The new prototype PCBs just arrived from OSHPark

Tinusaur PCB

The new prototype PCBs just arrived from OSHPark – great quality as usual. I noticed that there are only few things that I may change before call it official: slightly move some components around so they fit better and become easier to solder; add one jumper for switch on/off the optional button cell battery on … Read more

Oscilloscope-like Circuit – Preview

This is a oscilloscope-like circuit for the Tinusaur, it is not a real oscilloscope but could be used as a base for one. It is built on top of the Tinusaur board (Atmel AVR ATiny85) and Nokia 3310/5110 LCD (PCD8544 controller). There is also simple preamplifier for the electret microphone connected to the ADC of … Read more

Tinusaur powers a tiny vibrating robot

Here it is – the first Tinusaur powered robot. This is a vibrating robot that could turn left, right, and move forward. I decided to build that after watching a video on YouTube about the Kilobot project from Harvard University. Mine is much simpler and a lot less capable. But hey, that’s the first version … Read more

Tinusaur Proto v0.1 m1 – Prototyping and Design Considerations

I have finally managed to finish the first version of the schematics and PCB‘s and to order the first 3 pieces. This work is based on some previous experiments and designs. Schematics The schematics is nothing special – it is the well known minimal configuration for the ATtiny plus just few addition components – some of them … Read more

The Tinusaur – What is it

Briefly, the Tinusaur is a minimal micro-controller hardware configuration based on Atmel AVR ATtiny family of products and more specifically those with DIP-8 case such as ATtiny25/ATtiny45/ATtiny85, ATtiny13 as well as their variations. The goal of the Tinusaur project is to have a simple, cheap and accessible quick-start platform for everyone interested in learning and … Read more