Hey! I created my own standalone arduino board, but I'm having problems uploading the code using this device (SparkFun USB to Serial Breakout - FT232RL - BOB-12731 - SparkFun Electronics). I was following this website's diagram on wiring the serial connector to arduino (http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Tutorials/ArduinoBreadboard). Can anyone please help?
PS. I'm using this version of AVR (ATmega168 with Arduino Bootloader - DEV-08846 - SparkFun Electronics)
THX
I guess you are missing the auto-reset wire... from the FTDI chip, DTR output, add a 0.1uF ceramic capacitor to reset pin 1 on the ATmega168.
questions
do I connect the .01uf capacitor to vin or gnd of the power supply?
Also, I tried connecting a servo the standalone board, but it didn't work. I tested my old arduino board and it worked fine. Could it be my power supply? Do I need to replace the 10uf and 100uf capacitors in my power supply with something much powerful? Here's the schematics.
Beginning Embedded Electronics - 1 - SparkFun Electronics
do I connect the .01uf capacitor to vin or gnd of the power supply?
No it's a 0.1uF capacitor and goes from the reset to the RTS line of the serial port. That way when it connects it resets. Otherwise you have to press the reset just after you send the upload command.
No it's a 0.1uF capacitor and goes from the reset to the RTS line of the serial port. That way when it connects it resets. Otherwise you have to press the reset just after you send the upload command.
Grumpy_Mike, you mean DTR, right?
you mean DTR, right?
Well to tell the truth I just use both the DTR and the RTS (two capacitors) because the schematics showed them as resistors to the reset lines and I knew that at least one had to be a capacitor.
I've been curious of that also, that is does the Arduino IDE generate pulses on both the DTR and RTS lines when it wishes to reset the target board?
I have a RS-232 Aduino clone that uses a MAX232 level converter/inverter and it only wires up the DTR and of course the auto reset works fine. Been to lazy to change the wiring to just the RTS line to see for myself. 
Lefty
Both the RTS and DTR lines are asserted by the IDE to cause a reset. The DTR line is asserted (pulled low by the FT232) when opening the terminal by any application (unless you take great pains not to).
I honestly can't remember how or why RTS is set, but it is. I recall some trickery with Windows to set RTS on close.
The FTDI cables that are ever-present only provide the RTS line.
I use RTS and connect it to reset pin (pin 1 of ATmega168) via 0.1 uf capasitor.
