Tag Archives: avrbook

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The “Soldering is Easy” comic book that was released on Monday will be included in a cool book that Mitch Altman (@maltman23) and I are writing about How to Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers (For People Who Know Nothing). It will be published by No Starch Press later this year.

If you would like to be notified when the book is published, please submit your e-mail address below.

 

Announcing the “Soldering is Easy” Complete Comic Book!

Do you want to learn how to solder?  Do you want to make really cool things?  Do you want to teach other people how to solder (and make cool things too)?

I’m happy to announce the release of Soldering is Easy, a comic book that will teach anyone the basics of soldering.

This seven page comic book explains in detail and with pictures how to make a good solder connection.  It also teaches you all the other bits and pieces of knowledge  that you need to successfully solder together an electronic kit, even if you’ve never soldered before!

I worked with Mitch Altman (@maltman23) and Andie Nordgren to create this revised and extended version of the wildly popular one page handout that Mitch and Andie created in 2010.

The comic (and lots more cool stuff!) will be included in a book that Mitch and I are writing about How to Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers (For People Who Know Nothing). It will be published by No Starch Press.

Here’s a sample page (click for a bigger version):

As of 2015 the comic book has been translated into 21 other languages! A huge thanks to everyone who sent in translations and is helping us spread our message around the world! We would love for people to translate the comic book into more languages! If you create a translation, please post a comment here and I’ll link to it! If you’re looking for help with a translation, you can try posting in the forums.

The comic is released under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-ShareAlike), so you are free to teach with it, color it, modify it, share it with your friends, translate it, and basically do whatever you like with it!

English:

The complete comic book is available for download here:

“Soldering is Easy” Comic Book (PDF)

We also have some other versions of the comic available:

Translations:

PDF File Language Translators
Arabic Ahmed Mo’ni
Azerbaijani Orkhan Amiraslan
焊接是容易的
简体中文版
Chinese (Simplified)
XinCheJian
焊接是容易的
繁体中文版
Chinese (Traditional)
XinCheJian
Lemiti je lako
Hrvatski
Croatian
Ivan Matacic
PÁJENÍ JE JEDNODUCHÉ
Český
Czech
Jindra Fučík
Det Er Nemt At Lodde
Dansk
Danish
Jesper Haffgaard
Iedereen Kan Solderen
Nederlands
Dutch
Ivo van den Maagdenberg
Alt. translation by Deeeep
Jootmine On Imelihtne
Eesti
Estonian
Markus Järve
Souder c’est Facile!
Français
French (updated May 2015)
Snootlab
Löten ist einfach!
Deutsch
German
Alexander Bodora
Richard Meinsen
Οδηγός Για Εύκολη Συγκόλληση
Ελληνικά
Greek
F.N.
Forrasztani Egyszerű
Magyar
Hungarian
dnet
Menyolder Itu Gampang
Bahasa Indonésia
Indonesian
Rudi Voon
Saldare E’ Semplice
Italiano
Italian

Michele Maffucci
ハンダ付けなんて簡単だ!
日本語
Japanese
Yoshi
Det Er Enkelt A Lodde
Norske
Norwegian

Henrik Sandaker Palm
Lutowanie Jest Proste
Polski
Polish

Mark
Solder É Fácil
Português
Portuguese (Brasilian)
Radamés Ajna
Este Ușor Să Lipeşti
Română
Romanian
Andrei C. Papuc
Alexander Bodora
ПАЯТЬ ПРОСТО
Русский
Russian (new updated and colorized version!)
Atarity
Alternate black and white version
Solder es Fácil
(Version 1)

Español
Spanish
SGTECH
2nd translation by juani_c
Att Löda Är Lätt!
Svensk
Swedish
Christopher Eriksson
Паяти — просто
українська
Ukranian
Ukranian Maker Association

Special thanks to Alexander Bodora for creating the original version of this table!

And really, soldering is easy (and fun!).  Learn how to solder and teach your friends!

Best book to learn C?

If you could recommend one book to a total beginner who wants to learn how to program in C, what would it be?

It shouldn’t be microcontroller-specific (more general is better), but it does need to make sense to someone with zero programming experience (in any language).

(Myself, I started with K&R, although I had some experience with BASIC (on the C64 and Apple II), Logo, and shell programming before that.)

Where do you shop for electronic parts and tools?

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!

AVR Toolchain Installation Instructions for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Mitch Altman and I are in the process of writing a book about Making Cool Things with Microcontrollers (for people who know nothing.)

The book features several DIY projects that use AVR microcontrollers.  We’re aiming to teach absolute beginners how to solder, basic electronics, and the process of turning a cool idea into reality by using microcontrollers.

I wrote these instructions about setting up a working avr-gcc environment in Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.  Mitch and I felt that they could use some beta testing in the real world before bring included in the book, so we decided to make them available here.  We also felt that they might help some people get started with AVRs before the book is available.

We want to make the process of writing and compiling code for the AVR simple and accessible, so we’re not using any fancy IDEs (eg. no AVR Studio).  We also wanted to use the same software on all three operating systems, so Windows-only tools were out.  Instead, we’re using avr-gcc, the compiler behind WinAVR, CrossPack, and Arduino.

I would appreciate any feedback on these instructions.

Here they are:

Windows

Mac OS X

Linux

Update: I totally rewrote this post after getting feedback that I didn’t properly identify my target audience and explain why I chose avr-gcc.  Sorry!