Using an ATMega32

[sparkynz74]

I'm having a go at making my own board with an ATMega32.

In order to use one of these with the Arduino IDE, what do I need to load onto the ATMega32 first? I presume I need to load a bootloader of some sort using ISP (with USBasp programmer). Is this where Mightycore comes in?

I'm getting quite overwhelmed with some of the information online so I'm hoping somebody can offer me to baby steps to get started.

In addition to the ATMega32, I have a similar board which I created for the ATMega2560 but I thought it would be easier to start with the ATMega32 first - ie - less pins and solder joints to go wrong.

[jremington]

If you have an ISP programmer, you don't need a bootloader.

You will need to find, install and select an appropriate board file. Mightycore is one possibility.

[sparkynz74]

If I want to download sketches via USB, I'll need a bootloader though, yeah?

I was thinking that I only need the ISP programmer for installing a bootloader and the bootloader will use the RX/TX ports to load sketches and provide serial monitoring back to the IDE?

[jremington]

The Arduino IDE offers more than one option to upload sketches. One of those is to use one of many selectable ISP programmers.

My all time favorite ISP programmer.

[sparkynz74]

I'm a sucker for punishment - I've included a CH340G on my board so I'm hoping I'll be able to load sketches that way Maybe a good idea to use the ISP programmer first.

I'm still waiting for my PCBs to arrive so just doing a bit of research in the meantime filling in knowledge gaps .. or things I should have learned before I designed the PCBs

[jremington]

The PCB design is the very last step in a project like this.

[westfw]

Install the MightyCore board package, and use it's "Burn Bootloader" command after selecting appropriate options.