[Ralph Doncaster], aka Nerdralph, seems to be absolutely driven to see how few resources he can use on a microcontroller to get the job done. In this post on his blog, [Ralph] writes some custom bit-banged SPI code to cut the number of SPI lines necessary to drive an nRF24L01+ radio module from four down to two. That really helps if you’re using a micro with only six free pins, like an ATtiny85.

If you’re going to say, “why don’t you just buy a bigger microcontroller?”, you’re missing the point. This exercise strikes us as optimization for optimization’s sake and a dirty hack, both of which are points in its favor.  There are also a couple of techniques here for your mental toolbox. We thought it was interesting enough to look at in depth.

Continue reading “Embed With Elliot: Multiplexing SPI Uses Few Pins” →