Embedded Programming

Reading the ATtiny44 Datasheet

I read parts of the ATtiny44 Datasheet. I learned which of the pins I can use for which purpose. However I have to say that reading these datasheets without an electro engineering background is not trivial and not an easy task. The overuse of abbreviations makes it realy hard to read this document.

ATtiny 44 Datasheet Link

Programming the ATtiny 44 with an Arduiono UNO

I used an Arduino UNO to program the ATtiny 44 on my board, from the previous assignments. You can find good tutorials like the one by the High-Low Tech research group from the MIT Media Lab from 2009-2014 (Tutorial Link). In this text I will document my experiences with programming the ATtiny 44 with an Arduino UNO. Whenever I refer to "the tutorial", the linked tutorial by High-Low Tech is meant.

Connecting the Pins

I began with connecting the pins from the Arduino UNO to the ATtiny 44. I followed the given directions in the tutorial, which were:

  • ATtiny Pin 2 to Arduino Pin 13 (or SCK of another programmer)
  • ATtiny Pin 1 to Arduino Pin 12 (or MISO of another programmer)
  • ATtiny Pin 0 to Arduino Pin 11 (or MOSI of another programmer)
  • ATtiny Reset Pin to Arduino Pin 10 (or RESET of another programmer)


Making an LED blink

After downloading the package files and configuring the Arduino IDE, I began playing around with the setup and testing it with the Blink Sketch from the Arduino IDE. The LED on my board is attached to pin 5 of the ATtiny, so I need to translate this to pin 8 in the Arduino Coding Environment. I used the Blink Example code from the Arduino IDE and fortunately the LED blinked after the first compiling (As you can also see in the image above).




Blinking Arduino Code