AVR-Chat

--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Jay Dagenais" <jaydag71@...> wrote:

>  Among some of the articles I have been reading on the subject, I
came across something stating that the dongles each have a pin which
is used to recognise the device targeted, and that the stk300 dongle
will not recognise the tinyavr devices because of different placement
of this pin on the dongles(models). Is this true and my STK300 dongle 

***I don't know where you may have read this bunch of mis-information.
The usual dongle has 6 or 10 pins and are defined in the Atmel
application notes.  Each AVR micro has some identifier bytes which can
be read to recognize the chip.

***You seem to be floundering around in your no-cost effort to get a
ATtiny45 programmed.  There is no indication where you are located on
this planet or whether you can get some one on one help from someone
nearby.  Also in your cross-posting between this list and avr-freaks
forums I've noticed several things: (1) usual response is to tell you
to go out and buy the $30 AVRISP or similar, neglecting your no-cash
situation; (2) there has been several responses and suggestions you've
neither acknowledged nor thanked for, including one about using Bascom
AVR trial (free) version to trick your STK300; (3) you seem very vague
on exactly what "dongles" you have built and tried with what program.

***Have you tried the Bascom AVR with your STK300?  Did it work?  What
results if not?  Either way, thank the guy who told you this and
follow up on it in the forum post with your results.

***See if you can find someone nearby who might lend a hand at
checking out your STK300 and might be willing to program the 45 for
you at least once or mentor you with getting a programmer working.

***Although I've not used AVRdude yet, version 5 says it supports the
tiny45 *and* "Supports a wide range of programming hardware, from
cheap ISP plugs that connect the AVR's ISP interface directly to a
computer's parallel port (no additional circuitry) or serial port
(some additional circuitry needed), more advanced ISP adapters..."
That appears to be a great path for you to try.  If you've already
tried AVRdude and it didn't work, then figure out "why"...

***This reply is not a good example (long!), but you might try
narrowing the scope of your questions you post to the freaks forum or
this discussion list.  Take it one step at a time.

***Hint: once you are able to program the tiny45 chip, for future
programming of it, it is possible to use a "bootloader" program of 128
bytes or less and only one pin of the 45, along with a serial PC port
dongle consisting of only 3 resistors and a zener diode to program it
in the future -- look for something like "tiny bootloader" in the
freaks project collection.  (I'm doing that right now with a tiny45)

***Good luck!

Don