Project Summary:
The Tinusaur is a small board with a ATtiny85 micro-controller on it. The board has the minimum required components for the micro-controller to work properly. It also has few headers to connect external components and connector for ISP programmer. The board could work with any of those DIP-8 chips such as ATtiny25/ATtiny45/ATtiny85, ATtiny13 as well as their variations.
The goal of the Tinusaur project is to have a simple, cheap and quick-start platform for everyone interested in learning and creating things.
Full Project:
Tinusaur, what is this?
It’s a a small board. Briefly, the Tinusaur is a minimal micro-controller hardware configuration based on Atmel AVR AT tiny family of micro-controllers 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 quick-start platform for everyone interested in learning and creating things.
Is there anything special about this board?
No. Absolutely nothing.
Although, it has some advantages as well as disadvantages and they are discussed here.
Pros
The Tinusaur project is simple and easy to understand for everyone platform for a quick start learning and creating things.
What are the advantages of the Tinusaur project?
- The board consists of the minimum required components for the micro-controller to work properly. There are no missing ones that could save on space and cost but may impact stability and also there are no extra components that you may not always need.
- All the components are easy to find.
- The PCB is easy to make. It could be made at home or ordered online very cheap.
- The board is very easy to assemble – no very special skills or tools are required.
- The micro-controller is put on a socket and could be easily replaced in case it was damaged which may happen often during prototyping or learning.
- Although it comes with Attiny85 micro-controller it could work with ATtiny25, ATtiny45 and even ATtiny13.
- The 2-row headers H1 and H2 could be used like a breadboard – very convenient during prototyping. That could serve as the only board for some simple projects.
- The 2-row headers H1 and H2 could be used to put another board on top for the Tinusaur – that’s known as a shied board. The headers are quite solid and will therefore not require using other mount to keep the shield steady.
- The board could be used not only for prototyping but also as part of real products. Some extra components could be put directly on the board’s headers H1 and H2. If needed an additional shield board could be put on top of the Tinusaur board. It also has 4 convenient mount holes in the corners.
- The board includes an optional mount for button cell battery on the bottom and a jumper to turn it on and off.
- Writing programs for the Tinusaur board could be done with variety of tools that exist for all the major desktop operating systems – Windows, Mac OS, Linux. That includes free and open source ones.
- The board could also be programmed with the Arduino environment.
- There are 6 holes next to the external programmer header PC1 that make it a bit easier to chop the connector off if it is no longer needed.
Read More: The Tinusaur Project