by sparrow2: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 10:52 PM
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If you use a DIP AVR and a DIP max202 you don't really need a PCB :)

Edit:
I should be MAX203 that's the one that don't need caps.

Last Edited: Wed. Aug 11, 2010 - 08:28 PM
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leon_heller
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Posted by leon_heller: Tue. Aug 10, 2010 - 11:22 PM
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Not much use for a production unit, though.

Leon Heller G1HSM

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stevech
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Posted by stevech: Wed. Aug 11, 2010 - 03:34 AM
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AVR.. I like/use these
http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/index...

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westfw
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Posted by westfw: Mon. Aug 16, 2010 - 07:21 AM
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Quote:
You need to implement a software UART.

IIRC, TI is pretty proud of the way they've implemented software-UARTs (timers and such, oh my.) the launchpad includes signals that they've designated for serial rx and tx, even though there is no serial port.

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ArnoldB
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Posted by ArnoldB: Mon. Aug 16, 2010 - 05:15 PM
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Well, if my Launchpads would have arrived I would give their software-UART a closer look. But TI decided to first serve the North American market and let those stoopid foreigners wait until the cows come home.

Thanks for reminding me that is is high time to cancel that order and see what European vendors have in stock, as opposite of what TI is dreaming up.

Stealing Proteus doesn't make you an engineer.

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