Atmel ICE, what do you think about it - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: nour
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 07:53:13 pm
content: I will break my rulesand buy programmer\debugger (I want to do it myself but couldn't find any schematics and I am in a hurry, also I am a beginner that can mess-up stuff very easily )What do you think about it, I will use it for avr and arm (ATSAM family)does anyone have any DIY options that can save me 50+ $if someone tried it, does it have any major problems or bugs that I should know about before using it!please note that I am beginner and I am still learning, so if this one is not good options for beginners please advise, also if it is good option in the long term also please adviseanother side pointcan avr dragon program arm based microcontroller(It seems like a stupid question but I really don't know the answer, never used it before so please advice)if so, is it better to use it instead of Atmel ICE(it has HVSP!) to program avr and arm(ATSAM Family)

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 08:03:40 pm
content: I've been using it a lot since I bought it, no issues that I can think of, other than the stupid fiddly 50mil connectors (whoever thought to start using those should be shot). Using for both AVR and ARM.No, Dragon doesn't do ARM.$50 is very good for a programmer, especially one that does pretty much all of their chips, and IIRC you can get it cheaper if you don't get all the little widgets.

author: nour
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 08:16:51 pm
content: thanks a lot, you gave me some confidence to buy itQuote from: c4757p on February 26, 2016, 08:03:40 pm100% agreeQuote from: c4757p on February 26, 2016, 08:03:40 pmI used to have the USBasp to do avr flashing and I remember it cost me less than 5 $other question can I use USBasp to flash atsam family from atmel studio 7

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 08:31:52 pm
content: No. The AVR and ARM use completely unrelated systems, in general unless something is specifically advertised as doing both it can't. I don't think I've ever seen an open source design that does both.

author: nour
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 08:47:30 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on February 26, 2016, 08:31:52 pmwhich make sense why the atmel ice has two different ports, I guessanyway, do I need to buy the full kit, the board only kit(ATATMEL-ICE-PCBA) is much cheaperI think I can get away with couple of IDC connectors which will cost me less than 1$do you think I must have the extra small board (which have those extra connectors and sockets)also a side question(yet another one)if I messed up the fuses for the ARM mcu, what would be the solution, should I buy another HVPP (does atsam family has fuses to begin with)

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 08:53:29 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on February 26, 2016, 08:31:52 pmWell, you can use many generic JTAG dongles to bitbang the ISP programming protocol of least the ATMega and ATTiny AVRs. So technically there are some.On the other hand, a generic dongle is likely to be pointless, because Atmel uses proprietary debugging protocols on their chips. So you have to stick to Atmel tools for the most part.

author: Royce
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 09:05:16 pm
content: Quote from: nour on February 26, 2016, 08:47:30 pmI bought the PCBA not realizing the ports were 50mil. I thought the whole thing was bigger than it was.Anyway, I found a quick adapter design on OSHPark that made a reasonably neat job of converting from 50mil to 100.https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/vMI7jUzp

author: nour
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 09:21:18 pm
content: Quote from: Royce on February 26, 2016, 09:05:16 pmI was thinking the same thing by doing a converter board or cable that would be much cheaper

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 09:26:36 pm
content: Quote from: janoc on February 26, 2016, 08:53:29 pmOh, sure, there's often a way to bitbang on random things, I wasn't counting bitbanging hacks

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2016, 02:48:15 am
content: Quote from: c4757p on February 26, 2016, 09:26:36 pmWell, if you compare using a JTAG dongle as an ISP programmer for an ATMega with using of something like USBasp, it is not really that much of a hack anymore. The dongle has at least proper buffers so it will work even with targets that don't use 5V. Many USBasp versions can't handle that. Also many had issues with programming AVRs with more than 32kB of memory, etc.So don't underestimate some of these hacks