Philippine Electronics Forum

I'd like to start thread about this family of 32-bit MCUs from Atmel. The name implies it is a descendant of the AVR MCUs. I don't think so. The only things it shares with the AVR MCUs are both come from Atmel and you can use the same Atmel Studio IDE with free C/C++ compiler. Otherwise panibagong learning experience.

Arduino chose the ARM Cortex M0 based SAMD21 device instead of the AVR32 for their next generation 32-bit Arduino Zero board. So expect less support from a smaller user base if you plan to use this MCU. Nevertheless there are advantages of the AVR32. Unlike the SAMD21, the AVR32 comes preprogrammed with a bootloader. So you can load your program without a programmer. The AVR32 comes with USB host and device interface and an Ethernet MACB interface. So it is closer than the Arduino Zero to implementing IOT projects.

For the tutorials, I'd will be using eGizmo's coming soon product, the 32-bit AT32UC3C2128C/AT32UC3C264C based Mini board shown in the picture below.



I was told it will be reasonably priced to encourage its use.

What is in it for me? I have been using the AVR32 for about 5-years now. I'd just like to share my experience.

me too 

thank you sir motion55,subscribing

I'll start with the hardware. Below is the schematic diagram (click to get the full size) of the Mini board:



It is basically an AT32UC3C264C or AT32UC3C2128C mounted on a small board with connectors to access all pins (breakout), a JTAG connector for debugging and programming and a mini USB (OTG) connector. There is also a 12MHz crystal needed for USB clocking.

The I/O connectors are standard 0.1" pitch connector so you can in turn mount the mini board over a prototyping board for your projects. Unfortunately, the LED on board is permanently powered. Di pwede gamitin sa pinaka unang project na binalak ko which is the LED Blinky.

Thank you sir.
Although, I have already started with the blinky, I'm also subcribing.
I know I will learn more in here.

seriously subscribing...

Salamat sa inyong enthusiasm. I wasn't expecting that.

I'll start with the simplest Blinky project para just to get our feet wet and the next project we'll go straight to making a USB project. Warning: the learning curve for me was steep. That's why if you plan on using the AVR32, you will really need this turtorial.

To be honest, di ko pa nagawa ang mga tutorial materials and so medyo magiging mabagal ang dating posts. I also have a real job you know.

To be able to follow, you will need to install the latest Atmel Studio v6.2 SP1.

http://www.atmel.com/tools/atmelstudio.aspx

Kung mayroon kayong AVR32 device then kailangan din ng FLIP 3.4.7 to use the bootloader.

http://www.atmel.com/tools/flip.aspx

Subs UP!

Wow. Subscribing...

Using the ASF Wizard

Pagkatapos ma-create ang project, take time to examine the contents.



Sa kanan ay ang "Solution Explorer".  Although wala pang magagawa ang project in terms of execution, mayroon na ring organization at file structure ang project. The center, pwede mo makita ang contents ng code. In this case it's the main.c file. Except for the call to board_init() wala pang laman. Katunayan, walang laman din si board_init() at this point. If you build (compile) this project, it will compile without errors.

Remember na si Microsoft gumawa nitong IDE. Kung gusto mo dagdagan o bawasan ng files, cut n paste from Windows Explorer to the Solution Explorer will work. Try to remember this para maintindihan paano ko nag-add nag-bawas ng files. Another way is the ASF Wizard. The wizard will allow you to automatically add code developed by Atmel that can utilize the features of the MCU. Sure pwede ka sumulat ng sariling mong code to access the registers directly to operate the peripherals. Pero kung may deadline kang hinahabol just use it. Pag-aralan mo na lang later ang code pagkatapos nasubmit mo na sa prof o boss mo ang project.

Let's now use the ASF (Atmel Software Framework) Wizard. Sa menu select ASF->ASF Wizard.

On the left box, you can select the modules that you will need. Walang kaso if you select modules that you don't need. Pwede kumain lang ng space sa MCU pero kung kakasya ba walang kaso. Besides the linker might remove unused modules. Let's add the ff. for Blinky.

1. Delay routines (service)
2. IOPORT - General pupose I/O (service)

Sa tutuo lang ngayon ko pa lang din gagamitin ang IOPORT. I used to use "GPIO - General purpose Input/Output (driver)". ASF is an evolving framework. May bagong nadadagdag with every version upgrade. Usually it's for improvement. I am gambling it is in this case. After adding eto ang result.



Take note that if you compile the code at this point mag-eeror. Clearly may kailangan ayusin.