If you are considering wireless design you may consider of using RF-24G wireless module which works at 2.4GHz frequency. With this module your application may reach 1Mbps speed and may provide up to 250 data stream channels. You may check the abilities in datasheet.

So there is simple project showing how to run these modules with microcontroller. Simple Circuit which interfaces module to Atmega8515 and receives data from USART terminal which is immediately transmitted. After transmission module enters receive mode These modules are powered with 3.3V so be sure not to connect it to 5V supply as you may damage it. For some of you this example may serve as a starting point to wireless. Download complete Project files(155kB) .

320×240 is quite big screen that can fit many interesting projects. Especially if control is done via touchscreen. Well controlling such LCD require some control. Patrick have been developing Hitachi TX14D11VM1CAA control software for Atmega162 and recently he released first release.

Display is controlled by S1D13705 LCD controller while touch screen values are read with LTC1298(ADC). Atmega162 board also can read Compact Flash card information(including image drawing) and present it on LCD screen. You can download zipped project from AVRFreaks or from authors page when it will be available.

I bet that using devices that you have built is an exiting feeling. So why not to listen MP3 songs with your own MP3 player. So Michael does. He have been developing a simple portable MP3 player powered by Atmega128 microcontroller and VLSI VS1011b MP3 decoder IC.

MP3 player reads songs from MMS/SD data media where also playlists and skins can be stored. Player is powered from LiIo/LiPo battery which can be charged easily with included charger in to circuit itself. Color displays (128×128 pixel and 256 color) is taken from Nokia 6610 cell phone so plauer can work in both – text and graphical modes.

All firmware is written in easy accessible WinAVR C language. Media supports FAT32 file system so there is no problem to write songs directly from PC. Other features include:

Written in C for WinAVR compiler based on avr-gcc v3.4.5 or higher including avr-libc v.1.4.3 or higher

• Direct M3U playlist support;

• ID3 v1 & v2 tag support ;

• Color skin/theme support;

• Adjustable LCD contrast, backlight brightness and auto off time;

• Sass enhancer in VS1011b, volume and balance;

• All adjustable options are stored in EEPROM;

• Serial IO interface;

• 3.5mm audio jack;

• External audio via docking port;

• One key handling;

• Battery voltage monitoring;

• Auto power off on low battery;

• Remote control via serial interface;

• Information output for firmware and bootloader via serial interface

Seems to be nice fully functional DIY gadget project.

This project may be useful for TV testers. TV pattern is generated by Atmega8 which runs at 16MHz and it may produce 14 different color patterns that you can see on regular TV.

Circuit has RGB to PAL converter built in but of course RGB signals also can be used as most TV’s now accept RGB signal (scart connector). Project files are available for download.

Seems like everyone is shifting their own ISP programmers from COM and LPT ports to USB. And there is a reason for this – computers arre getting mobile, LPT and COM ports becoming obsolete. But almost everywhere you can find USB port, so it is logical to have USB programmer rather then old style.

ladyada have developed very tiny USB ISP programmer which also can serve as USB-SPI interface. Thisis really low cost and low component count programmer built under Attiny2313 AVR microcontroller. It is compatible with AVRDUDE and AVRStudio and works under Windows, Linux and MacOS.

This is not the fastest programmer but it can guarantee write speed of1 Kb/s and read speed of 2Kb/s. Other good feature is that it comes with both – 6 and 10 ISP connector types. You can build this adapter easily as all necessary files are available for download, or you can simply order a kit.