There are dozens of projects like this one on the web, but it’s nice to be able to chose the one you like most. Nothing special with this AVR ISP programmer, maybe just the idea that the author build it because hi’s hold programmer was working trough serial connection and as most modern devices work on USB he decided to make his programmer work on USB.
So, the solution was to replace the two transistors, that were used to adapt the RS-232 voltage levels to TTL voltage levels, with a USB to RS-232 chip such as FT-232BM.
USB ISP Programmer For AVR: [Link]
Some would say that an electronic dice would take the fun away from the game, but I’m not sure that’s always true. Anyway as the friends from PyroElectro say “we’ll make it anyway”. It’s based on the ATmega8 which controlls 7 LE’s that show you the number. All the schematics and source code is available for download.
ATmega8 Electronic Dice: [Link] - [via]
Mobile infrared electronic transmitter
In many microcontroller applications some sort of display is needed to present information and status of the controller to the user. Although a few LEDs can provide a lot of information, a more advanced display is sometimes needed. A solution which is quite often seen is using a HD44780-based character LCD module. These modules come in various configurations from one line of 8 chars to 4 lines of 40 characters.
Implement HD44780-based LCDs With AVR Microcontrollers: [Link] - [via]
This project is an instance of the UsbProg project created by Benedikt Sauter. Bene released the schematics, board layout and firmware as an open-source project. Dean Hall took that project and made these modifications:
- Changed CONN1 to a type Mini-B receptacle (so it would be surface mount).
- Changed most parts to have surface mount packages (except jumpers and headers).
- Added capacitors C1 and C2 for decoupling.
- Added CONN3 2×5 pin header for Port A (the ADC inputs).
- Added JP3 jumper header to choose which pin controls LED1.
With a bit of work the board can be etched at home and you’ve got yourself a home made programmer. Or you could just pay $30 and get the original mkII from Atmel.( I chose the original one 
)
UsbProg-SHARP Clone Of AVRISP mkII: [Link]
Alex from Tinkerlog added an interesting article about fetching Flickr images on a Nokia LCD. He used a Nokia 6100 LCD including breakout board from Sparkfun. The MCU is an ATmega48, though cheap, not the best choice as he encountered some problems with the image quality. First the image is fetched from Flickr using Beej’s Python Flickr API than the image is resized and sent to the LCD. Taken to consideration the fact that this is his first LCD project we can call it a success.
Fetch Flickr Images On A Nokia LCD: [Link]
