Today I checked out the Protostack Development Kit. This is a board that comes with an AVR microcontroller and the necessary components to get the microcontroller up and running.
Basically, that means it comes with a voltage regulator, some capacitors, an LED, a power connector, and a connector for an ISP programmer.
Soldering The Kit
The kit has an easy-to-follow manual for assembling the board. Even though I have soldered a lot of boards, I still like to have a nice and simple guide when I solder a kit. It just makes everything so much easier.
I was able to solder the board in no time =)
The Protostack board is ready for programming using an ISP programmer. I had only a JTAG programmer. So to be able to program the chip, I needed to solder some wires to the correct pins on the microcontroller. I found which pins to use easily by looking in the datasheet of the microcontroller.
Because of the layout of the board, it was super easy to solder the wires correctly and then just manually plug them into my JTAG programmer.
Conclusion
The Protostack development kit is a great choice for getting a microcontroller set up quickly. I love how easy it is to get it up and running. It’s also a good choice for beginners who wants to program a microcontroller without all the overhead of an Arduino.
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I would definitely recommend the Protostack Development Kit for anyone who wants to get a microcontroller up and running fast.
Read my interview with Protostack
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