Standalone Programming

Projects Programming
1

Hi,

I am looking at ways to program my 328's once they are deployed to allow for firmware updates and to save on the cost of adding a USB port and associated hardware.
I was looking at these FDTI cables at SparkFun:

Would this be what i am after?
I noticed that the pin outs seem to differ, some designs use the RTS and others the DTR to cause a reset on the board.
From what i can tell, certainly in hardware, these seem to have the same implementation as they both connect to the reset pin on the 328...
Is there an advantage in one over the other?

Cheers.

2

The Sparkfun one is the one I use on the simple boards that don't have the USB interface. Good idea, not only is it cheaper but it uses less power (less chips).

3

I use this one from Gravitech

Good stable hardware, have programmed lots of prominis with it.