This is going to be a easy tutorial for starting out with basic AVR programming, and also a reference collection so that it sits in one place on the site. How to Write Arduino Software in C. The Arduino hardwareprocessing platform has become ubiquitous within the technology hobbyist community, and nontechies alike are. Crash Bang Prototyping How to Use a USBTiny with Atmel Studio. How to Use a USBTiny with Atmel Studio. When I first started with Atmel Studio, I was a little taken aback at the cost of the programmers needed to flash my programs onto the microcontroller. After a fair bit of research I came across a great project the USBTiny. ISP.   This ticked a few boxes for me it was open source, it was easy to build yourself if you prefer that, and it was cheap to buy if you didnt want to build one. I use my USBTiny all the time to program my Toadstool Boards. Find me a USBTiny. The USBTiny. ISP is a collaborative effort, in the spirit of open source hardware development. Learn more about the project, how to build your own, or buy a kit over at Adafruit. If you want to get up and running even faster, then Sparkfun sell a Pocket AVR Programmer, based on Adafruits USBTiny. ISP and Dick Streeflands USBTiny. I went this route as I had an Atmel microcontroller that I needed to program fast. Using the USBTiny AVRDude. The USBTiny has its own USB drivers, and therefore differs from other programmers like the FTDI ones youve probably used. FTDI appears as a virtual COM port, whereas the USBTiny has native USB drivers. This makes it easier to use, as you dont need to hunt around looking for which COM port it has attached itself to. The upside with the USBTiny is that it works with AVRDude a cool program with a cool name well, not as cool as it sounds its derived from AVR DownloaderUploa. DEr.   This program allows you to flash your hex program files onto a defined set of AVR microcontrollers, and is what the Arduino IDE uses in the background. Lady Ada has another useful tutorial on using AVRDude. I recommend that you download the latest version of AVRDude before continuing. The downside of the USBTiny is that it isnt supported by Atmel Studio. Get the USBTiny Working with Atmel STudio. Using Winavr To Program Arduino BluetoothDont panic  Luckily Atmel Studio allows you to configure other programming tools. In this case were going to configure it to use AVRDude from a command line call. William And Sly 2. Expand each step by clicking on the heading. Youll need to configure Atmel Studio for each microcontroller that you want to program. Under the Tools menu, click on External Tools. Configure the USBTiny Programmer. Click Add and enter the following Parameter. Value. Title give this configuration setting a name. Using Winavr To Program Arduino' title='Using Winavr To Program Arduino' />Command This is the path to AVRDude, plus avrdude. On my PC I installed it in D Win. AVRbinavrdude. exe. Arguments This contains the command line arguments for AVRDude. For this project I used the most basic settings c usbtiny p m. U flash w Target. DirTarget. Name. I can check if anything goes wrongthe Target. Dir and Target. Name are Atmel Studio variables pointing to the project folder and the hex filename. Initial Directory This is the path to AVRDude. Finally, Click on OK. Youre now ready to upload the program. Plug in your controller and connect the ICSP connector to the board header. Click Tools, then the title of your configuration from above e. USBTiny ATMega. 32. PThe program should upload and the AVR should start doing its thing. Congratulations Let me know if you have any questions. Go Beyond the Arduino. Ive just completed my brand new guide Arduino to AVR Get Started in 3 Steps. Get it now on Payhip for only 1. Challenge yourself and learn how to gain the flexibility and additional control that the AVR microcontroller offers. INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Why would you want to use the Arduino library with another IDE It helps organize your code especially for large projects, is easier to. When I started using USBasp a great programmer for AVRs, I soon realized that the avrdude the software for driving USBasp is not much usable. As a free bonus, get an ATmega. P pinout cheatsheet.