Supreme Member
Yes and No. I use Atmel AVR chips in some projects that program FLASH chips like the 29C256. FLASH chips pretty much follow a standard protocol. One project using AVR & FLASH being the second version of the on the fly tuner I built.
I believe the Autoprom also is an Atmel based FLASH memory programmer.
Here is a ?simple? way of using the STK500 with the standard AT8515 chip installed.
1) read 64 bytes via the serial port from the PC and store to AVR SRAM.
2) With the AVR setup using the SRAM interface, add an 74HCT373 latch to grab the address and write to the FLASH.
3) Poll the FLASH to see that it programmed the sector correctly
4) grab another 64 bytes from the PC and continue to do that until the FLASH is completely programmed.
The serial port is easier to program on the PC than using the parallel port so I would. The STK500 has the extra serial port for this.
If you wanted to go the parallel port route then you could do with a few 74HCT245 & 74HCT244 buffers for about $10 worth of parts.
Actually, if you think about it......making this stuff in volume......the Pocket Programmer is about $30 worth of parts, the autoprom is about $60 worth of parts and the prominator is about $50 dollars worth of parts. These are all estimates and NOT real end product costs. Support, documentation, sleepless nights, etc, account for the rest of the purchase price.
You have a fair amount of code to write to use the STK500 to program FLASH chips, but yes it can be done. It depends if the cost savings are worth the time lost designing the stuff.
I believe the Autoprom also is an Atmel based FLASH memory programmer.
Here is a ?simple? way of using the STK500 with the standard AT8515 chip installed.
1) read 64 bytes via the serial port from the PC and store to AVR SRAM.
2) With the AVR setup using the SRAM interface, add an 74HCT373 latch to grab the address and write to the FLASH.
3) Poll the FLASH to see that it programmed the sector correctly
4) grab another 64 bytes from the PC and continue to do that until the FLASH is completely programmed.
The serial port is easier to program on the PC than using the parallel port so I would. The STK500 has the extra serial port for this.
If you wanted to go the parallel port route then you could do with a few 74HCT245 & 74HCT244 buffers for about $10 worth of parts.
Actually, if you think about it......making this stuff in volume......the Pocket Programmer is about $30 worth of parts, the autoprom is about $60 worth of parts and the prominator is about $50 dollars worth of parts. These are all estimates and NOT real end product costs. Support, documentation, sleepless nights, etc, account for the rest of the purchase price.
You have a fair amount of code to write to use the STK500 to program FLASH chips, but yes it can be done. It depends if the cost savings are worth the time lost designing the stuff.
Quote:
Here is a ?simple? way of using the STK500 with the standard AT8515 chip installed.
1) read 64 bytes via the serial port from the PC and store to AVR SRAM.
2) With the AVR setup using the SRAM interface, add an 74HCT373 latch to grab the address and write to the FLASH.
3) Poll the FLASH to see that it programmed the sector correctly
4) grab another 64 bytes from the PC and continue to do that until the FLASH is completely programmed.
Here is a ?simple? way of using the STK500 with the standard AT8515 chip installed.
1) read 64 bytes via the serial port from the PC and store to AVR SRAM.
2) With the AVR setup using the SRAM interface, add an 74HCT373 latch to grab the address and write to the FLASH.
3) Poll the FLASH to see that it programmed the sector correctly
4) grab another 64 bytes from the PC and continue to do that until the FLASH is completely programmed.
Yes I've read the app note about using a AT89C51 to do this, it even gives a simple schematic and source code for demo app. Unfortunately i'm not able to right my own code or design a board.
If I knew how to modify the demo board and code to use a 8515 or MEGA163 (came with STK500) i'd be good to go!
If I could afford it i'd just buy an autoprom, it's well worth the money vs headache
Supreme Member
On-the-fly tuning isn't as great as you may think it is. I can think of only a few times it really comes in handy. Most of the time I program using the a regular flash programmer on the bench.
Check out the Xtronics Romulator. It is reported to work well and is fairly priced. There are freeware flash programmer designs on the web. Try googling for 'free eprom programmer.
Check out the Xtronics Romulator. It is reported to work well and is fairly priced. There are freeware flash programmer designs on the web. Try googling for 'free eprom programmer.