dgrigg123:
Lefty,Thanks. This clears up some details for me.
As you explained, the second newer method is working fine for me. However, as to the first method, I bootloaded the optiboot.hex bootload to my Atmega328p-pu which I understand to be the bootload for a typical Uno. I also set the fuses according to the Uno. And I have the neccesary 16Mhz exteranl clock and all.
By doing so, I would assume that selecting the "Arduino Uno" as my board type in the IDE would satisfy the necessary conditions to allow uploading of a sketch to work. This is what I have tried, but fails.
Am I still missing something?
Does your target circuit contain the needed auto-reset circuitry that the IDE first triggers to force the bootloader to run and listen for a valid upload request? If not you will have to try and use a well timed manual reset switch for the upload to work. When I try and use a manual reset I press and hold down the reset switch, then press upload on the IDE and when I see the compiled sketch size reported in the IDE output window I release the switch.
Lefty