Hope this is within the rules of the forum, if it doesn't belong here I apologize and mods feel free to delete.
I am a big Arduino fan and am proud (and excited) to have launched my first Kickstarter project. If you are into DIY soldering projects it's right in that area. I owe many thanks to this forum and jkokura especially for the Eagle Cad tutorials which made this possible. (Even though I have converted over to DipTrace now lol)
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rullywowr/attiny85-isp-shrink-your-arduino-projects-with-eas (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rullywowr/attiny85-isp-shrink-your-arduino-projects-with-eas)
I'm pretty lost when it comes to uCs, but this is a dedicated programmer for ATTiny85 chips? Looks like it'd be really handy.
Yes, it is a dedicated breakout board for programming the ATtiny85 with a 6-pin ISP programmer. Makes it easy to upload new code as well as use on a breadboard. It runs much of the same code that the regular Arduino does...just with less pins. Thanks for checking it out!
Know of any great tutorials? All the ones I always find are laid out as a series of projects and for some reason I can never get a grasp on how it all works.
Well, the most basic project there is the "Blink" sketch (program). This sketch makes an LED blink on and off after you uploaded the program. If you Google "blink sketch" you will find tons of stuff out there on how to do it.
Essentially, the Arduino is a uC has pins which are broken out. There are Analog pins (which can vary output or read inputs on a scale of 0-1024) and there are Digital pins which either read +5v or 0v (or can output the same). You upload your code to the chip (typically a ATmega328p) and it reads the pins you want or can output on the pins. The Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) makes it easy to write and upload new code to your Arduino. Much code is already included and there is tons out there which is open source and free to copy and use/modify.
Ladyada (adafruit.com) and sparkfun.com have great tutorials for all types of projects.
If you are just dipping your toes into the Arduino world I would recommend getting an Arduino UNO to start with. It hooks up via USB and is really easy to use. The sky is the limit you can read sensors, drive displays, make LEDs blink, trigger servos, trigger relays to AC power, its really an awesome world of uCs. There are "shields" which basically snap on the top of the UNO to give it more capabilities. Once you get a little more into it, you will probably want something more breadboard friendly such as Arduino Nano or Arduino Pro Mini....or even my kickstarter project "ATtiny85 ISP!" ;D
I am so psyched about Kickstarter...I launched the project late last night and it has just taken off! Already hit about 25% of my goal and it hasn't even been 24 hours... 8)
If you have any questions about uCs...feel free to hit me up.
I'm not surprised you're having success. It looks like a really useful gizmo.
I've got an UNO, a Pickit2, some mini digisparks - all collecting dust. I can make an LED blink and follow other projects step-by-step. I just don't get how to learn to write my own programs. I've pieced things I know work together and yet, of course, it doesn't work and I have no clue why not. It's like there's one piece of fundamental understanding I don't have that make all that stuff make sense.
I know, it's frustrating at times to understand why a program doesn't work. Basically, uCs are simple machines and do the same thing over and over again until they are told differently.
My advice is to come up with a small project you want to do and then work your way towards a solution. Rather than trying to write the whole thing at one shot, try to make it in modular pieces so that you can verify one part works by itself. Once you are satisfied with that, you can move onto integrating it into the bigger picture.
Great starter projects are, getting an LCD display to work, displaying temperature on a screen, clicking a relay when a temp is sensed, changing color of an RGB LED.