This is an EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO about how to assemble the Tinusaur Board and learn how to solder.
A better version will be available very soon.
Another two-day workshop about microcontrollers, soldering and Tinusaur
There was another “Microcontrollers, soldering and Tinusaur” workshop in our town of Veliko Tarnovo, a few days ago.
On the first day, we assembled some boards, the second day we wrote some programs.
For the younger kids, there were much simpler things to do – soldering blinking LED with 2 transistors, a few other components, and a battery.
Day 1
Just assembling various boards.
Tinusaur Board
This is the Tinusaur Board from the Tinusaur Starter 2 kit.
It wasn’t difficult for anyone to do that. There are markings on the PCB that tell you where to put each component and in what direction.
The only important thing to know is that you solder the RESET button last, before that you solder the battery socket on the bottom side of the PCB.
Tinusaur Shield LEDx2
This is the Shield LEDx2 from the Tinusaur Starter 2 kit.
This shield is an upgrade from the previous Tinusaur Starter where we had to solder the LED and the resistor to a tiny 2-pin male header. With the shield is so much easier and fun.
LED Matrix 8×8 with MAX7219 Controller
This is a LED matrix 8×8 with a MAX7219 controller.
That was something new. They sell on eBay at a very affordable prices: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191736585164
Even while we’re soldering it people were coming with ideas about what we could do with it.
Day 2
The second day was dedicated to programming what we’ve assembled the previous day.
Software and Arduino IDE Setup
That’s how we started day 2.
A short guide about how to setup the Arduino IDE to work with the Tinusaur boards is available at the Arduino IDE Setup page.
Blinking LED
The “Hello, World!” in the microcontrollers’ world.
Source code available at https://bitbucket.org/tinusaur/tutorials/src/default/tut004a_blinking_leds/.
A separate blog post and tutorial page will be available soon.
LED Matrix 8×8
The biggest challenge here was to make the MAX7219LED8x8 library work in the Arduino IDE environment.
We’ll do another post about that in the next few days.
UPDATE 2022: The MAX7219LED8x8 library, now renamed to MAX7219tiny has now a new home at tinusaur.com/libraries/max7219tiny. Check also this MAX7219 & ATtiny85 tutorial to learn how the library works.
Our first workshop for this year
Our first workshop for this year took place couple of weeks ago in Plovdiv at Hackafe. It was part of a much larger event about microcontrollers, robotics and internet-of-things.
This time, it was for 2 days and in 3 parts.
Part 1 (day 1) was an introduction to the microcontrollers for everyone that was just starting – short 30 minutes presentation and then discussions about various problems that one may experience while working with input/output. It was interesting to see some observation by people that have no much experienced about buttons and the noise that they may produce, then … how do we do debouncing.
Part 2 (day 2) was soldering. Everyone got Tinusaur Starter 2 kit. No one had difficulties assembling the board – there’s no much you can get wrong with this board.
One of my friends shot a timelapse at one of the tables.
Part 3 (day 2) was the fun part.
We wrote the blinking LED program – that was easy.
Then we started experimenting.
As it is an old Bulgarian custom to wear Martenitsa in March we made some blinking ones with the Tinusaur.
We also managed to play polyphonic tunes using ELM – Wavetable Melody Generator.
But the most unusual thing we did was to make an old floppy disk drive play a melody.
Thanks to Vencislav Atanasov (https://github.com/user890104) for the idea.
The inspiration was from Moppy – the Musical Fl oppy by SammyIAm.
Oh, by the way, incase you’ve not heard it yet 🙂 …
We have recently launched a Tinusaur crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo so if you like what we’re doing please support us at http://igg.me/at/tinusaur.
The First Tinusaur Workshop
The first official Tinusaur workshop took place last Sunday (on the 14th of December) in the Veliko Turnovo University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”. It was really great!
The workshop was attended by 22 people of age 16 to 44.
As you may have guessed already it was for the absolute beginners so we first learned how to solder basic things like resistors, capacitors and other small parts. Then we move to soldering The Tinusair Board.
The second part was programming the with the “Hello World” of the microcontrollers – a blinking LED.
Not all people who wanted could attend the even so we may organize another one in the first months of the next year.
Assembling Guide
This a short guide about how to assemble the Tinusaur Board.
Tinusaur Board
The Tinusaur Board is what the Tinusaur project is built around. It is rather simple PCB with a dozen components on it.
The board is easy to assemble and does not require very special skills or instruments.
IMPORTANT: If you are uncertain about anything please consult with our website, community or someone more knowledgeable in the subject.
There are 4 areas that the Tinusaur board could be divided to: A1, A2, A3, A4.
Assembling
Here is the recommended order of soldering the parts:
- MCU socket. Note: do not insert the chip yet.
- Capacitors C1, C2 and resistor R1.
- Headers H1, H2.
- External power header – red.
Battery on/off header – yellow. - ISP header.
- Battery holder.
- RESET button.
The battery holder and the battery are optional but if you decided to put them on make sure you solder the battery holder before the RESET button.
IMPORTANT:
External power header (JP1, red, the one closer to the 8-pin header H1) is to connect external power. DO NOT put a jumper there – that could damage the board.
Battery On/Of header (JP2, yellow, the one closer to the mount hole) is to connect/disconnect battery to/from the board. DO NOT have this on while the board is connected to the programmer or external power source – there is no circuit to protect the battery from overcharging.
If you’re not going to use an external power source or the battery on the board don’t put any jumper on at all.
Board Components
|
Name |
Description |
|
PCB |
Tinusaur Board |
|
MCU, Attiny85 |
Atmel AVR ATtiny85 microcontroller |
|
Socket, DIP-8 |
DIP-8 socket for MCU |
|
H1, Header |
Header 2×4, Female |
|
H2, Header |
Header 2×5, Female |
|
ISP, Header |
Header 2×5, Male, for ISP |
|
RESET, Button |
Tactile push button, for RESET |
|
Power, Header |
Header 1×2, Male, red – external power |
|
Battery, Header |
Header 1×2, Male, yellow – battery power on/off |
|
Battery, Jumper |
Jumper, 2-pin, yellow – for battery power on/off |
|
C1, Capacitor |
Capacitor 100uF, Low profile 5×5 mm |
|
C2, Capacitor |
Capacitor 100nF, Small |
|
R1, Resistor |
Resistor 10K, Small, 1/8W |
|
Battery holder |
Battery holder for CR2032 |
|
Battery 3V |
Battery 3V, CR2032 |
Note (about external power source): If you’re going to use external power source (JP1, red in color, the one close to the 8-pin header H1) make sure you connect the negative pole (-) to the outer pin of the header and positive (+) to the inner one.
Note (about battery placement): If you’re going to use the battery in the holder make sure you insert it correctly – that is to have the negative (-) downwards (facing the holder) and the positive (+) (the side with the text markings) upwards.
This guide as well as other documents are available as PDF at the Guides page. Please note that any updates will be posted there.
