How to program microcontrollers with only USB port?

Re: newbie confusion

Hi everybody,

I'm new to EDA and microcontroller stuff. I have a laptop and want to start programming microcontrollers. the problem is the laptop has only usb port. no serial no parallel.

I started looking over ebay to buy a usb programmer. I'm confused is there a difference between eprom, eeprom, flash programmer on one hand and pic, or atmel programmer on the other hand?

or is it the same ?

does anybody know or recommend a certain brand or probably have a schematic with a driver for me to do and save some money!! I like flexible, practical stuff so was looking for a universal thing.

Thanks in advance

Added after 17 minutes:

any replies, please ?

anything...

Re: newbie confusion

Try this link



There is a diagram, pcb, firmware and software for a usb programmer.

Re: newbie confusion

hi,

USB to Serial converts are readely available in the market the price is nearly 8 to 10 $
along with driver so its better to bye.

all the best

thanx and regards

Added after 1 minutes:


hi,

USB to Serial converts are readely available in the market the price is nearly 8 to 10 $
along with driver so its better to bye.

all the best

thanx and regards

Re: newbie confusion

Again you could get a serial to USB adapter but sometimes they arn't supported by the programming software (some dont use COM ports above 4). Depending on what chip you are going to program most companies offer dev kits that now adays come with a usb interface. I would recommend one of this if you can afford it because they are designed especially for the hardware.

Re: newbie confusion

you have three options
1) buy a serial programmer and a USB to Serial port convertor and use it
2) run a search "USB ICD2 Clone" and see where you end up with
3) Buy a USB programmer like ICD2 if you want to learn microchip PIC mcu
and

I'm confused is there a difference between eprom, eeprom, flash programmer on one hand and pic, or atmel programmer on the other hand

Click to expand...

you could do some research on the net as to what they stand for

newbie confusion

Thank you all for the replies,

when i first wanted to start, I thought that if i bought a usb to serial converter i wouldn't be able to use "available schematic" to make a serial programmer and use it. Thought addresses would be different and not reachable. I thought it wouldn't connect but what i'm getting here from replies that it's possible depending on the converter itself. I know about FTDI so i'm getting one of those. is that practical? i mean in terms of being able to make a different programmer for different controllers. or a universal one.

I'm not sure of which chips it will be better to use. I have a plan to quickly grasp the basics with 8 bits chips and move on to 16 and 32 bits chips. so what about 8052 based chips? or any other suggestions?

abidr,
thanks for the notice of doing search for the terms but i guess i wasn't clear. i know what the terms mean but what i was confused of is that there might be serparate eprom, eeprom chips and these are programmed with the programmer i was looking at instead of programming the actual eprom in the microcontroller chip. i'm not looking to use separate rom and thought that programmer is only for separate rom.

Added after 13 minutes:

I'll be using orcad for schematics ..etc

and i'll be using keil to develop the c code.

any other good suggestions?

can anyone direct me to a tutorial of making a good pcb. i mean physically making the pcb in fair quality. don't want to spend too much but willing to spend a reasonable amount to get good quality pcbs.

newbie confusion

JDMs will NOT work with USB2Serial converters because they write directly to UART.

Latest USB Programmers are cheaper too.

Best is to get ICD2.

newbie confusion

hi

just log on to www.sunrom.com, checkout the usb programmer, he just uses the usb to rs232 card.
thats just a reference dude. ther r lots in market

Re: newbie confusion

Hi, The 8051 or better 8751 is a good chip to start with, but the 8751 chips are slowly phasedout and five years from now they will be gone !. Better go for a more modern chip, AVR, Microchip etc... Every chip vendor has its own programmer some use J-Tag which is more universal but unfortunately microchip is not using this (would make In Circuit Debugging much more easy). You should start with a simple chip: PIC16F54 is an good example cheap, simple and basic. See if you can make an LED go on/off at 1 Hz..

newbie confusion

well , i did some programming in keil and making a LED blink at 1 hz was fine but software timing is just not accurate enough

Re: newbie confusion

Hi, What do you mean "software timing" is not good ?. I have made software that was locked to the incoming signal and did match every usec of the signal ... you have to do this in ASM though and count all the instructions etc....

Re: newbie confusion

For PCB fabrication you could check following thread a nice discussion going on:

Since You seem to be starting MCUs I would suggest usage of something like PIC Basic Pro if you intend to learn Microchip mcu and Bascom AVR if you intend to learn Atmels mcus.
Both families have their own pros and cons, depending on your flavour you could adopt to any one or both.
For schematics IMHO EAGLE or PROTEUS VSM are better choices, whereas with later one you could do simulation of you schematics and code.

newbie confusion

I want to learn MCU to be able to program ECU (engine control units) and go into automotive industry. most of these are infenion 16-bit. What I read said that these chips are 8085 based, am i right?

Re: newbie confusion

Hi

My opinion

repeat

My opinion

infinon
I think infinon is a special core of their own. Not sure.

If you focus on 8051 core, try silabs boards,they have cheep debuggers and all.

if you are to PIC..

You can approach this situation in two ways.

Either you can follow a design or circuit in this forum and build one programer yourself. You will probabily learn PCB making , electronics and gain a lot of experience by doing so . Good idea if you have time to spare .

Another fast idea

Purchase a cheep programer or ICD2. better to go for ICD2 as per present conditions. Clones of Microchip ICD2 (full speed ) are available low cost below $70. search web.(Good programers also cost almost near this cost. ( Full speed USB ICD2 you should purchase,no serial to USB ICDs).Then concentrate on PIC programming exercises.Then you can straight away start learning PIC using ICD because it is a programer and debugger. ICD2 will make your learning time half for sure.

After this for learning purpose if you are interested you can build a programer or ICD2 of your own from this circuits.

Before start doing programers it will be a good idea to have a working programer around if you want speedy results.

Time taken to learn a new technology is also a factor in the present fast changing world.

All the best

picstudent

newbie confusion

OK. From the current trend, try Renesas

newbie confusion

well, i don't mind building my own programmer actually. i spared few hours in the weekends to do this kind of stuff. Is there any programmer that i can do directly for an infenion?

newbie confusion

gwt a usb to serial convertor----it will appear as a com port in ur system....if ur software dosnt support that com port ---go to control panel...then go to system....and change the name of the com port of the serial to usb convertor to the com port ur software supports...
cheers