Which ICSP do I use for AVR Atmel MCU's?

[Sashvat]

Hi guys, I am making a project which needs to be quite small and I am thinking of using the Atmel 328P-PU. The project is to make a key finder for my Swiss army knife. I was seeing some tutorials on YouTube, where people say I should use Atmel's ICE to program the chips and no other method is recommended, but its way too expensive, I thought I could use a USB-ASP to program it, a more cheaper and easier method. Can you tell me which is better? The USB-ASP, or the Atmel's ICE?

I have programmed a Atmega 16 before and I used a USB-ASP, but I forgot how to do it as I switched over to a Mac. Also can you share me tutorials on how to program Atmel AVR chips? It would be grateful to share links.

Thank you.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

As you've already been told numerous times, simply use the FREE Arduino IDE, and there are endless tutorials on doing so.

 

[Sashvat]

As you've already been told numerous times, simply use the FREE Arduino IDE, and there are endless tutorials on doing so.

My question was, which should I buy, USB-ASP or the Atmel's ICE. An Arduino pro mini or Micro are too big for my project, I want to keep it small

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

My question was, which should I buy, USB-ASP or the Atmel's ICE. An Arduino pro mini or Micro are too big for my project, I want to keep it small

You don't need either, you can buy bare 328's with the Arduino bootloader already installed - or if you've got an Arduino you can use that to program the bootloader into a totally blank chip.

 

[Sashvat]

You don't need either, you can buy bare 328's with the Arduino bootloader already installed - or if you've got an Arduino you can use that to program the bootloader into a totally blank chip.

Thank you very much, I will do as you say. But also I want to try using Atmel Studio 7 (or which ever is the latest version) what do I need to use for that?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thank you very much, I will do as you say. But also I want to try using Atmel Studio 7 (or which ever is the latest version) what do I need to use for that?

No idea, I've only used it with a MicroChip XPlained board. Presumably the Studio 7 page at MicroChip would give you your options?.

 

[be80be]

http://www.technoblogy.com/show?TWD even on a mac
try it out. Arduino without the cores lets you use the AVR gcc compiler without the arduino bloat
you write your code in C
Like this

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <stdint.h>

int led = 5; // In port B

void setup() {               
 DDRB = DDRB | 1<<led;         // Define PB5 as an output
}

volatile long Counter;

void delay (long n) {          // Delay by n milliseconds
 Counter = 469 * n;
  do Counter--; while (Counter != 0);
}

// The loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
  PORTB = PORTB | 1<<led;      // Take PB5 high
  delay(1000);                 // Wait for a second
  PORTB = PORTB & ~(1<<led);   // Take PB5 low
  delay(1000);                 // Wait for a second
}

// We need main()
int main() {
  setup();
  for(;;) loop();
}

 

[wkrug]

I'm using the AVR ISP MKII programmer.
That would be supported by studio 7 an near all of the ATtiny and ATMEGA Controller.
Additional it give You the the possibility of PDI Programming ( for ATXMEGA Controller types ).

There is an DIAMEX All AVR ISP Programmer availible, but I've not tested if it works proper with Studio 7.

 

[narkeleptk]

For ICSP programming on atmega's I like tl866 (nice if your doing dips in ZIF as well). I have also used xprog, orange5, usb-asp, and a uno. All work fine for icsp programming.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

You don't need either, you can buy bare 328's with the Arduino bootloader already installed - or if you've got an Arduino you can use that to program the bootloader into a totally blank chip.

Thank you very much, I will do as you say. But also I want to try using Atmel Studio 7 (or which ever is the latest version) what do I need to use for that?

Doesn't Atmel Studio 7 recognize and use an Arduino with the Arduino-as-ISP sketch installed as a valid programmer?

There's also a relatively inexpensive Chinese programmer ($1.69 landed) based on the MIT FABtinyISP design which is recognized as a USBtinyISP.

I made a simple adapter with ZIF socket for programming a few of the Atmel 8, 14, and 20 pin chips often used by David Johnson-Davies on his Technoblogy blog. In this case, instead of installing the 2x3 male pins on the programmer, I installed a 2x3 female socket that can plug directly into the ICSP connector on an Uno or Nano board or the ICSP connectors on the adapter board...

As a bonus, the adapter can plug directly into a PICKIT2 or PICKIT3 to program almost all of the Microchip 8, 14, and 20 pin chips.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

There's also a nice Uno R3 Programming Shield with a 28-pin ZIF socket ($2.62 landed). Perfect for putting the bootloader and/or programs on a bare '328 chip...