Simple Windows AVR programmer? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: nali
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2025, 05:22:47 pm
content: I need to find a simple programmer + software for a (non-technical) colleague to program/modify ATTINY24. Needs to be:+ Windows GUI based+ Program & verify from hex file (flash & EEPROM)+ View and/or modify EEPROM contents+ Power target (3V) would be nice but not essentialThere are a ton of really cheap USB programmers on the market but they seem to mostly rely on AVRDUDE or Arduino. I personally use an old AVR-ICSP and Atmel Studio 7, but that's way OTT just to modify a couple of memory locations.Any recommendations?

author: Buriedcode
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2025, 05:51:58 pm
content: AVRdudess is a pretty nice GUI for AVRdude and I've recommended it for a colleague who builds gear, but gets someone else to write the firmware - he jsut needs to flash a dozen or so chips every so often.https://blog.zakkemble.net/avrdudess-a-gui-for-avrdude/Whilst there are lots of settings, there are "presets" that you could set up for someone that'll fill in most of the command line arguments for you.Failing that, you can't really beat the programming interface built into AVR Studio 4 (really old) or Atmel studio 6.2 (fairly old). The former is a standalone *.exe from the directory that can be moved.As for the hardware, I bought an AVRISP STK500 clone, and modified it slightly to provide power to the target (5V only). That was just a schottky diode from the USB 5V to target. Note this hack isn't particularly nice or safe, but it was only used with a ZIF board I made, that could also accept external power - it wasn't used in-circuit. If it to power the target ISP, you may need something that can handle shorts, current limtied, and at the very least, diode protected against back feeding.https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Atmel_AVRISP_STK500_USB_ISP_Programmer/I chose the STK500 over the native USB AVR-ISP MKII because it doesn't require special drivers - I believe the above uses the CH340 USB-serial bridge, and I've never had driver problems with those (or the CP2102 based ones for that matter).

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2025, 11:29:59 pm
content: QuoteIt's pretty hard to beat avrdude, aside from its rather complex user interface.Wrap it in a GUI (avrdudess) or .bat file, and you have have your pick of programming hardware.QuoteONLY an ATtiny24 ? (ancient!)Are you looking for a socket on the programmer, or an ISP connection?(I haven't seen a programmer with a socket in a long time, although they can be easy to add.)

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2025, 11:34:03 pm
content: MPLAB X IPE softwareMPLAB Snap or PICKit 4/5 programmerhttps://www.microchip.com/en-us/tools-resources/production/mplab-integrated-programming-environmenthttps://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/pg164100https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/pg164140https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/pg164150

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2025, 12:46:24 am
content: or any modern programmer who have edit windows ...tl866 xgecu t48 t56 t76 etc ... list goes on and on on many simple programmer some offer jtag spi ... interfacing or use the socket ...

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2025, 06:47:25 am
content: I have the Xgecu T48, it's nice and fast. But just programming a 14-pin SOIC ATtiny44A, the only way to do it is with the ZIF socket. I just updated the firmware yesterday too. So I have to try fitting DuPont wires in there, all 14 of them. That's pretty annoying (I need to tape them together thats all)I was using ArdunioISP and AVRdude for a while, and iirc it couldn't program the ATtiny44A, or maybe it was an ATmega169P, so I bet there's more it can't do.It was also harder to figure out AVRDude and the USB settings, and then using Arduino as an ISP, is a clone of some other programmer, and there's a bunch more fiddling with drivers, etc.If this is for a company, I'd get a real programmer, for sure, unless the user is ok with all the extra hassle.

author: nali
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2025, 09:31:57 am
content: Thanks for the suggestions guys!Yes it's for the ancient ATTINY24 only, via ICSP. It's for checking/reflashing some old product, and in the case of EEPROM maybe changing some settings. It's pretty much a one-off requirement.I'll probably go with@oPossum's suggestion, I'd actually forgotten about Mplab's IPE as I never use it myself but it does seem to tick all the boxes. The SNAP is dirt cheap and should work apart from powering the target, but we can live with that.Cheers