Arduino core for the new megaAVR ATtiny series chips. These parts represent the new megaAVR technology (as used in megaAVR chips like the ATmega4809 as used on Nano Every and Uno Wifi Rev. 2) and advanced peripherals in low-cost, small packages of the ATtiny line. All of these parts feature a full hardware UART, SPI and TWI interface, and the 1-series parts have a DAC for analog output as well. Moreover, these parts are cheap - the highest end parts, the 3216 and 3217, with 32k of flash and 2k of SRAM (same as the atmega328p used in Uno/Nano/ProMini!) run just over $1, and under 90 cents in quantity - less than many 8k classic AVR ATtiny parts (AVR architecture, at a PIC price). All of these parts will run at 20MHz (at 5v) without an external crystal.
These use a UPDI programmer, not traditional ISP like the classic ATtiny parts did. One can be made from a classic AVR Uno/Nano/Pro Mini - see Making a UPDI programmer
For this core to work when installed manually, and via board manager for 1.0.1 and earlier, you must install the official Arduino megaAVR board package using board manager - this is required to get the compiler installed. If you receive an error of the form "avr-g++: error: device-specs/specs-attiny402: No such file or directory", that indicates that the Arduino megaAVR board package is not installed. As of 1.0.2, this is no longer required if installed via board manager. It is still required for a manual installation.
- ATtiny3217,1617,817,417
- ATtiny3216,1616,816,416
- ATtiny1614,814,414,214
- ATtiny412,212
- ATtiny1607,807
- ATtiny1606,806,406
- ATtiny1604,804,404,204
- ATtiny402,202
- 20MHz Internal (4.5v~5.5v - typical for 5v systems)
- 16MHz Internal (4.5v~5.5v - typical for 5v systems)
- 10MHz Internal (2.7v~5.5v - typical for 3.3v systems)
- 8MHz Internal (2.7v~5.5v - typical for 3.3v systems)
- 5MHz Internal (1.8v~5.5v)
- 4MHz Internal (1.8v~5.5v)
- 1MHz Internal (1.8v~5.5v)
These parts do not support using an external crystal like the classic ATtiny parts do, however the internal oscillator is tightly calibrated enough that the internal clock will work for UART communication.
The reset functionality is shared with UPDI; hence, when UPDI programming is enabled, there is no hardware reset pin. Luckily, the megaAVR architecture provides the ability to do a software reset:
_PROTECTED_WRITE(RSTCTRL.SWRR,1);
You can set an interrupt on a pin to call this in order to create a ersatz reset pin.
Once Optiboot is working on the megaAVR ATtiny parts, it will be possible to configure the UPDI/Reset pin to act as reset while still being able to upload code.
All of these parts have a single hardware serial port (UART). It works exactly like the one on official Arduino boards (except that there is no auto-reset, see note above about the lack of a reset pin). See the pinout charts for the location of the serial pins. Serial output for a few milliseconds after calling Serial.begin() seems to be off - if you are printing a message at the start of the sketch, add a small delay between Serial.begin() and your first Serial.print() call.
Note: UART serial is broken on the x12 and x02 parts before version 1.0.3.
All of these parts have a single hardware SPI peripheral. It works exactly like the one on official Arduino boards using the SPI.h library. See the pinout charts for the location of these pins. Note that the 8-pin parts (412, 212, 402, 204) do not have a specific SS pin.
All of these parts have a single hardware I2C (TWI) peripheral. It works exactly like the one on official Arduino boards using the Wire.h library. See the pinout charts for the location of these pins.
Note: I2C (TWI) is broken on the x12 and x02 parts before version 1.0.3.
The core provides hardware PWM (analogWrite) support. On the 8-pin parts (412, 212, 402, 204), only a single PWM pin is available (this is a hardware limitation - if you don't like it, direct your complaints to Atmel/Microchip). On all other parts except the x16 and x17 series, 6 PWM pins are available, driven by Timer A. The type B timers cannot be used for additional PWM pins - their output pins are the same as those available with Timer A. See the pinout charts for a list of which pins support PWM. The 3216,1616,816,416,3217,1617 and 817 have two additional PWM pins driven by Timer D (pins 10 and 11 on x16, 12 and 13 on x17). Timer D is an async timer, and the outputs can't be enabled or disabled without briefly stopping the timer. This results in a brief glitch on the other PWM pin (if it is currently outputting PWM), and doing so requires slightly longer (in 1.0.0, this delay is 1ms, in 1.0.1 and later, it is around 1us). This applies to digitalWrite() or analogWrite of 0 or 255 while it is currently outputting PWM, and analogWrite of 1~254 while the pin is not currently outputting PWM. This is a hardware limitation and cannot be further improved.
The usual NeoPixel (WS2812) libraries have problems on these parts. This core includes two libraries for this, both of which are tightly based on the Adafruit_NeoPixel library. See the tinyNeoPixel documentation and included examples for more information.
Support for tone() is provided on all parts using Timer B 0. This is like the standard tone() function; it does not support use of the hardware output compare to generate tones (yet).
These parts all have ADC channels available on most pins (11 pins on 24 and 20 pin parts, 9 on 14-pin parts and 5 on 8 pin parts - plus the one on the UPDI pin which is not normally usable), they can be read with analogRead() like on a normal AVR. While the An constants (ex, A0) are supported, and refer to the corresponding ADC channel (not the corresponding pin number), using these is deprecated - the recommended practice is to pass the digital pin number to analogRead(). Analog reference voltage can be selected as usual using analogReference(). Supported reference voltages are:
- VDD (Vcc/supply voltage - default)
- INTERNAL0V55
- INTERNAL1V1
- INTERNAL1V5
- INTERNAL2V5
- INTERNAL4V3
- EXTERNAL (1-series - not including 412/212 - only)
The 1-series parts have an 8-bit DAC which can generate a real analog voltage (note that this provides very low current and can only be used as a voltage reference, it cannot be used to power other devices). This generates voltages between 0 and the selected VREF (which cannot be VCC, unfortunately) - select the DAC VREF voltage from the Tools -> DAC Voltage Reference submenu. This voltage must be lower than Vcc to get the correct voltages. Call analogWrite() on the DAC pin to set the voltage to be output by the DAC. To turn off the DAC output, call digitalWrite() on that pin.
This core provides a version of the Servo library which will select an appropriate timer (Timer B 0, except on the 3216, 3217, 1617, 1616 and 1614, where there is a Timer B 1 available; except on the aforementioned parts, tone cannot be used at the same time as the Servo library). Servo output is better the higher the clock speed - when using servos, it is recommended to run at the highest frequency permitted by the operating voltage to minimize jitter.
Warning If you have installed a version of the Servo library to your /libraries folder (including via library manager), the IDE will use that version of the library (which is not compatible with these parts) instead of the one supplied with megaTinyCore (which is). As a workaround, a duplicate of the Servo library is included with a different name - to use it, #include <Servo_megaTinyCore.h> instead of #include <Servo.h>
All pins can be used with attachInterrupt() and detachInterrupt(), on RISING, FALLING, CHANGE, or LOW. All pins can wake the chip from sleep on CHANGE or LOW. Pins marked as ASync Interrupt pins on the pinout chart can be used to wake from sleep on RISING and FALLING edge as well.
Advanced users can instead set up interrupts manually, ignoring attachInterrupt and manipulating the relevant port registers appropriately and defining the ISR with the ISR() macro - this will produce smaller code (using less flash and ram) and the ISRs will run faster as they don't have to check whether an interrupt is enabled for every pin on the port. (A document is planned to describe how to do this)
Like ATTinyCore, Sketch -> Export compiled binary will generate an assembly listing in the sketch folder; this is particularly useful when attempting to reduce flash usage, as you can see how much flash is used by different functions.
The EESAVE fuse can be controlled via the Tools -> Save EEPROM menu. If this is set to "EEPROM retained", when the board is erased during programming, the EEPROM will not be erased. If this is set to "EEPROM not retained", uploading a new sketch will clear out the EEPROM memory. You must do Burn Bootloader to apply this setting.
These parts support many BOD trigger levels, with Disabled, Active, and Sampled operation options for when the chip is in Active and Sleep modes - Disabled uses the least power, Active uses the most, and Sampled is in the middle. See the datasheet for details on power consumption and the meaning of these options. You must do Burn Bootloader to apply this setting.
This core always uses Link Time Optimization to reduce flash usage - all versions of the compiler which support the 0-series and 1-series ATtiny parts also support LTO, so there is no need to make it optional as was done with ATtinyCore.
When writing code that may be compiled for a variety of target chips (which is particularly easy on the megaAVR parts, as the peripherals are so similar), it is often useful to be able to identify which family of parts is being used, in order to, for example, select which pin numbers to use for each purpose. Each part is identified by a #define:
__AVR_ATtiny***__ where *** is the part number (ex: __AVR_ATtiny3216__).
This core provides two additional #defines for part "families":
__AVR_ATtinyx**__where ** is the last 2 digits of the part number (ex:__AVR_ATtinyx16)__AVR_ATtinyxy*__where * is the last digit of the part number, (ex:__AVR_ATtinyxy6).
This is just shorthand, for convenience - #ifdef __AVR_ATtinyxy2__ is equivilent to #if defined(__AVR_ATtiny212__) || defined(__AVR_ATtiny412__) || defined(__AVR_ATtiny202__) || defined(__AVR_ATtiny402__)
When Optiboot is available for the ATmega4809, it will be adapted for these ATtiny parts, and the bootloader added to this core for chips with 8k or more of flash - possibly 4k chips if the bootloader ends up being small enough.
- Tools -> Chip - sets the specific part within a selected family to compile for and upload to.
- Tools -> Clock Speed - sets the clock speed. You must burn bootloader after changing between 16/8/4MHz and 20/10/5MHz to apply the changes (ie, changing from 20MHz to 10MHz does not require burning bootloader, changing from 20MHz to 16MHz does).
- Tools -> Retain EEPROM - determines whether to save EEPROM when uploading a new sketc. You must burn bootloader after changing this to apply the changes.
- Tools -> B.O.D. Voltage - If Brown Out Detection is enabled, when Vcc falls below this voltage, the chip will be held in reset. You must burn bootloader after changing this to apply the changes.
- Tools -> B.O.D. Mode (active) - Determines whether to enable Brown Out Detection when the chip is not sleeping. You must burn bootloader after changing this to apply the changes.
- Tools -> B.O.D. Mode (sleep) - Determines whether to enable Brown Out Detection when the chip is sleeping. You must burn bootloader after changing this to apply the changes.
- Tools -> DAC Reference Voltage - Determines the voltage reference for the DAC. This should be less than Vcc to get the right voltage. You do not need to use Burn Bootloader to apply changes to this menu.
- Sometimes a sketch which is too big to fit will, instead of generating a message saying that, result in the error: 'relocation truncated to fit: R_AVR_13_PCREL against symbol tablejump2'
I am planning to introduce breakout boards based on the megaAVR ATtiny parts to my Tindie store in mid-late July.