USB ISP/ICSP programmers

Development Boards MicroMod
1

I’ve been very happy with the STK serial dongle ICSP programming device until I wanted to move to a laptop with no “real” serial port. I have the common KeySpan USB to serial adapter I use on both a Windows and SuSE 10 laptop as well as a Mac OS X machine.

But as has been established by OLIMEX, the USB->RS232 adapters hose up the timing so that the simple serial programmers will not work. I started looking for this issue after avrdude on the Mac couldn’t talk to my Olimex boards via the Keyspan.

What are the options out there for USB ICSP programmers for AVR developers? I’ve seen the open source ICSP programmer but haven’t found anyone selling off-the-shelf versions of it - would have to make the PCB, flash it, etc.

Of the commercial options, I’ve seen these:

[ISPCable III - about $30…recently featured on avrfreaks.net.

[Kanda $150 (with JTAG)

[NAVRUSB about $150

Does anyone have experience with any of these? If so, which platforms have you tried them with? Linux, Mac OS X, Windows usb only machines?

What other commercial options are out there?

Is Olimex planning to provide a USB ISP option for USB only hosts?](The MicroController and Embedded System Store)](Kanda for AVR | PIC | Standalone |Programmer | Bluetooth Serial | Handheld)](http://www.sklep.propox.com/index.php?d=produkt&id=2051)

2

Hi landon,

I’ve had a lot of problems with USB-to-serial adaptors. I finally bought an Atmel dragon and have had no problems with it. Digikey has a great deal on them, $49 for Dragon and STK500 (which includes all the cables you need). Seems like a great deal, but you have to wait a while to get it.

The Dragon has a USB interface and is a ICSP programmer, but will also do JTAG ICE and DebugWire.

D.

3

One problem with the Dragon is that it does not work with AVRs with 64kb+ flash.

The AVRISPMK2 does however, which can be found on digikey for $36 (digikey part number ATAVRISP2-ND).

Edward

4

Thanks for the advice on usb programmers. I ordered the dragon via the eval kit with stk500 but as you mentioned, it would be awhile…in fact the whole time I had it on order they could not come up with an estimated ship date. So, I finally replaced that order with the mk2 option. Anyway, I trust that will work as well. Thanks again,

Landon