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[on:]

I am using an Arduino BT as a remote motor controller, but have had a terrible time uploading to it via the BT link.  I added the much touted 100 Ohm resistor and it improved my success rate to about 1%. (1% more than I had)  After getting fed up with this I have seen many people use an external programmer to change to boot loader.  I don't need to program via Bluetooth, so I don't really need to update the boot loader.  I have all the parts to make the parallel programmer described here. [http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/ParallelProgrammer?from=Main.ParallelProgrammer][/url]

I am wondering if this is the best method.  That is, whether using this cable to upload the program directly, bypassing the boot loader will work.  Has anyone else done this successfully?  Is it as simple as running the ginstall.bat file and changing the boards.txt file?

If you think there is an easier way I would love to hear about it.  I have a Duemilanove at my disposal and am quite good with electronics.  I am OK with programming, but I am not going to write my own drivers or anything like that.  I would greatly appreciate your opinions and ideas. 

[Reply #1 on:]

Your Duemilanove can easily be turned into an ICSP (in-circuit serial programmer)...

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP

Note: Missing from that site are instructions to disable autoreset.  You must disable autoreset for Arduino ISP to work.

If I were in your shoes, I'd start with a bare processor (like an ATtiny85 or an ATmega328) and get the "Circuit (targeting an AVR on a breadboard)" working.  From that point, you should be able to easily reprogram your BT without using the bootloader.  Bear in mind that using an ISP restricts what you can do with the three ISP pins (MISO, MOSI, and CLK).

[Reply #2 on:]

Hi... I built the parallel programmer and it´s working fine. I only use it to bootload chips on a breadboard but loading sketches should be as easy.