README.md

Northern Widget Arduino Boards

This repository contains board definition files for the Arduino-compatible data logger boards developed by A. Wickert, B. Schulz, and C. Sandell at Northern Widget LLC and the University of Minnesota.

(This repository and README based gratuitously off of Sparkfun's)

Note: The following instructions will only work for Arduino IDE versions 1.5 and up.
Additional notes at bottom of page

Supported AVR Boards and uses on Northern Widget devices

• ATMega1284p 8MHz
  • Okapi: Versatile data logger with built-in solar charge control and modular telemetry
  • Margay: Extreme-low-power data logger
• ATMega644p 8MHz
  • Older variants of Margay
• ALog BottleLogger v2
  • The modern (and likely ultimate) ALog BottleLogger
• ALog BottleLogger (legacy)
  • ALog BottleLogger v2.0.0-beta and prior

Each board will be added as an entry in the Arduino Tools > Board menu.

Installation Instructions

Go to File > Preferences (or Arduino > Preferences on Mac).

Open 'Additional Boards Manager URLs', and paste the following in either the box for Additional Boards Manager URLs, or, if this is populated, the window that pops up when you hit the button to the right of the Additional Boards Manager URLs text entry area:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NorthernWidget/Arduino_Boards/master/package_NorthernWidget_index.json

Now, go to Tools > Board > Boards Manager....

Click it, and the following window will appear:

if you type in "Northern Widget" (or usually just "Northern" as well), you should see an option to install board files for Northern Widget Arduino compatible boards.

If Northern Widget options do not appear, restart your Arduino IDE and try again.

Click "Install" to add the NorthernWidget boards to your list. At the time of writing, we support only AVR boards.

Now, when you select the Boards list, you will see a collection of new boards for Northern Widget.

You will then want to change your selection to match the microcontroller that you are using. At the time of writing, this is probably ATMega1284p 8MHz, but as a reference:

• ATMega1284p 8MHz
  • Okapi
  • Current variants of Margay
• ATMega644p 8MHz
  • Older variants of Margay
• ALog BottleLogger v2
  • The modern (and likely ultimate) ALog BottleLogger
• ALog BottleLogger (legacy)
  • ALog BottleLogger v2.0.0-beta and prior

Notes

• This will only work under Arduino IDE versions 1.5 and up. As of writing the current version is 1.8.15.
• Some boards such as the Pro Micro and the Mega Pro come in more than one form. For these you must select the correct processor in the 'Tools' menu.
• Information on compiling and programming the bootloaders can be found in the bootloaders' directory.
• Bugs introduced in the Arduino IDE version 1.6.6 through at least 1.6.9 produce errors indicating there is something wrong with these files. This can be resolved by reverting back to 1.6.5-r5. So far all reports seem to indicated that 1.6.10 has also fixed the issues. These intermittent issues are difficult to reliably reproduce.
• If you have previously installed a Northern Widget Board package, you may get an error message Board xxxx is unknown, if you get this error simply navigate to the Arduino packages folder (using the link in the preferances window is easiest way to find it), then go to packages and delete the folder named NorthernWidget, then reinstall the board file using the Board Manager

That's it! You're done, and ready to rock and roll... er, bootload, program, and collect data with your Northern Widget data logger.