Arduino mega 250 as FTDI Programmer

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi guys,

I have an arduino mega 2560 and i want to use it as an FTDI programmer for arduino pro mini. Is that possible?

Will this instructable works?

Thanks

2

Not as an FTDI programmer, it has no FTDI chip.
It does have an 16U2 programmed as a USB/Serial interface chip.
If you connect Reset to Gnd on the 2560, you can bring out Rx/Tx/Gnd/5V to the Promini's Rx/Tx/Gnd/Vcc pins and use the 2560's serial interface.
You will have to press Reset on the promini when the IDE shows "compiled xxx of 32xxx bytes", may take a couple of tries to get the timing right.

3

CrossRoads:
Not as an FTDI programmer, it has no FTDI chip.
It does have an 16U2 programmed as a USB/Serial interface chip.
If you connect Reset to Gnd on the 2560, you can bring out Rx/Tx/Gnd/5V to the Promini's Rx/Tx/Gnd/Vcc pins and use the 2560's serial interface.
You will have to press Reset on the promini when the IDE shows "compiled xxx of 32xxx bytes", may take a couple of tries to get the timing right.

So mega rx to mini tx and mega tx to mini rx right? For the reset, is there no software solution?

4

No; RX to RX, TX to TX. You are replacing the Mega pins with Promini pins.
DTR is not brought out to a pin that you can readily access.

If you wanted to access it, you'd need to add a wire to the left side of C7 and connect that to the promini reset.

5

CrossRoads:
No; RX to RX, TX to TX. You are replacing the Mega pins with Promini pins.
DTR is not brought out to a pin that you can readily access.
http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino-mega2560_R3-sch.pdf
If you wanted to access it, you'd need to add a wire to the left side of C7 and connect that to the promini reset.

Sorry for the late reply. What do u mean by adding a wire to the left side of c7 ? Thanks

6

Physically solder a wire to C7, and connect to Reset on the Promini.
If you look at the schematic and the board, I believe the "left side" is the DTR signal that's what you need to bring out.