Decent Atmel chips programmer / JTAG debugger - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: miduchp
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 07:38:51 pm
content: Dear forum members,I'm looking for decent programmer / JTAG debugger for Atmel chips. Most of my time I'm spending with atmega based arduino boards, but I'm also looking forward to learn xmega based chips. I'm currently using one of those cheap USBasp programmers, but I had couple of issues with them which includes:problems setting up fusebitsrandom problems with programming certain chips, which at the end turns out to be caused by too long usb cablelack of hardware debugging interfaceall sorts of problems on Windows 10 with the driversI found this Atmel-ICEhttp://www.atmel.com/tools/atatmel-ice.aspxprogrammer, it's a bit expensive in basic version but have all I'm looking for. Does anyone have any experience with it ? Is it worth investing money or you can recommend something else ?Thanks for your guidance in advance

author: Frost
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 07:46:14 pm
content: Quote from: miduchp on February 20, 2017, 07:38:51 pmI use it for programming / debugging with Atmel Studioand it works very well.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 09:52:56 pm
content: Atmel-ICE is a very good tool. You can get it a bit cheaper, if you opt out for PCBA version.

author: Dan Moos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 10:03:25 pm
content: I use an AVR Dragon. No complaints. Works well with Atmel Studio, if that's important to you. I've used both JTAG and debugWire for hardware debugging. Both work well, but if you can stick to chips that support JTAG, is worth it. debugWire is a pain in the but to switch back and forth from. With JTAG, this isn't an issue at all.Sent from my E6830 using Tapatalk

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 10:05:39 pm
content: Quote from: Dan Moos on February 20, 2017, 10:03:25 pmAVR Dragon is a good tool, but it has been obsoleted some time ago, so who knows how tool support will go. If you are getting a new tool, you should probably invest into something still active.

author: Dan Moos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 10:08:38 pm
content: I suppose. Mine hasn't let me down, so I can't imagine further need of support for it. They're dang cheap used too. All things being equal though, yeah, get something current.Sent from my E6830 using Tapatalk

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 10:10:50 pm
content: Quote from: Dan Moos on February 20, 2017, 10:08:38 pmI'm not talking about technical support, but rather support by Atmel Studio.STK600 is still technically supported, for example, but it was broken on a few recent releases of the AS. Dragon is a bit newer, of course, but who knows.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 04:39:40 pm
content: The Dragon also doesn't support some of the more recent parts at all, including the ATTiny parts that use TPI. I haven't tried to use it in AS6 or 7, so not sure how well it's supported. Unless you really need high voltage programming or you really want the ZIF socket capability, Atmel ICE is a better option than the Dragon these days, especially since it supports the Atmel SAM (ARM) parts.

author: krho
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 09:01:02 pm
content: One more vote for atmel-ice

author: Brutte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 09:33:32 pm
content: Quote from: miduchp on February 20, 2017, 07:38:51 pmAre you aware that arduino IDE environment does not offer any hardware debugging? Even when you buy debugger, you won't be able to debug your sketches, afaik.You could debug some AVR8s with other toolchains and IDEs but not with Arduino IDE.QuoteAVR8s are dead as a Dodo. Get some ARM Cortex eval, most come with debuggers on-board.

author: hfleming
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:45:29 pm
content: Atmel-ice and AVR studio. With avr studio 7 you can import Arduino projects too, even if it is a bit iffy.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 08:02:45 am
content: Microchip is currently having a "$50 off" sale for the "full" Atmel ICE kit (after having raised prices when they bought Atmel.)Good through the end of Feb...http://www.microchipdirect.com/ProductSearch.aspx?Keywords=ATATMEL-ICEDiscussion here:http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/microchipdirect-atmel-ice-sale-2017-feb(does the ARM chips too!)

author: MickM
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 09:43:12 pm
content: Hi;I am working on my AVR Component Tester.The docs for avrdude say that it can use a Pickit2 to program AVR's.Never done it, but:http://technostuff.blogspot.com/2014/10/using-pickit2-programmer-to-program.htmlhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/steve-m/avrdude/master/pickit2.cMick M.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 12:36:11 am
content: QuoteBeware that "programming an AVR" and "debugging an AVR" are two different things. Atmel has kept the debugging protocols proprietary, so essentially the only debuggers you can buy are from Atmel.Also, there are about 7 different programming protocols (Parallel, HV Serial, SPI, TPI, PDI, and two version of JTAG) and at least three debugging protocols (DebugWire and two varieties of JTAG), so you have to keep a relatively close eye on what you're getting...

author: Brutte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 07:26:47 pm
content: I could never understand why freaks buy those tools. Shameless rip-off.As for STK600 - very bspromising marketing indeed.