AVR Pocket Programmer and Sparkfun RGB Matrix

Development Boards MicroMod
1

Hi all,

I want to do some tweaks to the RGB matrix display firmware. New to AVR’s but been using PIC’s for the 15+ years so about time I played with AVR’s. Connected display to Arduino and running example software on there so I know display is good. Unplugged Arduino’s USB but kept Arduino connected to display (to prove the ICSP programmer powering it correctly)

Brought in the AVR Pocket Programmer, installed drivers on Windows XP. Soldered 6 pin header onto the ICSP pins of the RGB display.

Switch on Programmer set to No Power. Connected 6 pin ribbon cable to RGB display (50/50 chance its the right way around as the Vcc pin on the matrix doesnt seem to tally with the Red ribbon cable wire)

Flip back to Sparkfun page for the AVR Pocket Programmer and enter the following

avrdude -c usbtiny -pm328p -U flash:w:RGB_Backpack_v5.hex

And I get the “Initialisation failed, rc = -1”

First off, is my command line valid?

Secondly, is the pinout for the RGB ICSP compatible with the Pocket AVR’s 6 pin ribbon cable?

Thanks in advance,

Mat

2

OK, so the Pocket Programmer does work…just now with the supplied cable.

If I connect up the pins manually with jumper cables as in (http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/200) then I can program!