Digispark goes Pro (ATtiny167) on Kickstarter

The Atmel-based Digispark dev board has gone Pro on Kickstarter. Powered by Atmel’s ATtiny167 microcontroller (MCU), the new board is even easier to use than the original Digispark.

“[The Pro is] packed full of i/o, more program space and more features,” Digispark Pro creator Erik Kettenburg explained.

“With new shields and libraries the Digispark Pro is still just as small as a Digispark and just as affordable – because electronics should be accessible to all.”

Aside from Atmel’s ATtiny167 MCU, key project specs and features include:

• Compatible with Arduino IDE 1.5 (OSX/Win/Linux)
• Fully signed drivers and executable for easy installation
• USB programming, USB device emulation, USB-CDC virtual serial port emulation
• 
16KB Flash Memory (14.5K+ after bootloader)
• Serial over USB debugging and communication
• 14 i/o Pins (2 shared with USB)
• I2C, true SPI, UART, LIN and USI
• ADC on 10 pins
• Three PWM channels (which can be assigned to a selection of pins)
• Power via USB, or external source – 5v or 6-16v (automatic selection)
• On-board button that can be used as a reset, program, or user button – or disabled to use that pin as general i/o – without altering the bootloader
• On-board 500ma 5V regulator
• Power LED and Test/Status LED (on Pin 1)
• User accessible solder jumpers to disable LEDs
• Two mounting holes
• Breadboard compatible pin out/spacing (the three side header pins are for legacy shield support)

On the software side, the Digispark Pro uses the latest Micronucleus USB bootloader for programming, which facilitates easy programming over USB direct from the Arduino IDE (or command line). 

According to Kettenburg, the open source Micronucleus is the official bootloader of the original Digispark, with the company confirming installation of the ‘loaders on over 40,000 devices.

“With the help of friend, LittleWire creator, and Digispark user Ihsan Kehribar – the Digispark Pro supports emulating a USB CDC/Serial Device – when enabled it shows up as a serial port on all major platforms (OS X/Win/Linux/Raspi/Android) – which means it will work with the Arduino Serial Monitor, other programs designed for Arduinos that appear as a serial port and be much easier to integrate into custom programs,” he explained.

“We also provide libraries for the Pro to emulate a USB keyboard, mouse, joystick, or generic HID device. This means it can appear to your computer as if it were that type of device – allowing you to easily have your device type, move the mouse, act as a joystick and more.”

As expected, the Digispark Pro is backwards compatible with all existing Digispark shields.

Nevertheless, Kettenburg is also offering a number of Pro exclusive shields for various applications, including WiFi, Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy and a nRF24L01+ low cost mesh networking.

Last, but certainly not least, the Digispark Pro is ready to connect to just about any peripheral. Indeed, the dev board offers a stand-alone SPI, UART (with LIN capabilties) and I2C that is shared with a USI bus – which could act as a second SPI or UART for advanced users.

Interested in learning more about the Digispark Pro? You can check out the project’s official Kickstarter page here.