Hello everybody. I'm making my own Arduino so I want to burn the bootloader on a new Atmega168 chip, but my computer doesn't have a parallel port and I can't buy a programmer (were I live they are very expensive). I want to know if I can use the circuit of the picture below and a USB to Serial adapter to burn the bootloader.
I hope you can help me. Thanks. :)
PD: If my English is quite bad, I apologize. I'm from Argentina.
Does your computer have a "real" serial port? If not, you may have trouble getting this to work; it uses the modem conrtol signals in "bit-banged" fashion (individually switched from low to high and back again by the host-side software, which is very slow across something like a USB/Serial adaptor, and may not work at all depending on the details of that adaptor.)
What do you have for hardware now? If you have a working Arduino, you can run the Optiloader sketch on it and install a bootoader into a blank part.
https://github.com/WestfW/ See the video in this topic http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,68183.0.html Set up the blank part like a standalone circuit: 16 MHz xtal,22 pf caps,10K reset pullup resistor.
Connect +5s, GNDs, Master D13 to D13, D12 to D12, D11 to D11, D10 to slave's Reset.
Start the optiloader sketch.
My computer don't have a real Serial port or parallel port. I can't use a USB to Serial adaptor? or I have to buy a Serial PIC card or Parallel PIC card for my computer, or maybe a programmer?. I don't have any Arduino, that's why I want make one by myself. Thanks for your replies.
Sounds like you need an AVR ISP then. Provides USB to ICSP so you can download bootloader, and your sketch also. I use this one, there are others: http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=415 Connects to +5, Gnd, Reset, and SCK/MISO/MOSI pins to program the blank part.
I've not tried it with just a bare chip, has always been to a part that had a 16 MHz xtal, 22 pf caps, and 10K reset pullup resistor (i.e. a bare minimum arduino setup) and normally 0.1uF (100nF) caps from the VCC/AVCC pins to Gnd.
Hello, again. Looking on the internet and in some manuals of my PC, I realised that my motherboard have connectors to add a LPT port or a Serial port (one for each). So I will add them to burn the bootloader and program my Arduino. Which one would you recomend the LPT or the Serial Port or both? Can I program the Arduino with a USB to Serial adaptor because I want to program it with my laptop, too. Once again, thank you for the replies.
I would go with the USB AVR ISP programmer.
You can get the cheap version of USBasp here:
Wow, that is cheap! $9 less than I paid a while ago at mdfly.com, looks like the very same thing.
Hola Euromas,
Yo también estoy en Argentina. Si haces la placa por gusto, todo bien, pero podes conseguir en mercado libre arduinos 2009 o uno hechos en china, por 150 a 200 pesos y el programador AVR ISP por mas o menos el mismo precio ( es un arduino mini ). De hecho podes programar los chips que tenes, con el mismo arduino. Salvo que lo hagas por experimentacion, no vale la pena que los primeros los armes vos.
Saludos
Carlos
Muchas gracias por tu respuesta Carlos. Busque lo que dijiste y encotre un distribuidor llamado Open Hacks que tienen el Arduino Uno original a $200 aproximadamente y el envio no me sale tan caro ya que ellos estan en Rosario-Santa Fe (yo vivo en Resistencia-Chaco). Los programadores no creo que sean muy necesarios al principio yo que mi placa madre tiene conectores para agregar un puerto LPT y Serial. De todos modos todavia estoy pensando si hacerla o comprarla, porque me gusta y me divierte hacer proyectos de electronica por mi mismo y nada se compara con sensacion de satisfaccion que tienes cuando terminas y todo funciona. Una pregunta mas ¿Sabes si el Arduino serial se puede programar con un adaptador USB-Serial? (es para usarlo con mi netbook). Una vez mas agradezco tu respuesta.
Lucas.