Re: universal programmer


"Peter Bennett" <peterbb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0rfpq1lulaa0ncdaofapj0jc5m3agh0vo5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:21:13 -0600, "Abstract Dissonance"
> <Abstract.Dissonance.hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Since I'm trying to get into MCU it seems I will need a programmer to get
>>anywhere. From looking online it seems that any "decent" programmer is
>>pretty expensive(1k+) and those that are cheap seem to offer very few
>>features and few chip support.
>
>
> At work, I use an expensive programmer from BP Microsystems that will
> handle almost any device made (I think we paid ~C$7000 or so for it) -
> however, I've just ordered an In-System Programmer kit costing C$32
> that will program Atmel 89Snn devices while they are still installed
> in the final PC board - I figure it is easier to use that than to pull
> the chip and put it in the BP Micro programmer every time I want to
> change the program (which is quite often, during development.)
>
> If you're just beginning in this field, you should probably pick a
> processor (or processor family), and get the least expensive
> programming solution that the processor vendor offers.
>

Yeah, but for some reason I like to make things hard at the beginning ;)
The way I see it though is that any MCU has to be programmed by just turning
on and off certain pins... thats pretty simple, right? This would be a
piece of cake in software... for me, its just how much of it I can do in
software... if I can get 90% of it in software then I think its doable... if
its 50% then maybe its not worth it.

> The universal programmers like my BP Micro unit are really only
> necessary if you know you will need to program a wide variety of parts
> (sometimes with little warning!), and the device vendors don't provide
> any programming solution for them.
>

Ok. I suppose I can always just "hard wire" them so I can program it the
"long way". In my mind I have a "vision" where I just have to pop the chip
on a board and then run a piece of software on the computer and selec the
chip type(and hopefully there is a module that is used that has the
programming algorithm in it) and then load up the file I want to send....
then I can go take a piss or whatever I want and come back and I have a
programmed chip. I could be totally off base though as I don't have much
experience with the hardware side of these things... but looking at a few of
the data sheets seem to give the impression that its very simple to do.

>
> --
> Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
> peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
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Thanks,
Jon


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