I recently wrote some code to drive a 4 digit seven segment display using the arduino and 74HC595 shift register chip. The display is a seven segment common anode display with decimal dots. The pin configuration can be found here. I have connected a DS18S20 temparature sensor to read the temparature and display the reading on the seven segment display.

Here is how it looks:

Here is the arduino sketch:

Download the sketch from the link below: 

SevenSegmentTest.pde (2.27 kb)

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me via the contact link.

I know this has been posted by many people already on different web sites and forums. Still I am posting the Arduino (Atmega168) fuse bit settings, as it appears in AVR Stuido 4 programming  interface:

Fuse bits:

Lock bits:



Please remember the programming sequence:

Step one: Flash the appropriate boot loader

Step two: Set the fuse bits

Step three: Set the lock bits


I hope this helps. I myself looked for this information earlier and it was not easy to find them all together.

Arduino:

I came across Arduino while surfing the web for micro-controller related projects and initiatives. I think it is one of best platform for beginners to start playing with micro-controller programming. The great thing about the arduino is the IDE, which is greatly designed for ease of programming for beginners. However, you certainly do have the option to go into deep programming, but it is very simple if you are familiar with the micro-controller hardware (Atmel AVR architecture) and C++ programming. The arduino IDE languge is very similar to C and Java programming. It has a lot of built-in ready to be used libraries like LCD display interfacing, Stepper motor control, keypad library and lots more.

Learn more about Arduino at: http://www.arduino.cc

Here are some photos of arduino board: