AVR-Chat

--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, honamos@y... wrote:

> ... What do I need to get ...

As others have said, we do need to know what you have to spend and 
what features you want.

The STK500 is probably where most people start, but if you want to 
use the high-end MCUs such as the ATmega64 and up, you'll also need 
an STK501 which pushes the price up to $160.  A better option in this 
case might be a MAVRIC from BDMICRO.

If you're prepared to limit yourself to the AVRs that have JTAG 
interfaces, I would recommend getting a JTAG interface instead of an 
ISP programmer. Non-Atmel versions, such as my AVR ICE-Cube, are 
available for only a few dollars more than the Atmel AVRISP. What you 
get if you take this direction is on-chip debugging. Personally, I 
don't think a programming environment is complete without a debugger 
(unless you're working with the very small MCUs, I suppose).

The AVR Butterfly suggestion is a good one. But again I don't know 
why you'd spend $30 for an AVRISP without debugging if you can get a 
JTAG interface for $40 and have debugging too. If you want to go 
further with the Butterfly, you could get one of my Butterfly 
Carriers which will add a power supply, DB9, reset button, a 
prototyping area and other convenience features.

If you're flexible and just want a suggestion to act on, mine is to 
get an STK500, an AVR ICE-Cube or other JTAG interface and an STK500 
adapter (I have these, but I don't know who else). This will get you 
going with on-chip debug on the ATmega16 that (probably) comes with 
the STK500 or an ATmega32 (which I also have in stock). You can move 
down from here to the smaller MCUs without JTAG because the STK500 
has built-in ISP. Moving up would require another cash outlay for an 
STK501 or MAVRIC.

Graham.
http://www.ecrostech.com