We use an Arduino to program other ATmega without bootloader . This technique allows you to use all flash memory for code and make boards using new ATmega, cheaper than those with bootloader. The qualities that have made the success of Arduino are undoubtedly the open-source software, many libraries, a good hardware and a virtually infinite Reference that explains each possible use of the platform. But ...

In this instructable I will show you how you can make your own Atting programming shield for the arduino and then use the arduino as a programmer. Usually If you don't have a shield you can do a breadboard version to program the ATtiny. (Step1) But here I'll show you how to program it and with a couple of components make a nice shield for the arduino, which makes programming much easier! For more informatio ...

I had one remote controlled project that needed an Arduino running 24/7 but I didn’t want to leave my $32 Arduino UNO, so I decided to buy some pieces and created my own Arduino. The most important part was buying the microcontroller. These were my options: ATMega328P-PU with Optiboot ~ $5.50 (Sparkfun) / $5.19 (Digikey) ATMega328P-PU ~ $3.16 (Digikey) ATMega328-PU ~ $2.88 (Digikey) Obviously I bought the c ...