Need to choose an AVR debugger... whish suggestions - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: electronlover
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 06:53:37 am
content: Hi to all.Newbie in this forum... I've some experience in the electronic field, drawing and realizing analog and digital projects, but for the first time I'm approaching the Atmel world, right now.During the last week I bought a brand new AVR STK600, so I'm just waiting for the delivery, never seen it before. I don't even know how it really works.Looking on the Atmel site for a good debugger, it seems that there are just 3 options:1. JTAGICE MKII;2. JTAGICE MKIII;3 AVRONE!...they just do the same things, seemingly, I'd be able to load and debug firmware on all the 8/32 bit Atmel processors, AFAIK. But... I do not understand the differences between them. The JtagIce MKIII seems to be the fastest of the three loading programs, but that board is the cheapest of the three... the AVRONE! is the most expensive, but seems to offer the same characteristics of the others. Is it worth all the money (some 600$)?The JI MkII seems to be the most used by the programmers, but what I'm expecting to loose, if I buy it, compared to the others? I sincerely do not understand the differences between them related to the significant price differences....and... which problems I'm expecting to face, if I go for a chinese JtagIce MkII clone like the "studio" board, offered on ebay for less than 100$ shipping included?Is it really totally compatible with the MkII?thanks for your attention.

author: bugfix
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 07:15:58 am
content: The JTAGICE 3 is the sucessor of the MKII, the latter of which is only still sold (at higher prices) because it is compatible with older versions of AVR/Atmel Studio. The AVRONE has tracing capabilities for AVR32 µCs and some other improvements, but I doubt you'd ever need it. You can get the JTAGICE3 for ~70€ if you are a student, why bother with China crap?

author: electronlover
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 11:08:33 am
content: wow! ...useful answers got in minutes!thank you very much!so... there is no match,between them. I was considering the purchase of a JtagIce MKII clone cause I thought it was better than the MKIII (but I had some suspects...) and you're confirming that there is no reason at all to choose the MKII if I start my projects using AVRStudio 6.As far as I understand... there will be no gain at all, buying an MKII instead of the MKIII, starting from the point that all its functions and characteristics of the MKIII are covered by the MKIII, taking apart the old AVRstudio compatibility....but I'm starting right now, and there is no reason to start using the old AVRStudio IDE...I've seen that Atmel, dropped the price of the AVRONE to some 200$, some time ago as you wrote, Mojo-chan.But... not in this moment, and not recently: I'm following its price since august.I'd still wait this week and then, surely, I'll go for a JtagIce MKIII.I'm not a student since many years, unfortunately. But its price is affordable for me.thank you very much guys.

author: electronlover
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 11:15:58 am
content: just another question.I'm reading the MKII characteristics compared to the JtagIce 3.They mention the fact that the MKII is equipped by 512kB SRAM (on board) for "fast statement level stepping", has it to be considered an interesting feature? does the model 3 include any amount of SRAM, for that purpose?It seems to be the only MKII feature that beats the jtagice 3, just looking at the presentation pages of the site.

author: electronlover
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 03:42:18 pm
content: thank you very much again.I'd like to develop firmware using C/C++ language, of course I'm looking for a stable loading/debugging platform.I've downloaded AVR Studio 6.1 right now, but know... nothing about the Atmel world.First of all I bought aN STK600 kit, complete of an "onboard" atmega2560 just for start, but... I'm thinking that very probably the STK600 is not needed at all, if I own a JtagIce 3.Reading on its features it seems that it is just useful as "host board" that allows the programmer to install a chip and load the binary code. Isn't it?In this case... if I connect the JtagIce 3 to it, will I be able to debug code in realtime watching the registers and the result of the I/O operations?I'm starting to think that the JtagIce 3 is capable to load and debug binary code itself, on the Atmel chips, without the usage of an STK600.In this case, I would have spent some 200$ just to buy a board that allows the mechanical installation of the chips... by the usage of specific external kits, to be bought separately!

author: wbooth.clearscene
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 09:01:58 pm
content: If you're doing development (rather than show testing), have you considered using simulators for debugging. I use simavr for which you can build up some extensive peripheral boards that connect to your virtual avr. I've used that to track down a number of bugs, with zero hardware outlay.

author: blewisjr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 11:40:06 am
content: The JTAGICE3 also called the JTAGICE MK3 is a great debugger for it's price. I have one of these but I really do not use it very much recently I have been using the AVR Dragon more modified with a ZIF socket and some extra headers. The price difference is astounding. The Dragon is $50 instead of $140 of the JTAGICE3. Both devices can Debug every AVR that Atmel makes as well as Program them. The main advantage the Dragon has over the JTAGICE3 is it can do high voltage programming. If you hose your fuses up HVP is how you fix them. The JTAGICE3 is a lot faster then the Dragon but in a way the Dragon is more flexible if you don't mind having to do some soldering to make it useable.Overall you really can not go wrong with either or get both if you can afford it as they are each very capable.

author: electronlover
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 12:18:34 pm
content: I'm just playing (from time to time) with Proteus. I do not even own it, I just have access to a workstation owned by a fried of mine who allows me to play and work with it when the workstation is free....and... I'm learning its environment. I don't even know the differences between Proteus and simavr, so... every suggestion is accepted.but in any case I will reach the moment in which I'll do some real tests, very soon.I admit to lack experience in this particular field, my previous developments where oriented toward the analogic and digital fields too, but I never used Atmel processors before. Concerning the analogic/digital fields, not involving the usage of a processor, I normally approach the drawing/simulating task by the usage of Orcad-Pspice.Of course I'm playing with Arduinos, own both arduino uno and arduino mega2560 but, of course, I'm developing a my own specific project that will not involve its bootloader.