I am very new to the micro controllers. I have downloaded the win avr program ( at least I think I did!!) but I do not see anything that looks like what I'am supose to have from what is in the manual. I clik on the avr from the desktop and it just reinstalls but I do not know how to get into the programmers notepad or anything. Any suggestions?

Hi newbie,

Don't worry, some of this stuff can be pretty daunting for beginners. Just keep at it and you will get it. Lets see if I can clear a few things up.

If you installed WinAVR, you installed a bunch of separate programs that together are used to compile and upload your code the microcontroller. Most of these programs we will be invoking through the command line. Installed with WinAVR is a text editor called Programmers Notepad. This text editor makes it a bit easier to edit C code, but can also be more confusing to use that a normal text editor like WordPad. You are free to use any text editor you want to edit the C code, remember that all you are doing is editing text, all the real magic happens during the compiling and uploading steps. If you want to open up Programmers Notepad you should be able to find it in the Start menu in the WinAVR folder.

Were you able to find the command line and start navigating around it in the subsequent steps?

Humberto

If installed correctly, you should have a winavr branch in your programs menu. Under that you will find programmer's notepad.

Thanks for all your help. I have the programmers notepad up now and will be trying to reprogram the controller. I should have looked in the file and unziped the files befor asking for help.

Thanks again to all

Hi newbie

I also had a simular problem. When I installed WinVar on my Vista PC, it installed onto another user's desktop and only by guessing found it. "VERY ANOYING!" So I just made a shortcut to it by right-click-draging the "pn.exe" file from C:WinAVR-20090313pn directory to the descktop of my choice. Why the heck it went to a differant user's "StartPrograms" list I have know idea! but that's how I got around it.

Jer