AVR Programmer

The final item on the list is a programmer, to upload the code to the uC. You will need this no
matter what language you use. A convenient, fully documented programmer wasn't availale, so we
wrote one ourselves. !ere you have the diagram for a little oard containing "ust a a #ip$soc%et for
the uC, a crystal and very few other parts, as used y our programmer&
'ote that the parallel ports of modern PC's usually provide a rather modest voltage, around (.)V.
*uite enough for low voltage AVR uC's, ut some devices really do re+uire more, an e,ample eing the
AT-ega./..
0ut the software is "ust as suitale for 1in circuit' programming. 2n that case, the target oard
must allow free access to -342, -243, 4C5 and Reset. 4C5 should e terminated on the target oard
using a 66pf capacitor and a .77 ohms resistor, unless your cale includes the 1dongle' mentioned
elow. Power$on reset can e improved using a .75 resistor and a .77' 8.77 nano$farad9 capacitor.
The latter comination allows sp.6 sufficient access to Reset&
.
:hen using the sp.6 1stand alone' programming hardware and a plain cale, the .75;.77' time constant
on reset isn't re+uired. The uC does its own start$up delay when Vcc goes high, and that wor%s fine
if it is powered y the parallel port. 0ut 2've noticed that reset does fail occasionally if power
doesn't switch on cleanly $ li%e when an adapter is plugged in to feed a target oard. The time
constant on the reset pin solves that, and also guards against spurious resets 8which occurred when
2 used the .677 in a charging ciruit, where relatively high currents were switched9.
0rown$out reset
<epending on your application, you may need a rather more elaorate rown$out reset circuit. 2'm
happy with this one&
6
5en's 1dongle'
A short cale connects the oard to the Centronics parallel port of a PC. 2n most cases a plain
cale will do well enough, ut 5en !untington has designed a nice 1dongle' to improve the signal
+uality and ma%e the programming lines high$= e,cept when sp.6 is active. The dongle can e part of
the cale, and is perfectly transparent to the software. 2t has no power re+uirements, as it
receives its Vcc from the port 8and passes it on to a low power target oard if re+uired9. The 4c%
termination 8.77 ohm in series with 66P9 ecomes superfluous when using it, ut the reset circuit
should at least consist of a .75 resistor etween Vcc and the uC's reset pin. !ere is the schematic&
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A2 Prog for Atmel AVR uC 8PonyProg 67779
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