ATtiny Programming

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

What is the best (cheapest, compact, etc.) way to program ATtinys? I know I can use my Arduino, but that is sort of big and bulky. Any smaller and cheaper ideas?

Thanks!
baum

2

I'm just starting to play around with a couple. I picked up one of Adafruit's USBtinyISPs and I'm using it with winAVR.

3

And SparkFun sells a USBtiny clone: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9825

Lefty

4

But can I use any of these with the Arduino tiny cores (and the arduino software):
http://code.google.com/p/arduino-tiny/
?

I also have a mac, so people @ sparkfun have had trouble with their clone.

Thanks!
baum

5

baum:
But can I use any of these with the Arduino tiny cores (and the arduino software):
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
?

I also have a mac, so people @ sparkfun have had trouble with their clone.

Thanks!
baum

Most hardware AVR programmers (all?) are not standalone devices, they rely on software running on a PC to actually perform the complete programming task. The USBtiny is supported by the popular AVRDUDE software and AVRDUDE does include support for all those AVRtiny chips. However the Arduino IDE does not directly support any AVRtiny chips as distributed. So using a USBtiny programmer, which the Arduino IDE does support via using AVRDUDE internally, does not get you support for AVRtiny chips unless add the needed support files and changes to the IDE to support those type of chips. Some have shown it can be done, but the IDE does not come with that support as standard distribution. One can either use AVRDUDE directly in command line mode on their PC, or modify the arduino IDE to support those AVR chip types.

That make sense?

Lefty

6

I think I got it:

The tinyISP is sort of a translator between USB and SPI. Avrdude sends all of the commands, and the Arduino IDE can't.

I was thinking about getting something like this:

http://www.ladyada.net/products/usbboarduino/

or making my own version, and putting the ArduinoISP firmware on it. Then I could just program as shown here. That should work, right?

7

baum:
I think I got it:

The tinyISP is sort of a translator between USB and SPI. Avrdude sends all of the commands, and the Arduino IDE can't.

I was thinking about getting something like this:

USB Boarduino product documentation page

or making my own version, and putting the ArduinoISP firmware on it. Then I could just program as shown here. That should work, right?

That looks like it would work. However if you modify the ide with those instructions it will also work with the USBtiny programmer which I think is a little less fussy then running ArduinoISP on a arduino board as the programmer. At least that's my impression I get from all the posting needing help using arduinoISP sketch.
I haven't used arduinoISP sense I had my USBtiny programmer well before ArduinoISP was released.

Lefty

8

However if you modify the ide with those instructions

What instructions? The ones from HLT?

9

baum:

However if you modify the ide with those instructions

What instructions? The ones from HLT?

http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ArduinoATtiny4585

Those instruction have the files needed to allow the IDE to support AVRtiny chips. That has nothing to do with which programmer you use, as long as the arduino IDE supports the programmer being used, arduinoISP or USBtiny, or whatever other programmers the IDE show in it's pull down menu when using it to burn bootloaders.

Lefty

10

OK. But I could also use coding badly's cores too, right?:

http://code.google.com/p/arduino-tiny/

11

Correct, plus Coding Badly is around to help if you run into problems.

Lefty

12

I try to be. :smiley:

13

If I use an ATmega, I'll obviously need an FTDI friend for USB2Serial.

Is it possible, though, to write a software USB2Serial? Has it been done? Is it easy?

baum

14

BTW Coding Badly how did you find this thread talking about you so fast (1 hour). DId you just search for your name?

15

Is it possible, though, to write a software USB2Serial? Has it been done? Is it easy?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you want to go directly from an ATmega processor to USB?

BTW Coding Badly how did you find this thread talking about you so fast (1 hour).

Just strange luck.

DId you just search for your name?

I've only done that when I wanted to find an old post.

16

If you look at the USBtinyISP, you can see that the USB D+ and D- lines are wired right into a digital pin of thee ATtiny2313, so there is obviously a software USB2Serial converter on the chip. Do you know of any good explanations of the USB protocol that would be helpful in bit-banging USB transfers?

Thanks!
baum

17

I don't know of any explanations.

I've found Lady Ada to be very generous with information. I suggest starting with her website...
http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/index.html

18

I've looked at that. But I'm more interested in an explanation of the USb protocol so I could at least try to understand it. But maybe I will get her kit... It should work with your cores, right?

19

I found this:

http://www.tech-pro.net/intro_usb.html

This may help for me to understand how the thing works... sort of hard to figure out the firmware.

Thanks!
baum

20

Comparison of several USB implementations (including the V-USB software-only version from the comparison-provider)
http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/benefits.html