How to establish communication between microcontroller on a bread board and laptop using usb cable?

Question

I want to learn about microcontrollers and use them in some projects. But I do not want to buy an Arduino, although that is what would be easy for doing projects. This creates a problem in programming the microcontroller. Although a programmer can be used, I noticed that many microcontrollers have an SPI. I thought I could use this along with a USB to programming it serially. I may also read the data serially (using shift registers) into the computer. This way, I think, I can establish communication of some sort between the two. But I am not sure if my computer will allow me to write to a USB port without any identifiable device being connected.

I am aware I would have to write some code to make this smooth since, both the microcontroller and the computer have different clock speeds.

Answer 1

An Arduino does not have to be a pre-fabricated board - it can be as simple as a microcontroller IC and some support components.

An eg basic Arduino Nano clone from Asia for under $US3 incl shipping gives you a few basic ICs a voltage regulator, a USB to serial interface and some support firmware to allow bootloading from USB. You gain nothing by not starting with a few parts on a board and the bootloader and free environment. Once running you can pursue whatever purist directions that seem good.

Struggling with months to achieve what can be done in hours in setting up an Arduino will teach you much, but there are far far far better ways to use the same learning time.

I built my first microcontroller system on strip board about 45 years ago!!!
Based on a Nat Semi SC/MP.
NO O/S,
Binary toggle switch program and data input.
(No keyboard or keypad initially).
LED I/O (yes, we had LEDs :-) ).
No assembler (let alone an HLL).
Later we graduated to using Baudot code teleprinetrs - that we wrote our own code for.

So, yes, I know what you can learn the hard way.
Buy an Arduino to start :-).

You can learn far far far more quickly by starting with an Arduino and working DOWN once you have it running. Arduino use in no way misses out on ANY computer architecture aspects. You are doing yourself a massively large disservice by not starting with Arduino.

---

Arduino Bootloader:

What it does and why use it, & How to turn any appropriate AVR microcontroller IC into an Arduino.

An Arduino-less Arduino here
and
Adding a bootloader with ICSP here
and here
and here
Stack Exchange discussion here

What it is and what it does here

Answer 2

USB and SPI are completely different and you cannot communicate between your computer and your microcontroller using SPI directly.

However in most (to not say all) of the current microcontroller eval boards you will be provided with an UART-to-USB converter, and thus you will be able to communicate with your PC using an UART.

Answer 3

Answer is simple: Serial.

Get yourself a UART-USB converter like this, write some code in whatever language you please in order to use a COM port for communication. Done.

Don't you worry about clock speeds and bit banging. No need to reivent the wheel.

Answer 4

I noticed that many microcontrollers have an SPI. I thought I could use this along with a USB to programming it serially.

These are wildly different protocols, and building your own adapter between them is definitely a project for after you've learned a lot about microcontrollers.

On the other hand, you can just buy one:

• Totalphase Aardvark

• Bus pirate

The other approach is to use the dedicated programming interface on the microcontroller, which may be "JTAG" or something like "ST-LINK" for "SWD" parts. That lets you do all sorts of convenient things in a debugger, such as set breakpoints and inspect variables.

Answer 5

You need to avoid confusing Arduino the software environment and Arduino hardware.

There is nothing unique about the Arduino hardware and they are a very cost-effective way to obtain all the hardware for what you are requesting. You don't have to build any hardware if you don't wish to.

I often use Arduino hardware (either Nano or Uno for ~3$) but write the program using AVR-GCC and program the processor using Avrdude and the Arduino boot-loader.

The software is available free (I use Homebrew to install on my Mac but it also supports Windows and Linux).

The Arduino hardware incorporates a USB converter to allow serial communication with the host computer - just use printf() in your code and capture on the PC with your favorite terminal emulator (on a Mac I use "screen"). I usually include an RTOS that I wrote with a command line interpreter in my software to allow debugging and control as well as feeding back data to the PC. The fact that it is based on Arduino hardware in no way restricts what my software can do.