Burning the Bootloader without  AVR-Writer

I think I have come apon a universal solution- maybe we should start a new thread- but why not write a sketch that would automatically let the arduino burn the bootloader itself on a naked chip?

  1. Upload the sketch to a - pre bootloaded chip, the only one youll ever need to buy

  2. put the naked chip on a Bare bones board. Its relatively easy to make a bare bones breadboard- only a two caps and a resistor needed as you can steal the clean power off the arduino board itself.

3.connect the two chips together, then power them both up

  1. You now have two chips that are bootloaded.!

This would be way cheaper than buying another programmer or cable or in the case of macs going through all that terminal stuff which many (including myself) don't understand.

or people could sell the chip and 3 parts for a chip- again way cheaper and simpler than anything else out there - especially for those of us comfortable with components and breadboards but fell iffy around the programing side of things...

now all we need is someone who can figure out the sktech....

I think this already exists. If memory is right it is called 'boot-cloner' or something like that.

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/Programmer2
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/BootCloner/BootCloner

well in classic style the one that seems to work better for the atmega 168
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/Programmer2
reads as coding gibberish to me- It may work but I think Id need a "step by step" like in the other link:
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/BootCloner/BootCloner

This one seems really promising and easy to follow what to actually do- however its unclear to me what needs to be done to adapt it to the larger chip...

?

well i'm trying to use this method to burn a bootloader into an Atmega8 with my deumilanove.. but i keep getting an error message asking to check my conenctions when i try the slow clock mode or the normal mode.... i use the following command after inserting the new Atmega 8 chip and connecting the arduino to my usb..
Command: avrdude -c diecimila -P ft0 -p m8 -t -B 4800

Error:
avrdude: BitBang OK
avrdude: pin assign miso 3 sck 5 mosi 6 reset 7
avrdude: drain OK
ft245r: bitclk 230400 -> ft baud 115200
avrdude: ft245r_program_enable: failed
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1

double check connections and try again...

Now i've double checked my connections and tried another ATMEGA8 as well. I get the same error. However if i insert the original Atmega168 i'm able to execute the command with -m168 parameter.... is there some modification here to be done for ATmega 8 for clock speed?

Is there another way to burn bootloader into a Atmega8 from a Atmega168 Deumilanove without using a programmer? :-/

pracas, I'm not at all sure about the Atmega8 vs ATmega168, but have you checked to be sure the pins are the same?

I just did this method for a ATtiny45 this morning and it seems to have worked, tonight I will be testing the chip to see if it actually works in the circuit with the program I loaded.

Good luck, Ken H>

Hi all. I've been fighting with this all day. I followed the instructions sequentially, the first time I used
avrdude -c diecimila -P ft0 -p m168 -t -B 4800
it worked. However every time after that it's produced an error. Have I somehow fried the chip? I can I recover it? My knowledge of Avrdude is minimal right now :-S

Thanks

Cynar

I literally had to check the wiring 10 times before I got it to work properly. But after that it worked well with a blank atmega168 and a stand-alone FT232.

@Cynar: what's your setup ?

I renewed web page of "burning the bootloader...".
The CUI-operation on command-prompt of Windows changed to the easy GUI-operation.

New: GUI-Operation.
http://www.geocities.jp/arduino_diecimila/bootloader/index_en.html

Old: CUI-Operation.
http://www.geocities.jp/arduino_diecimila/bootloader/index_old_en.html

Regards.

Hi

Does anybody know if is possible to use this procedure to burn the sketches in the microntroller? Because in this way we can avoid the delay of the bootloader in the final application.

Tks

This is indeed possible.

Just burn the correct .hex :slight_smile:

Kimio:

Thank you and and "Mr.Yuki who developed GUI-wrapper of avrdude.exe." for this GUI wrapper. I have a USBtinyISB programmer and was able to get this wrapper program to work fine with it.

Finally a GUI AVRDUDE interface for us command line challenged types :wink: Highly recommended.

Lefty

is it possible to burn ATtiny's? with this? i need an AVR-programmer to do so, but with this, i won't need one i think, can someone confirm this?

Thanks, Wouternet.

These projects made a way to Bitbang AVR writer on Linux and Mac.
On Linux: http://suz-avr.sblo.jp/article/27131001.html (written in Japanese) Suz is author of avrdude-serjtag.
On Mac: http://www15.atwiki.jp/arduino/pages/23.html (written in Japanese)
Please read those pages by web translator (google etc.).

Reply for #35
This method can do it. I confirmed it at ATtiny2313.

kimio

"FTDI Bitbang method" (Burn the bootloader without extarnal AVR writer) could run with the Arduino-IDE on Windows-XP.
Please try to this and check.

http://www.geocities.jp/arduino_diecimila/bootloader/bitbang_w_ide_en.html

Thank you kimio.

I did the same for Windows and Mac OS X some weeks ago. Look in the LumiNet thread to see some reactions on this idea if you wish.

Can't you just create an appropriate avrdude programmer description, and skip the wrapper business? Once it's verified to work, submit it back to the avrdude developers, get it integrated into the next release, and the whole world benefits. Plus, no arduino IDE hacking is needed.

-j

Hi bohne.
You already made this !
I want to try your method. But, I can't find it in http://www.luminet.cc.
Would you tell me detailed url?

Hi kg4wsv.
I think so too. I hope this Bitbang integrate into the arduino IDE.
But, I don't have skills of programming to make a Bitbang avrdude-writer for arduino IDE.

I will release the IDE soon, please be patient for a few days.
I did the same as you did I guess. I compiled a special version of avrdude and modified the Java files of the IDE and recompiled it.
I did this for Windows and Mac OS X, but because the Mac FTDI drivers are bad there are some limitations.

Oh great !!!!

I think so too. I hope this Bitbang integrate into the arduino IDE.
But, I don't have skills of programming to make a Bitbang avrdude-writer for arduino IDE.

I don't think I was very clear. Let me try again.

First off, a disclaimer: I could be wrong.

avrdude uses a configuration file that describes the programmer. Included are some programmers that use bit-bang serial connections (e.g. the ponyprog serial).

I think that an appropriate description of the bit-banged connections placed in avrdude.conf could allow avrdude to work directly, without the need for a wrapper program. This has added benefits, such as the ability to work with non-windows OSes, and a silution that could be submitted for inclusion in the avrdude distribution, or failing that the arduino distribution.

-j