Introduction to AVR Development

Kanda AVR development kits are all based on AVRStudo development environment, which is the PC software for writing code in assembly language or C and compiling it. It also includes a simulator for basic testing of your code.

Once the code is written, it needs to be programmed into the target AVR, either to run it or debug it further using an emulator or ICE (to step through code on target). AVR development is much easier if you have known hardware, so our kits include an AVR board with sockets and peripherals such as LEDs, switches and serial port.

Choice of AVR Board
The two AVR boards are

• STK200-X: AVR Board for 8, 20, 28 and 40-pin AVR microcontrollers
• STK300: AVR Board for 64-pin mounted AVR microcontrollers

Unless you have a specific project in mind that requires lots of pins and extra memory, the STK200 AVR board is the best for most people to start with.

Once you have selected your basic AVR board, STK200-X or STK300, then your next choice is programmer or emulator or both.

Which AVR Programmer or Emulator Do You Need?

There are basically 3 hardware choices for AVR programming and debugging, depending on the target AVR microcontroller and your budget:

• AVRISP: USB In system programmer (ISP) with its own software (but linked to AVRStudio when required) for programming all AVR microcontrollers. Debugging is on AVRStudio Simulator.
  
  
• AVR DRAGON: ISP and Emulator in one package. It is a bare board, but Kanda supply all leads and adpters required. Runs from AVRStudio and has ISP, JTAG and DebugWire (for emulating smaller AVR devices)

USB AVR ISP and AVR DRAGON are available separately if you already have a board, see links at bottom of page.