trying to compile bootloader (Arduino 1.6.x)

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

I found this one getting the bootloader source to compile from 2015 and detected it got worse in the meantime: Now, even make.exe is missing, although the installation itself ( e.g. checking 1.6.5-r2 and current 1.6.7 windows zip ) provides source code and Makefile in hardware\arduino\avr\bootloaders\optiboot

What's the recommended way to solve this?

  • go back to Arduino 1.0 ?
  • ignore Arduino and try hardcore avr-gcc and github ?
  • other ?
2

You can get make.exe from an old version of the Arduino IDE(1.0.6 or earlier I believe) from before they removed it or you can get it from WinAVR download | SourceForge.net. I think you'll also need rm.exe which can be gotten from either of those also.

There have been some changes to optiboot since the version included with the Arduino IDE. The current source is at: GitHub - Optiboot/optiboot: Small and Fast Bootloader for Arduino and other Atmel AVR chips.

3

Thanks for both links. Looks very promising.

Hopefully all that additional stuff ever pays off in flexibility vs. simplicity or any other benefits :wink:

Anyone has an idea of that json.TEMPLATE regarding

"url": "https://github.com/Optiboot/optiboot/releases/download/v%VERSION%/optiboot.zip",
"archiveFileName": "optiboot.zip",

I found optiboot/releases/download/v6.2/optiboot.zip on github, by entering the address manually, but that seems a rather internal version yet. Any experience with Board Manager integration?

I guess I play with that later, if ever :wink:

4

michael_x:
Anyone has an idea of that json.TEMPLATE regarding

"url": "https://github.com/Optiboot/optiboot/releases/download/v%VERSION%/optiboot.zip",
"archiveFileName": "optiboot.zip",

It is used in conjunction with release.sh to automate the update of the JSON file used for Boards Manager support on each release.

michael_x:
I found optiboot/releases/download/v6.2/optiboot.zip on github, by entering the address manually, but that seems a rather internal version yet.

There are several projects I know of using the up to date optiboot code but as it says 6.2 is "Not a production release." The problem is the previous release was 4.5 years ago so there has been a lot of good work done since then. There have been some changes made since v6.2, the most significant ones I've noticed are a couple of bugs fixed on the boards-1.6.txt(fuses and filenames) so that's doesn't affect the bootloader source but if you're using that file as an example you should use the latest.

michael_x:
Any experience with Board Manager integration?

If you mean installing the optiboot package using Boards Manager then yes, I've used it, the URL is https://github.com/Optiboot/optiboot/releases/download/v6.2/package_optiboot_optiboot-additional_index.json but it won't have the boards.txt bugs mentioned above fixed.

If you mean experience with adding Boards Manager support to a project then yes I have quite a bit of experience with that and would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

5

Thanks for your response.
However I just want to add a bootloader to my standalone atmega328p running on 3V with a 12MHz crystal.
Not sure yet if those 12 MHz are of any real benefit compared to 8 MHz internal vs. overclocking 16 MHz at 3.3V

I thought it would just make with a few additional lines in the Makefile and then in boards.txt :wink:
I never really observed how boards.txt evolved since 1.0 and was not aware of the latest enhanements to optiboot neither.

So, the Board Manager I ran across in the newer IDEs was nothing I thought I'd need or benefit from ("knowing" how to copy/paste/edit entries in boards.txt :wink: )

But who knows, I'll bookmark this one and eventually come back. Thanks again.