Friday, February 28, 2014

ATMega / ATtiny experiments - Pt2 - Bootloaders

So, last night i was able to get the aforementioned AVR112 application note code (TWI Bootloader) loaded onto my ATTiny slave.  However, for the life of me, I can't get the code onto the master (albeit a different processor then the example).   I finally gave up on that after spending all night and morning on it.

After work, I started playing with a different one "TinySafeBootloader".    This one seems pretty cool, it's able to reprogram itself, basically updating the bootloader itself!   It can also program mulitple slaves on a single programming bus, by using different passwords for each.   Again, I was able to get it going on my slave (I THINK!).  This time, I compiled the assembler file for my particular target and was able to hack up my attiny arduino files to slightly modify the programming fuses and upload the bootloader.    The difference b/w this one and the AVR note is this one works on any two-wire serial bus.   I programmed the bootloader and attempted to send it a sample program via my FTDI breakout...  Nothing..  It doesn't seem to want to connect.   I changed a few things in my arduino boards file and reloaded several times, same thing..      I really like the things it offers, but I've also seen a few people say they couldn't get it to work.  While the documentation is great as far as WHAT / HOW it does what it does, its certainly lacking the implementation details!  

I'm going to hack on it a little bit longer and hopefully see some progress, otherwise - NEEEXXXTT!     More to follow, stay tuned.

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