E-blocks Atmel AVR multiprogrammer & Arduino.

[KeithSloan]

Recently I have been getting interested in RepRap's especially Mendel. see http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10089419.stm

Because they are heavily into open source they base their micro controller developments on Arduino
see http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Hardwareand an upgraded boards called "Sanguino based controller"
see http://store.makerbot.com/electronics/a ... -v1-2.html

Now I was wondering what synergy if any there would be with a Matrix Multimedia AVR multiprogrammer.

i.e. It would be great to reuse E-Blocks and Flowcode for development.
It would also be good to use the Open source tools for Arduino with a Matrix Multimedia programmer.

[Sean]

Hello,

We don't currently have access to any of the Arduino conteroller boards, but the documentation suggests that the bootloader is compatible with standard Atmel RS232 programmers, and with the STK500 and AVRDUDE programming software used by Flowcode (with a slight modification to the programmer batch file).

The 6-pin ISP header can also be used to download programs using the AVRISPmkII programmer using Flowcode default settings.

It might also be possible to make the E-Blocks hardware compatible with Arduino (using one of the devices supported by the Arduino bootloaders). An RS232 or USB232 E-Block would also be required to allow the device to be programmed via the bootloader.

Note: These are currently only suggestions and have not been tested.

[KeithSloan]

Sean Thanks for the info.

So do you think you could program a suitable AVR with the Arduinio bootloader using PPP?

And then use the standard Arduino software to user program via an RS232 E-Block and the bootloader.

Thanks Keith

[Sean]

Hello Keith,

PPP is PIC only. You would need to use and AVRISPmkII, STK500, or other AVR programmer to download the bootloader. Suitable chips can also be bought from some suppliers with the Arduino bootloader pre-loaded.

The bootloader then seems to download programs via the UART, either directly over RS232, or using USB COM port emulation (E-Blocks are available for either of these options).

We haven't looked into this yet, but all the required information appears to be freely available from the Arduino website.

[KeithSloan]

Well if anybody succeeds with any of this I would like to know.

Thanks Keith

[Sean]

I can now download Flowcode AVR programs directly to an Arduino Duemilanove board - using the Arduino bootloader.

I have attached a programmer batch file that can communicate with the bootloader and transfer programs directly over the USB link.

avrc_arduino.zip

(698 Bytes) Downloaded 493 times

This batch file should be unzipped into the Tools\MX_bats folder of the Flowcode AVR installation.

The programmer parameters in the Chip -> Compiler Options menu should be:

%a stk500v1 COM7 57600 "%f.hex" %cfg %c0 %c1 %c2 %c3

Note: The COMx number should match the COM port allocated on the host PC. COM7 on my PC

The programmer location string should point to the batch file.

Example:
C:\Program Files\Matrix Multimedia\Flowcode AVR V4\Tools\MX_bats\avrc_arduino.bat


It should be possible to program the Arduino bootloader into a chip on the EB-019 board (using an AVRISPmkII programmer), allowing Flowcode and Arduino programs to be downloaded via the UART. The main problem with this is Arduino's use of the RS232 DTR signal to trigger the chip reset - putting it temporarily into bootloader mode. This signal is not made available on either the RS232 or USB232 E-Blocks.

The bootloader code can be re-compiled with a longer bootloader wait period, making it easier to manually reset the board at an appropriate time. Or an alternative reset circuit could be developed (the reset line can be accessed on the ISP header).

One E-Block that does handle the DTR signal is the Bluetooth board (EB-024). This might allow wireless programming to be achieved if a Bluetooth COM port is available on the PC.