Updated XPLAIN Firmware!
I’m totally excited to hear that Atmel actually wants to “refer” to my XPLAIN programmer firmware (that is, my AVRISP-MKII project which just to happens to work great as an XPLAIN PDI programmer). What “refer” means isn’t totally clear to me — either they’re scrapping their own effort and just want to link to my code, or they want to purchase a license to use it without attribution. Yeah right, in my dreams. Not to worry, at least I’m getting an AVR-ONE! from Atmel for my efforts.
On the XPLAIN front, I have some good news; no longer do you have to wrestle with two different sets of firmware for programming and USART debugging! Today I merged the two into one, updating my LUFA XPLAINBridge project (in the current SVN, not the current release package) so that it will act as either a PDI programmer or a USB-to-USART bridge, depending on a jumper placed across the TPI pin of the JTAG port on startup. Those wanting to see how it works (basically I just pull in the AVRISP-MKII project files and run them when the jumper is set) can grab the latest code from the SVN repository, or those who are impatient can just download the precompiled .HEX (AVRFreaks login required) for the XPLAIN board.
As mentioned above, on startup, the new code will sample the TDI pin (pin 9) of the “USB AVR JTAG” port on the XPLAIN. If this pin is left unconnected to anything the device will enumerate as a USB-to-Serial bridge for the XMEGA. When grounded to pin 10 of the JTAG port the board will enumerate as an AVRISP MKII for PDI programming of the XMEGA through AVRStudio.
Finally, another BIG THANK YOU to those kind souls who have donated to support my LUFA and other work. Words fail me – I am very touched by your generosity. Open Source!
Hello Dean 🙂
With TPI, will we be able to debug using Eclipse? How is the support for Free Software tools?
Casainho,
TPI will only allow for programming of the new 6-pin TINY AVR microcontrollers – it hasn’t got anything to do with the host PC at all. I think avrdude will support TPI protocol soon, and it already supports (with a patch) PDI programming of the XMEGA microcontrollers.
– Dean
Hi,
I checked the source out to compile a ‘brand’ new hex.
I find the either there is a file or 2 missing in the repo or the AVRISP-MKII need some files renamed …
I get complaints about AVRISPDescriptor.c (.h) both are not found.
I did manage to get a little piece of the way by renaming the AVRISP files, but since the compiler then complaints about “AVRISP_GetDescriptor” I feel it may be to messy to start patching 🙂
Regards
Evats
I am so much looking forward to testing/using the EXPLAINBridge it’s just the right thing for this board.
Evats,
What a coincidence! I was just cleaning up the project directory for the new “Webserver” project and noticed the builds failing. I’ve fixed the missing files – you should be able to do a “svn update” and recompile the code just fine.
Cheers!
– Dean
Great 🙂 that sure helped alot.
I get all 3 signatures on the USB:
Xplain Bridge (Comport after driver is loaded), AVRISP MKII and AT90USB128.
So it seems everything is ok.. I just can’t connect to AVR studio :/ Well – I’ll play on (btw. it’s a brand new Xplain board).
thanks
Evats
Evats,
Some silly questions: are you sure you are selecting the AVRISP-MKII entry and NOT the regular AVRISP entry in AVRStudio? Are you using the absolute latest AVRStudio version (4.18 SP1)? Are you trying to connect when you have the jumper inserted?
If all the above are yes, try loading the AVRISP-MKII project onto the board from the LUFA SVN instead (don’t forget to change the BOARD value in the makefile to XPLAIN before recompiling) to see if it is a problem with the bridge code, or a problem with your system.
Cheers!
– Dean