I’ve been working with a super minimal Arduino setup recently. After seeing Alex’s awesome Arduino/ATmega breadboard header, where he notes there’s no room on the PCB for pin labeling, I wondered if it would be possible to make a small sticker that goes on the ATmega chip, labeling the pin names.
Here’s my first attempt:
And in use:
This was created by printing on a full-page sticker then laser cutting it to shape. I could have also just cut out the sticker with scissors, or used regular printer paper and double-sided tape.
Some files if you want to try this out yourself:
- arduino-atmega-sticker.eps — EPS of just the sticker itself.
- arduino-atmega-sticker.svg — SVG version
- arduino-atmega-sticker.pdf — PDF version
- arduino-atmega-sticker-lasercut.cdr — Coreldraw file containing instructions & registration marks for printing then laser cutting your own sticker.
Wow, that looks fantastic.
Could you post it in different formats? Maybe PDF or SVG?
Done! Now in PDF & SVG, in addition to EPS & CDR. :)
Laser cut stickers instead of scissors?! You win!
A long time ago, you could buy sticky labels like this for all the common TTL chips. I think they were called “Stickies”, and came in a sheet with several copies of the pinouts for the more frequently-used chips.
Why not just laser the labels onto the chips?
ooo, that’s a good idea. I wonder how the chip’s plastic would etch? Of course, it would make it harder to switch from Arduino dev to ATmega dev with a single chip, but ATmegas are cheap. :)
[...] Arduino chip sticker label Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this! Source: MAKE Magazine [...]
[...] Arduino chip sticker label [...]
[...] Arduino chip sticker label [...]
[...] Arduino chip sticker label [...]
@John, I remember something similar called “Bug Backs”
Can you post the schematic from your minimal Arduino setup, please?
Simple idea – utter genius!
Great idea!
Maybe it would be good to put a little mark on one end to correspond with the notch on the chip, for those people who don’t know most AVRs have their reset on pin 1.
Good idea about the notch! I’ve updated the files (except the CDR) to have a little notch.
Ruedi, I’ve posted the schematic and more details about the setup here: http://todbot.com/blog/2009/05/26/minimal-arduino-with-atmega8/
Hi todbot
thank you very much for posting.
Ruedi
That is cool, thanks.
Nice! I am new to Arduino, waiting for my first one to arrive. Is your sticker for the Atmega328P or the 168, or do they have the same pinout? Maybe I am the only one who does not know, but in my opinion it could be useful to have this information in the post.
Hi Johan,
This works for all ATmega8-style chips. I did this for the original ATmega8, as I have a few dozen of these, but it’s also valid for ATmega88, ATmega168, & ATmega328.