Monthly Archives: November 2010

Microcontrollers

Atmel AVRISP mkII working in Virtualbox

7 Comments

In the past I have had problems getting the Atmel AVRISP mkII to work with Virtualbox.  This can be really irritating if, like me, you want to write code in Linux but are forced to run Windows for Skype and various closed-source development tools (ugh).

Today, it seems to be working.  I can talk to the AVRISP with avrdude and program devices.  Cool!

I’m not sure what I changed.  I’m using Virtualbox 3.2.10 r66523, running on a Windows 7 64-bit host.  The VM/client OS is Ubuntu 10.10.  I created a USB filter for the AVRISP in the Virtual Machine settings; it doesn’t seem to work without it.  That might be what I was missing before.

To avoid having to run avrdude with root priveledges, I created the file /etc/udev/rules.d/10-avrisp2.rules with the contents:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="03eb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="2104", GROUP="adm", MODE="0666"

Pretty simple.

Oh, I should add that there is no guarantee other combinations of host/client OS will work.   If you’re getting different results, leave a comment.

Electronics

Where do you shop for electronic parts and tools?

33 Comments

Solder Accessories

Mitch and I are in the process of compiling a list of places to buy electronics parts and tools for a book we are writing about getting started with AVR microcontrollers.

Where do you go to buy electronic parts, tools, and other supplies?  Do you have a walk-in store in your area, or do you shop online?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from readers outside of the United States.  If you live in South America, where do you buy soldering irons, solder, resistors, capacitors, and other odds and ends?  Do you buy locally or online?  What about Europe?  Asia?  Africa?

If you do have a favorite place to shop for electronics goodies, leave a comment here or consider adding it to the MightyOhm Wiki!