Summary of How to Setup DigiSprak Attiny85 Board
This article introduces the ATTINY85 as a cost-effective and compact alternative to Arduino for simple tasks like LED fading or LCD display. It details the board's specifications, including GPIO pins, PWM support, and memory limits, while providing step-by-step instructions for installing the DigiStump board manager and drivers within the Arduino IDE.
Parts used in the ATTINY85 Project:
- Attiny85 Board
- Arduino IDE
- Digistump Attiny85 Board Manager Package
- DPinst64.exe Driver Installer
Hello there Engineers and Hobbyists, we all love Arduino’s right! But using an Arduino UNO, NANO or any other Arduino for a small task like displaying a simple message on LCD or just Fading LED would be waste of resource and money, so in this video, we would discover a Cheap and Compact Alternative of Arduino called ATTINY85, so let’s get started!
Step 1: Watch the Video
Step 2: Gathering the Requirements
for this Tutorial, we will need
1. Attiny85 Board
https://in.gearbest.com/boards-shields/pp_00949109…
2. Arduino IDE
https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software
Step 3: Understanding the Board
At Tiny 85 is similar to Arduino, but it is not Arduino,ATTINY 85 is a Micro-Controller chip, which has 6 General Purpose IO pins(GPIO), out of which 5 are PWM enabled, and ATTINY85 also supports the SPI and I2C Communication Protocols, but it has only 8Kb of programming memory, so yes, it is not as capable as Arduino board, but it will work just fine for small projects.
also, this board few other features like
- inbuilt 8 bit timers.
- inbuilt comparators.
- 512 Bytes EPROM
- 512 Bytes SRAM.
here is a complete data sheet for brief knowledge
Step 4: Edit Board URL
we need to add boards (DigiStump’s Attiny85) into our Arduino IDE, to do so,
- First open your Arduino IDE,
- go to Preference and simply paste the Link ” https://raw.githubusercontent.com/digistump/arduino-boards-index/master/package_digistump_index.json ” on the Additional Board Management URL,
- then simply Press okay and Close Preferences.
Step 5: Install DigiStump Board on IDE
to install Attiny Board Settiongs on Arduino IDE,
- go to board manager, under Tools menu
- select the Contributed type of boards Option
- select “DIGISTUMP AVR BOARDS“
- Click on install it!
Step 6: Install the Drivers
Now, install the drivers on your computer Attached on this Step
- Unzip the Attached File.
- click on DPinst64.exe to install the Drivers on your computer.
- then insert the Attiny85 board into your computer .
Source: How to Setup DigiSprak Attiny85 Board
- Why choose ATTINY85 over an Arduino?
It is a cheaper and more compact alternative suitable for small tasks like displaying messages on an LCD or fading LEDs. - How many General Purpose IO pins does the ATTINY85 have?
The chip has 6 General Purpose IO pins, with 5 of them being PWM enabled. - Does the ATTINY85 support SPI and I2C protocols?
Yes, the ATTINY85 supports both SPI and I2C communication protocols. - What are the programming memory limitations of this board?
The board has only 8Kb of programming memory, making it less capable than standard Arduino boards. - How do you add the DigiStump board URL to the Arduino IDE?
Open Preferences in the IDE and paste the provided GitHub link into the Additional Board Management URL field. - Which board manager option must be selected to install the Attiny settings?
You must select DIGISTUMP AVR BOARDS from the Contributed type of boards list in the Board Manager. - What file should be executed to install the necessary drivers?
You need to unzip the attached file and click on DPinst64.exe to install the drivers. - Can the ATTINY85 replace an Arduino for complex projects?
No, it is not as capable as an Arduino board due to its limited memory and resources.
