ButtLoad 1.4a - Butterfly AVRISP Replacement by Dean Camera
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ButtLoad V1.3 is the most recent STABLE version. If you are interested in testing the currently alpha V1.4, please download that zip file instead and report all bugs to the academy thread or my email.
Link to Project: http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?module=...em_type=project
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Buttload is a replacement for an official AVRISP, but is open source and has more features. All you need to get it going is a AVRButterfly board, avaliable from our very own Smokey (www.smileymicros.com) or the current AVRFreaks T-Shirt offer. Once loaded, the system's ready to go - no hardware modifications, existing programmers or bootstrap cables to worry about! Since all the changes are in software, all you need to revert your butterfly back into its previous condition is just reload your old firmware.
Because the firmware can be loaded via the Butterfly's existing bootloader, this programmer design does not suffer from the "chicken and egg" problem of other homemade programmers.
ButtLoad is a cheap alternative to the more expensive programmers, and is faster to build. Not only that, but it offers more features than the official AVRISP - and you can always use the Butterfly as a development board afterwards!
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Features:
* AVRISP Emulation - works with AVRStudio
* Self powered - does not need to be connected to a circuit to interface with AVRStudio
* Transparent support for large flash memory AVRs (up to 256KB)
* No extra parts or modifications required for 3V programming
* Can directly program and read any Atmel dataflash
* Can store a 256kb HEX file, EEPROM, fuse and lockbytes in non-volatile memory
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The last one is what makes ButtLoad so special. Unlike other programmers, ButtLoad allows you to store a complete application into the onboard Dataflash for later retrieval. That means you can program your AVRs without the nessesity of a computer after the initial storage.
A PDF and DOC manual is included in the \Support\ directory. Please post all questions, comments and bug reports at the current Academy thread at http://tinyurl.com/cco7k.
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Known Issues:
1) The maximum speed of the USI system in SPI mode (and thus the programming speed) is 210651Hz at 7.3Mhz system clock.
2) A maximum of 10 fuse bytes and 10 lock bytes can be stored in memory at any one time (writing the same fuse overwrites the existing value). If it is attempted to write more than this maximum, the extra bytes will be ignored.
3) All HEX file that are to be stored into the internal dataflash must use continuous addresses from 0x0000. Direct programming is not affected by this issue.
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IMPORTANT: Ensure that the target AVR's voltage does not exceed 3V at any point in time. Exceeding this maximum will cause permanent damage to your Butterfly. If you wish to program 5V parts, a level converter of some sort is nessesary.
For those without the AVRGCC, or those who's WinAVR LibC versions are not up to date, a precompiled .HEX file is included. The code is released under the GPL licence for now. You will need the latest AVRLibC to compile. Enjoy!
Finally, everyone say a BIG thankyou to our very own BPar. After I damaged my own Butterfly during development, he stepped in and loaned me his time, effort, equipment and wisdom. I couldn't have finished this without his help.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
ButtLoad V1.3 is the most recent STABLE version. If you are interested in testing the currently alpha V1.4, please download that zip file instead and report all bugs to the academy thread or my email.
Link to Project: http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?module=...em_type=project
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Buttload is a replacement for an official AVRISP, but is open source and has more features. All you need to get it going is a AVRButterfly board, avaliable from our very own Smokey (www.smileymicros.com) or the current AVRFreaks T-Shirt offer. Once loaded, the system's ready to go - no hardware modifications, existing programmers or bootstrap cables to worry about! Since all the changes are in software, all you need to revert your butterfly back into its previous condition is just reload your old firmware.
Because the firmware can be loaded via the Butterfly's existing bootloader, this programmer design does not suffer from the "chicken and egg" problem of other homemade programmers.
ButtLoad is a cheap alternative to the more expensive programmers, and is faster to build. Not only that, but it offers more features than the official AVRISP - and you can always use the Butterfly as a development board afterwards!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Features:
* AVRISP Emulation - works with AVRStudio
* Self powered - does not need to be connected to a circuit to interface with AVRStudio
* Transparent support for large flash memory AVRs (up to 256KB)
* No extra parts or modifications required for 3V programming
* Can directly program and read any Atmel dataflash
* Can store a 256kb HEX file, EEPROM, fuse and lockbytes in non-volatile memory
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The last one is what makes ButtLoad so special. Unlike other programmers, ButtLoad allows you to store a complete application into the onboard Dataflash for later retrieval. That means you can program your AVRs without the nessesity of a computer after the initial storage.
A PDF and DOC manual is included in the \Support\ directory. Please post all questions, comments and bug reports at the current Academy thread at http://tinyurl.com/cco7k.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Known Issues:
1) The maximum speed of the USI system in SPI mode (and thus the programming speed) is 210651Hz at 7.3Mhz system clock.
2) A maximum of 10 fuse bytes and 10 lock bytes can be stored in memory at any one time (writing the same fuse overwrites the existing value). If it is attempted to write more than this maximum, the extra bytes will be ignored.
3) All HEX file that are to be stored into the internal dataflash must use continuous addresses from 0x0000. Direct programming is not affected by this issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT: Ensure that the target AVR's voltage does not exceed 3V at any point in time. Exceeding this maximum will cause permanent damage to your Butterfly. If you wish to program 5V parts, a level converter of some sort is nessesary.
For those without the AVRGCC, or those who's WinAVR LibC versions are not up to date, a precompiled .HEX file is included. The code is released under the GPL licence for now. You will need the latest AVRLibC to compile. Enjoy!
Finally, everyone say a BIG thankyou to our very own BPar. After I damaged my own Butterfly during development, he stepped in and loaned me his time, effort, equipment and wisdom. I couldn't have finished this without his help.