This is the README file for AVR-Doper.AVR-Doper is an STK500 compatible In-System Programmer (ISP) and High VoltageSerial Programmer (HVSP). It comes with a built-in USB to Serial adaptor toconnect directly to USB.========Features========* HVSP allows using RESET pin for I/O, which is especially beneficial on  8 and 14 pin devices.* Simple hardware which can be built on a single sided PCB. No special USB  chips are needed.* Compatible to Atmel's STK500 with built-in USB to Serial converter.* Adjustable ISP clock allows flashing of devices clocked at very low rate,  e.g. 32 kHz.* ISP clock can be lowered with a jumper (if the programmer software does not  support setting the ISP clock).* Second USB to Serial converter for processing debug output from the target.* HVSP connector compatible to HVProg, another STK500 compatible programmer  (see http://www.der-hammer.info/hvprog/index_en.htm).* Open Source (including firmware and schematics).* Uses USB power supply, no external supply required.* Can be used as alternative firmware on metaboard based programmer, see  http://www.obdev.at/goto?t=metaboard-prog* Can be used as alternative firmware for Thomas Fischl's USBasp hardware,  see http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/=======WARNING=======AVR-Doper can be used in two modes: (1) With a built-in USB to serialconverter and (2) with a special communication protocol based on the USB HIDstandard.The built-in USB to serial converter does not work with all PC hardware andall operating systems. We therefore STRONGLY recommend that you use AVR-Doperin HID mode. This mode uses a different communication protocol on USB andrequires special programming software. It is supported by the Open Sourcecommand line tool "avrdude" since version 5.3. Older versions can be patched,see the file Readme.txt in the subdirectory "avrdude" for more information.=========================Files in the Distribution=========================Readme.txt ........ The file you are currently reading.firmware .......... Source code of the controller firmware.firmware/usbdrv ... USB driver -- See Readme.txt in this directory for infoavrdebug .......... Source code for the optional debug-reader command line tool.                    The directory also contains a windows executable of                    avrdebug which requires libusb-win32 and a python serial                    driver for AVR-Doper's debug interface.circuit ........... Circuit diagrams in PDF and EAGLE 4 format. A free version                    of EAGLE is available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows from                    http://www.cadsoft.de/.License.txt ....... Public license (GPL2) for all contents of this project.Changelog.txt ..... Logfile documenting changes in soft-, firm- and hardware.avrdoper.inf ...... Driver description file for Windows.avrdoper-vista.inf  Driver description file for Windows Vista.avrdude ........... Directory containing instructions how to patch avrdude to                    to work with AVR-Doper's HID mode. Version 5.3 and newer                    don't need to be patched.===========================Using AVR-Doper in HID Mode===========================AVR-Doper can be run in two modes, see the warning section above. Werecommend that you use it in HID mode with "avrdude" as the programmingtool. In order to set the hardware into this mode, set jumper "USB HID".Use "avrdoper" as the hardware port for avrdude, e.g.:    avrdude -c stk500v2 -P avrdoper -p atmega8HID-Mode does not work with Atmel's AVR-Studio 4 because Atmel does notimplement our special HID-based protocol.=====================================================Using AVR-Doper with Built-In USB to Serial Converter=====================================================This mode is strongly discouraged, see the warning section above. If youstill decide to use it (e.g. because it works well with your components),remove the "USB HID" jumper from the circuit. AVR-Doper will then presentitself as an USB modem to the operating system. This modem interface usesthe same communication protocol as the original serial STK500 board describedin Atmel's application note AVR068. In this mode, AVR-Doper can be used withany software which supports the STK500 in firmware revision 2, includingAtmel's AVR-Studio 4 and the Open Source command line tool avrdude.** WINDOWS **To use AVR-Doper in this mode on Windows, you must first install drivers forits CDC-ACM class USB to Serial converter. Luckily, these drivers are part ofWindows. To activate these drivers for AVR-Doper, connect the device. Windowswill bring up a "new hardware" assistant. Proceed as follows:  + Do not connect to Windows Update to search for a driver.  + Insert a medium with the "avrdoper.inf" file or have the file available    somewhere on your computer.  + If the assistant can't find a medium with avrdoper.inf, it will ask for    a folder where this file resides. Answer this question.  + Choose "simple installation". Windows will warn you that the software,    which shall be installed, has not passed the "Windows Logo" test. This    is interesting, since the drivers are provided by Microsoft themselves.    Continue the installation in spite of the aggressive warnings.When the assistant has finished, a new COM port (it was COM5 on our computer)is available. Start AVR Studio 4 (available for Free from www.atmel.com) andtest the programmer.** Mac OS X **On Mac OS X, just connect the device. It will be recognized by the operatingsystem and be accessible as /dev/cu.usbmodem???? where "????" stands for acombination of digits and letters. Test it with avrdude 5, e.g.:    avrdude -c stk500v2 -P /dev/cu.usbmodem* -p atmega8** Linux **Just connect the device. It will be available as /dev/ttyACM0. Test withavrdude as above.=====================Building the Hardware=====================AVR-Doper's hardware should be easy to build. All components are easy toobtain, except maybe the 1 mH inductor. You can replace it with any inductorin the range 330 uH to 10 mH. Be SURE TO CHECK the 12 V at the cathode of D3before you use HVSP. If the voltage exceeds the range 11 V - 13 V, you caneither tune the voltage divider R5/R18 or change the reference constant in thefirmware (see vreg.c, constant "VREG_REF").The 3.6 V zener diodes D1 and D2 should be low power types. If you can't gethold of low power zener diodes, you may have to use 3.9 V types due to theround edge of the cut-off voltage found in low voltage zener diodes.If you don't want the HVSP feature, you can omit many of the analog components:L1, T1 - T5, D3, D4, R4, R5, R12 - R16, R18, C2, C7, the programming socketsIC3 and IC4 and the 20 pin HVSP connector.=====================Building the Firmware=====================AVR-Doper ships with a ready-made hex-file containing the firmware. Flash itwith whatever programmer you get hold of. If you don't have a programmer yet,have a look at the simple "parallel port" programming adapters available onthe internet. Please note that you must also change the fuse bytes of theATMega8. See the main Makefile (search for "fuse") for the hexadecimal fusevalues and for the options we require.If you want to compile from the sources, you need avr-gcc, the GNU compilerfor the AVR platform. On Windows, download WinAVR, an integrated developmentenvironment including avr-gcc and all associated tools(http://winavr.sourceforge.net/). For the Mac, we recommend AVR MacPackavailable from http://www.obdev.at/avrmacpack/. On other platforms you need tocompile avr-gcc and avr-libc from the sources. Please read the instructions athttp://www.nongnu.org/avr-libc/user-manual/install_tools.html for how toinstall all this stuff.Once you have avr-gcc installed, just type "make" in the "firmware" directoryto build the code.=====================Building the Software=====================AVR-Doper comes with only one software tool and even this is optional: thedebug logger "avrdebug". This tool requires libusb (on Unix) or libusb-win32(on Windows). You may have to edit the Makefile to compile it on Windows."avrdebug" takes no command line parameters. It simply searches for AVR-Doperon the USB, attaches to the device and logs all debug data received at theprogrammer's RxD line. Each line of ASCII input is prefixed with a timestamp.===============Tips and Tricks===============Firmware UpdateAVR-Doper has no ISP socket to flash AVR-Doper's own firmware. You musttherefore move the ATMega8 to an external programmer for initial firmwareflashing. This can be tedious if you work on AVR-Doper's firmware. We canhighly recommend Thomas Fischl's boot loader in this case. The new firmware issimply flashed over AVR-Doper's own USB port. Seehttp://www.fischl.de/avrusbboot/ for details.Tuning Code SizeThe AVR-Doper firmware fits easily into an ATMega8, but not together with aboot loader. If you want to use a boot loader, you must disable at least onefeature (such as e.g. the HID interface). This can be done in the header filehardware.h.External Programming SocketThe ISP interface can supply an external stand-alone programming socket withpower and processor clock. You must set jumper JP1 to connect the ISP powerto the programmer's power supply. The processor clock is available at ISPpin 3, which was otherwise used for a programming indicator LED.Debugging Target FirmwareAVR-Doper has an additional USB to Serial converter which reads serial datafrom the ISP connector's pin 10. This pin is normally ground. If you connectyour target's TxD (via a resistor to protect it from short circuit) to thispin, you can read the debug output with the "avrdebug" command line tool.The debug baud rate is 19200 bps (fixed).Setting ISP clockAVR-Doper uses a moderate ISP clock (~ 100 kHz) after power-up. You canchange the ISP clock in AVR Studio's "Board" settings or with the "-B" optionin avrdude (since version 5.1). If your programming software does not supportsetting the ISP clock, set jumper JP2 to reduce the ISP clock to ~ 7 kHz,suitable for CPU clock rates down to 32 kHz. Note that the "-B" option ofavrdude is not exactly in microseconds. For serial clocks of ~ 300 kHz / 100kHz / 50 kHz use values 1.1, 2 and 3. Higher "-B" values give a ISP clock of~ 3 microseconds * value.(c) 2006 - 2008 by OBJECTIVE DEVELOPMENT Software GmbH.http://www.obdev.at/