avr usb programmer

ok im looking into this product

seeedstudio.com/depot/avr-us … th=132_135

all the work ive done with micros has been on a propeller board i built myself. im looking to get into avr as a second smaller micro for tasks that arent suited for the prop.

ive been looking into your usb programmer and have some questions.

#1 it says its also a dev board for the chip. when you change the jumpers to select development mode can it then jist be set back to a prpgrammer. to be more clear when programed as a dev board does that erase the programmer code, and the chip needs to be reflasbed with its oroginal code to become a programmer again.

#2 when a dev board do you need a second usb programmer to program it or can u program it through usb?

#3 will this program an arduino without switching to uart mode? and will this progam atiny atmega16 atmega128 and atmega324 and the attiny line?

#4 what advantages does the better sk500 programmer have over this one?

Get an AVR Dragon, about $50. It debugs and programs every AVR device, in-circuit.

I dont want to sound rude but what is up with you avr people. People on avrfreak are telling me to buy a dragon and an arduino to start with.

Im not asking for an opinoin on what to buy or whats better. I know a dragon is better but I dont want to spend 50 dollars. Im intrested in this becuase its cheap and doubles as a dev board maybe. Im not looking into getting crazy with AVR I want a cheap way to get started programming atmega16, 128, and attiny, so i can build a few projects online and program some attinys to whack down into a circuit as cheap custom logic. Originally I went with msp430g chips for my needs and found I didnt like it so I want to experiment with AVR. If I end up using AVR chips alot I will purchase a dragon. Right now I just want something cheap to program the chips I ordered from digi key. I was planning on using a self built parallel cable and software, but I saw this was also a dev board and it has peaked my interest as an inexpensive way to play with avr and burn chips.

You need to programm it if you want to switch to both modes. The jumpers only disconnect:

  • RESET from ISP
  • PC2 from GND
  • VCCINT from VCC

You need a second programmer (also if you use it as arduino).

You can program a arduino with ISP and (with small modification) via uart. You can programm all avr mikrocontrollers with ISP interface.

The original stk500 is easy to use. It has sockets for all avrs and all pins are outbreaked. If you use AVR Studio you don’t need extra software.

awesome thank you so much