AVRISP mkII

I got an Atmel AVRISP mkII programmer to simplify any bootloader development I might want to do.

So far, I have only gone in reverse in the bootloader development area, putting back the original bootloader because my Custom Bootloader didn't really work all that well, but that experience did require me to discover various things that are important:

My linux system needed these udev rules added to allow avrdude access to the programmer once it is plugged in:

/etc/udev/rules.d/60-avrisp.rules

SUBSYSTEM!="usb_device", ACTION!="add", GOTO="avrisp_end"

# Atmel Corp. JTAG ICE mkII
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2103", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"
# Atmel Corp. AVRISP mkII
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2104", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"
# Atmel Corp. Dragon
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2107", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"

LABEL="avrisp_end"

The user you are running as also has to be a member of the dialout group (which is true for a lot of other things as well, so you may already have added the group to your user).

Having got that sorted, I discovered (to my surprise) that I not only need to hook up the ICSP pins, but I also need to provide power to the board for the programming to work (I figured since the AVRISP connector has a VCC pin that it would provide power, but apparently not).

Since my Arduino UNO R3 board is all tied up with the bluetooth shield, direct access to the ICSP pins would require taking everything apart. Fortunately this wonderful forum posting provided the information I needed to hookup jumpers through the bluetooth shield headers to get to all the ISCP lines. I didn't have to take it all apart, I just had to pop the VCC wire out of the header temporarily so I could hook it up to the AVRISP.

Trivia: The Atmel folks certainly believe in packaging. The thing arrived in a box inside another box big enough to hold something like a DVD player, wrapped in a thousand layers of bubble wrap between foam inserts. All for a gadget that easily fits in the palm of my hand :-). At least you get your money's worth for the pretty expensive DHL express shipping.