These AVR programmers are based on Thomas Fischl’s USBasp design and connect to your computer’s USB port. Not only are they quite compact (70x20mm), but the design is really elegant. The USB interface is achieved by using an atmega8 processor and the rest is done in firmware.
Being an Open source hardware (OSHW) project, released under the GNU General Public License, you are free to download the schematic and firmware from Thomas’s website, but then you have a chicken and egg problem. In order to load the USBASP firmware onto the atmega8 on the programmer, yes you guessed it, you need an AVR programmer. Much easier to buy one fully built and programmed.
Some of the features include:
- Allows you to read or write the microcontroller EEPROM, firmware, fuse bits and lock bits
- Support for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (will work on Windows 8.1)
- 5 KB/sec maximum write speed
- Software controlled SCK option to support targets with low clock speed (less than 1.5MHz)
- 10 pin ISP interface (conforms to standard ISP 10-pin pinout)
The latest Window Drivers are fully signed, so you can use them on Windows Vista and above without any issues. The driver will work on both 32 and 64 bit platforms. On Linux And Mac OS X no kernel driver is required, just use AVRdude and specify the correct port.
The programmer will work with a wide variety of Atmel AVR microcontrollers including the Atmega8a and Atmega168a. A full list is available on the specifications tab. The programmer will also work with a variety of software including
- AVRdude – Version 5.2 or later. AVRdude is available for many platforms.
- Khazama AVR Programmer – An AVRdude GUI for MS Windows
- BASCOM-AVR – Version 1.11.9.6 or later
- eXtreme Burner – An easy to use GUI application for MS Windows.
Supported Microcontrollers:
51 Series
AT89S51, AT89S52, AT89S53, AT89S8252 and more.
Mega Series
ATmega8 ATmega8A ATmega48 ATmega48A ATmega48P
ATmega48PA ATmega88 ATmega88A ATmega88P ATmega88PA
ATmega168 ATmega168A ATmega168P ATmega168PA ATmega328
ATmega328P ATmega103 ATmega128 ATmega128P ATmega1280
ATmega1281 ATmega16 ATmega16A ATmega161 ATmega162
ATmega163 ATmega164 ATmega164A ATmega164P ATmega164PA
ATmega169 ATmega169A ATmega169P ATmega169PA ATmega2560
ATmega2561 ATmega32 ATmega32A ATmega324 ATmega324A
ATmega324P ATmega324PA ATmega329 ATmega329A ATmega329P
ATmega329PA ATmega3290 ATmega3290A ATmega3290P ATmega64
ATmega64A ATmega640 ATmega644 ATmega644A ATmega644P
ATmega644PA ATmega649 ATmega649A ATmega649P ATmega6490
ATmega6490A ATmega6490P ATmega8515 ATmega8535
Tiny Series
ATtiny12 ATtiny13 ATtiny13A ATtiny15 ATtiny25
ATtiny26 ATtiny45 ATtiny85 ATtiny2313 ATtiny2313A
Classic Series
AT90S1200 AT90S2313 AT90S2333 AT90S2343 AT90S4414
AT90S4433 AT90S4434 AT90S8515
AT90S8535
CAN Series
AT90CAN128
PWM Series
AT90PWM2 AT90PWM3
