IDE states I need to define a programmer

[jkwilborn]

Copied the same Dragon programmer information into the new version and it just states I need to define a programmer... when I attempt to use it. The programmer is in the list.

There isn't much to do when it doesn't give you much of an error message of where to go...

I find the new ide unusable with the dragon

There's probably something in the configuration, but I've given up on it.

[ptillisch]

Hi @jkwilborn In order to gather more information that might help us to troubleshoot your problem, I'm going to ask you to post the full output from the IDE when in verbose mode.

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NOTE: These instructions will not solve the problem. They are only intended to gather more information which might provide a clue that eventually leads to a solution.

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Please do this:

1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
2. Uncheck the checkbox next to Show verbose output during: ☑ compilation
3. Check the checkbox next to Show verbose output during: ☐ upload.
4. Click the OK button.
5. Attempt whatever operation you did before when you got that error.
6. Wait for the operation to fail.
7. You will see an error notification at the bottom right corner of the Arduino IDE window. Click the COPY ERROR MESSAGES button on that notification.
8. Open a forum reply here by clicking the Reply button.
9. Click the </> icon on the post composer toolbar.
   This will add the forum's code block markup (```) to your reply to make sure the error messages are correctly formatted.
   
10. Press Ctrl+V.
    This will paste the error output from the upload into the code block.
11. Move the cursor outside of the code tags before you add any additional text to your reply.
12. Click the Reply button to post the output.

[jkwilborn]

Sorry about the delay... we were rather under the weather...

Sketch uses 356 bytes (4%) of program storage space. Maximum is 8192 bytes.
Global variables use 12 bytes (2%) of dynamic memory, leaving 500 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 512 bytes.
A programmer is required to upload

Thanks...

[ptillisch]

There are two possible causes of this error:

Doing an "Upload" operation when uploading to board that requires an ISP

Solution:

Use Sketch > Upload Using Programmer from the Arduino IDE menus to upload instead of Sketch > Upload or clicking the Upload button.

Doing an "Upload Using Programmer" operation without selecting a programmer

Solution:

Select the programmer from the Arduino IDE's Tools > Programmer menu.

[jkwilborn]

Sketch -> upload using programmer

Sketch uses 356 bytes (4%) of program storage space. Maximum is 8192 bytes.
Global variables use 12 bytes (2%) of dynamic memory, leaving 500 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 512 bytes.
Programmer 'dragon' not found

The dragon is plugged into the usb port and works via a command line 'avrdude' invocation.

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Assuming I hosed something in the programmers.txt file...

I did find

dragonisp.program.extra_params=-P{serial.port}

fixed it to

dragon_isp.program.extra_params=-P{serial.port}

I can now select the proper port for the Dragon, but it gives me the same error message when I select Sketch -> Upload via programmer.

I changed the selected programmer to the dragon_isp (from the tiny core, which I don't see in the file).

Sketch uses 356 bytes (4%) of program storage space. Maximum is 8192 bytes.
Global variables use 12 bytes (2%) of dynamic memory, leaving 500 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 512 bytes.
Programmer 'dragon_isp' not found

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programmers.txt (4.1 KB)
boards.txt (31.7 KB)
platform.txt (7.7 KB)

Thanks...

[ptillisch]

There is a bug in Arduino IDE 2.x that causes it to cache menu information from old versions of programmers.txt. This caching can result in "phantom" entries in the Tools > Programmer menu, even though there is no definition for that programmer in programmers.txt. When you then attempt an "Upload Using Programmer" operation, it fails with this type of "Programmer ___ not found" error.

I'll provide instructions you can follow to clear the IDE's menu cache:

1. If Arduino IDE is running, select File > Quit from the menus to close all IDE windows.
2. Delete the folder at the following path:

   C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\arduino-ide
   

   (where <user name> is your Windows user name)
   If looking for it with your file browser or command line, note that the folder is hidden by default. On Windows "File Explorer", you can make it visible by opening the "View" menu, then checking the box next to "☐ Hidden items".
3. Start Arduino IDE.
4. Select the appropriate board from the Tools > Board menu.
5. Select the appropriate programmer from the Tools > Programmer menu.
6. Select Sketch > Upload Using Programmer

Hopefully this time the upload will be successful.

[jkwilborn]

I am on Ubuntu, but assume ...

jack@Kilo:~$ find 2>/dev/null ~/ -name arduino-ide
/home/jack/arduino-ide_2.0.2_Linux_64bit/arduino-ide
/home/jack/.config/arduino-ide
jack@Kilo:~$ 

it's the one under .config

I will rename if and try again...

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I guess I have the Dragon in the wrong programmers.txt file... It doesn't show up under tools -> programmer...

Where does the IDE look for the programmers.txt file? I apparently have 4 of them... can any of them be removed?

jack@Kilo:~/.arduino15$ find 2>/dev/null ~/ -name programmers.txt
/home/jack/arduino-1.8.13/hardware/arduino/avr/programmers.txt
/home/jack/.arduino15/programmers.txt
/home/jack/.arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.8.6/programmers.txt
/home/jack/.arduino15/packages/ATTinyCore/hardware/avr/1.5.2/programmers.txt
jack@Kilo:~/.arduino15$

Thanks...

[ptillisch]

@jkwilborn

it's the one under .config

That is correct. I apologize for my low quality instructions. Even though we can often get away with assuming people are using Windows, since that is the operating system of the great majority of Arduino users, I try to avoid making such assumptions. I slipped up this time.

@jkwilborn

Where does the IDE look for the programmers.txt file?

Typically in the same folder as the boards.txt file that contains the definition of the board you have selected from the Tools > Board menu in the Arduino IDE. Each boards platform provides its own programmers.

A boards platform can reference resources from another platform, including programmer definitions. In this case, the programmers.txt is in the root folder of the referenced platform, which makes things a bit more complicated. However, if you are using a board from ATTinyCore you don't need to think about that because ATTinyCore does not reference other platforms, so the programmers.txt file of interest is here:

@jkwilborn

/home/jack/.arduino15/packages/ATTinyCore/hardware/avr/1.5.2/programmers.txt

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Some other notes about your search results:

@jkwilborn

/home/jack/arduino-1.8.13/hardware/arduino/avr/programmers.txt

The file at this path will only be used when you are using Arduino IDE 1.8.13

@jkwilborn

/home/jack/.arduino15/programmers.txt

The file at this path will never be used because the IDE does not recognize that as a valid location for a programmers.txt file. It might be a good idea to delete it to avoid future confusion.

@jkwilborn

/home/jack/.arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.8.6/programmers.txt

The file at this path will be used when you have selected one of the boards under the Tools > Board > Arduino AVR Boards menu.

[jkwilborn]

After removal of the arduino-ide directory, I no longer have any Dragon programmers available from the 'tools -> programmer' menu.

Even the option for the tinycore dragon is missing.

I removed the .arduino15/programmers.txt

Thanks for your patience...

[ptillisch]

@jkwilborn

I no longer have any Dragon programmers available from the 'tools -> programmer' menu.

Which board do you have selected from the Tools > Board menu when you checked this?

@jkwilborn

Even the option for the tinycore dragon is missing.

Are you referring to the "AVR Dragon ISP mode (ATTinyCore)" programmer?

[jkwilborn]

@ptillisch

Which board do you have selected from the Tools > Board menu when you checked this?

The 'ATtiny*5 Series' same as always...

@ptillisch

Are you referring to the "AVR Dragon ISP mode (ATTinyCore)" programmer?

Yes, it was also there before ...

[ptillisch]

@jkwilborn

The 'ATtiny*5 Series' same as always...

ATTinyCore does not have a board of that name.

Please do this, with that board selected from the Tools > Board menu:

1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
2. Check the box next to "Show verbose output during: ☐ compilation".
3. Click the OK button.
4. Select Sketch > Verify/Compile from the Arduino IDE menus.
5. Wait for the compilation to finish.
6. Right click on the black "Output" panel at the bottom of the Arduino IDE window.
7. From the context menu, click Copy All.
8. Open a forum reply here by clicking the Reply button.
9. Click the </> icon on the post composer toolbar.
   This will add the forum's code block markup (```) to your reply to make sure the error messages are correctly formatted.
   
   
10. Press Ctrl+V.
    This will paste the compilation output into the code block.
11. Move the cursor outside of the code tags before you add any additional text to your reply.
12. Click the Reply button to post the output.

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In case the output is longer than the forum software will allow to be added to a post, you can instead save it to a .txt file and then attach that file to a reply here:

1. Open any text editor program.
2. Paste the copied output into the text editor.
3. Save the file in .txt format.
4. Open a forum reply here by clicking the Reply button.
5. Click the "Upload" icon () on the post composer toolbar:
   
   
6. Select the .txt file you saved.
7. Click the Open button.
8. Click the Reply button to publish the post.

Alternatively, instead of using the "Upload" icon on the post composer toolbar as described in steps (5) - (7) above, you can simply drag and drop the .txt file onto the post composer field to attach it.

[jkwilborn]

Thanks...

ide-output-compile-attiny85.txt (24.7 KB)

[ptillisch]

I see. You are using the old school "attiny" boards platform by David Mellis:

GitHub - damellis/attiny: ATtiny microcontroller support for the Arduino IDE

This is one of those platforms I mentioned previously that reference resources from another platform, as you can see from this part of the verbose compilation output:

Using board 'ATtinyX5' from platform in folder: /home/jack/.arduino15/packages/attiny/hardware/avr/1.0.2
Using core 'arduino' from platform in folder: /home/jack/.arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.8.6

In this case, the referenced core platform is "Arduino AVR Boards", which is installed at this path:

/home/jack/.arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.8.6

So the active programmers.txt file in use while you have one of the boards of the "attiny" platform selected in the IDE is the one located at that location.

So you will need to do the following:

1. Open the file at the following path in a text editor:

   /home/jack/.arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.8.6/programmers.txt
   

2. Add your Dragon programmer definitions to the file.
3. Save the file.
4. Follow the instructions I provided above to clear the Arduino IDE menu cache once more:
   IDE states I need to define a programmer - #6 by ptillisch