Program an ATtiny with Arduino

Follows are directions for programming the ATtiny microcontrollers using the Arduino IDE. In plain English, this is how to program 8-pin Atmel chips as you would normally an Arduino. This is cool because the ATtiny is tiny, and - well - this allows you to make tiny things that don't need a big ol' microcontroller.

The instructions I have posted here are pretty much the same as instructions given by the incredibly awesome High-Low Tech Tutorial. I posted my version of the instructions here because I plan to make a couple of upcoming projects using ATtiny chips and figured I would show my process.

Step 1 Go get stuff

You will need:

- Arduino
- Breadboard
- ATtiny85 (or ATtiny45)
- 10uF 16V electrolytic capacitor
- 220ohm 1/4 watt resistor
- LED
- solid core hookup wire

Comments

[midknight5000]

Is it possible to control a 16x2 lcd with an attiny85 (since lcd's only need six pins right)?

[randofo]

I don't know. You might need to remap the reset pin, which may be a bad idea.

Maybe there is a hardware solution or some sort of hack. I don't really know enough about these LCDs to help you.

[midknight5000]

ok no problem thx for at least telling me you don't know instead of telling a lie

[compsfreak17]

there is an instructable for controlling an lcd screen with 3 pins instead of the normal 6, i just dont know if the libaray will owrk with it. Its worth a try though.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hookup-a-16-pin-HD44780-LCD-to-an-Arduino-in-6-sec/

[slayer04]

Please Help

I've tried everything to get this to work. I've tried both arduino 1.0 and 022 along with a capacitor and not, nothing ever works and I always get this when I click
to burn the bootloader:

avrdude: please define PAGEL and BS2 signals in the configuration file for part ATtiny85
avrdude: please define PAGEL and BS2 signals in the configuration file for part ATtiny85


Then I get this every time I go to upload sketch:

avrdude: stk500_paged_write(): (a) protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x64
avrdude: stk500_cmd(): protocol error

[jaky_shaky]

if using arduino 1.0 as shown in pic, you must change the heart rate delay to twent milliseconds instaed of forty this solved my problem.
hope this helps,
Jacob

[randofo]

The first error you can ignore. The bootloader seems to be loading fine.

I am not certain why you are getting the second error. From my experience I have found that many ATTiny cores may not work with Arduino 1.0.

What version Arduino are you using?

[slayer04]

I've got an arduino uno and if it helps any, but this is the chip I'm trying to program:

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?KeywordSearch&site=US&keywords=ATTINY85V-10PU-ND

[randofo]

Try doing it without the capacitor. I am not sure why you are getting this error if the bootloader is uploading correctly.

Did you change the pin numbers from 13 to 0 in the blink example?

[slayer04]

Hmm I did it without the capacitor with the exact same results and I did change the 13 -> 0

I wonder if my chip is just bad but that seems unlikely.

[slayer04]

Nice instructible, but would you happen to know why my blink sketch runs about 5x faster when I upload it to the ATiny? I don't have any errors except for the ones you say to ignore, the sketch is set to delay 1000 like normal but it cycles about every .2 secs and not every 1 sec.

I have tried it with and without the capacitor and both ended with the result above.

Thanks for any help

[nik.mess]

By default, the ATtiny’s run at 1 MHz (the setting used by the unmodified “ATtiny45″, etc. board menu items). You need to do an extra step to configure the microcontroller to run at 8 MHz – necessary for use of the SoftwareSerial library. Once you have the microcontroller connected, select the appropriate item from the Boards menu (e.g. “ATtiny45 (8 MHz)”). Then, run the “Burn Bootloader” command from the Tools menu. This configures the fuse bits of the microcontroller so it runs at 8 MHz. Note that the fuse bits keep their value until you explicitly change them, so you’ll only need to do this step once for each microcontroller. (Note this doesn’t actually burn a bootloader onto the board; you’ll still need to upload new programs using an external programmer.)

(http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1695)

I tried to follow their instructions, but it didn't seem to work for me.

[opal_1970]

Hi, any idea why I am getting the error " 'Serial' was not declared in this scope " when ever I attempt to upload the ArduinoISP to the board? I am using a new Arduino Uno r3 with an ATTiny85.
Thanks.

[randofo]

Nope. Do you have the core set on "Arduino Uno" when you try to upload this?

[Foxtrot70]

Hello, I am getting same error as opal_1970 " Serial' was not declared in this scope " with this exception. I am using Arduino-22 and WinXP, USBtinyISP and got the ArduinoISP to upload to the 328 chip but, can not get any program to upload to the ATTiny85. Any thoughts?

[opal_1970]

Ahhhhhh.... that was it, I had already set it to ATTiny85 (w/ Arduino as ISP)
Thanks for the tip and thanks for a great instructable.

[GyurEEE]

Will it work with the 20pin attiny?

[randofo]

It should if you get the proper core files to work with that chip. See the link on Step 5.

[GyurEEE]

thanks

[derder]

is it possible to run a attiny 85 or 84 with an external quartz clock? if yes how?

[jgrina]

There are two excellent writeups on using the ArduinoISP as a programmer for ATtiny chips. The earlier one uses Tiny45-85.zip as the cores file and the later one uses Tiny.zip. The first one only works with Arduino 0022 and the second with Arduino 1.0 Getting the wrong zips with the wrong versions makes a mess with lots of different errors. I know, I made a mess of both Arduino IDEs and unloaded everything to fix it.

[opal_1970]

Hi, I am getting the "... not in scope" error also, I followed Nibb's comment below and commented the correct line in the Wiring.h file (...\Hardware\attiny45_85\cores\attiny45_85), but I am still getting the error. I am using Windows XP, could that be the reason why it is not working?
Thanks for any advice.

[randofo]

What version of the Arduino software are you using?

[opal_1970]

The latest, Arduino 1.0

[randofo]

Try rolling back a version or two. The latest version doesn't currently seem to work with these custom cores.

[Higgs Boson]

I put everything in the folder that the preference menu said my sketchbook was, but it doesn't come up in the sketchbook. Do the have to be pde files? I tried restarting the ide but it isn't working. what could be the problem?

[tekstop]

http://tekstop.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/programming-attiny13-using-arduino-isp-and-all-the-hacking-involved/

I have a tutorial on programming the ATtiny13 with the arduino (Arduino IDE 1.0). The tutorial is based on MIT high-low tech lab instructions with modifications for the Attiny13. 

[Eirinn]

Fantastic! I'll try this out as it can possibly reduce the power needed for my project (along with size). Please collect 1 free interwebs at aisle 5.

[robot1398]

it gives a error "output was not in the scope"

[robot1398]

if i want add a different program and not a blink sketch

[Great Wight Ninja]

The reason he uses the sample blink sketch is because it is such a simple program to use for debugging your hardware setup. If you can light an LED, you can build to anything is a common philosophy with programming a micro-controller configuration for the first time. If that works, you move on to a slightly more elaborate sketch until it is doing what you want it to do. It helps save some frustration when your buggy, advanced code is not working and your real issue is hardware related. Hope that helps.

[nerdbot2085]

when i to upload the Blink sketch I receive this error.

Blink.cpp:8:21: error: Arduino.h: No such file or directory
Blink.cpp: In function 'void setup()':
Blink:10: error: 'OUTPUT' was not declared in this scope
Blink:10: error: 'pinMode' was not declared in this scope
Blink.cpp: In function 'void loop()':
Blink:14: error: 'HIGH' was not declared in this scope
Blink:14: error: 'digitalWrite' was not declared in this scope
Blink:15: error: 'delay' was not declared in this scope
Blink:16: error: 'LOW' was not declared in this scope

I am using a mac with arduino 1.0 and a duemilanove board as the programmer. I am trying to program an ATtiny45. I triple checked the instructions. Do I need to modify an other files after dropping the contents of the zip file into the /hardware folder? do the attiny 45 board files need to be in the same hardware folder as the arduino hardware files?

[nerdbot2085]

So I found a suggestion on the arduino.cc forum to back down from arduino 1.0 to 22. Then i got passed that error. Now I am seeing this. It seems like I am close but still missing something. Any ideas?

Binary sketch size: 658 bytes (of a 4096 byte maximum)
avrdude: please define PAGEL and BS2 signals in the configuration file for part ATtiny45
avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.

[diy_bloke]

You can just ignore that message. Look here:
http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/using-an-attiny-as-an-arduino/#comment-9695

[dunnos]

I am experimenting with this as we speak. I'm trying to copy a remote control with this, but it's rather time-specific. Does anyone know at what frequency these chips work now?

[randofo]

I think it is 1mhz by default, but can go higher. I am trying to do the same thing using this code:

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/10/06/sensor-tutorial-ir-detector-make-remote-controls-and-listeners-making-an-intervalometer-read-ir-commands-from-an-apple-remote-use-for-your-projects-and-more/

[dunnos]

that's not enough by a long shot... to get a 38khz signal I need the 55 cycles for digitalWrite() to take less than 13 ms. It takes 55 now -.-

[chriscross93]

I get this error when compiling, any thoughts?


**************************************
In file included from /usr/lib/gcc/avr/4.5.3/../../../avr/include/util/delay.h:44:0,
from /usr/lib/gcc/avr/4.5.3/../../../avr/include/avr/delay.h:37,
from /home/zach/Desktop/Dropbox/Treeduino/Hardware/ArduinoCode/hardware/attiny45_85/cores/attiny45_85/wiring_private.h:32,
from /home/zach/Desktop/Dropbox/Treeduino/Hardware/ArduinoCode/hardware/attiny45_85/cores/attiny45_85/WInterrupts.c:36:
/usr/lib/gcc/avr/4.5.3/../../../avr/include/math.h:426:15: error: expected identifier or ‘(’ before ‘double’
/usr/lib/gcc/avr/4.5.3/../../../avr/include/math.h:426:15: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘>=’ token

[blinkyblinky]

It should be in Desktop and then in desktop should be the hardware folder.

[chriscross93]

blinky,

See nibb's comment. All is well now.