[avrdude-dev] Re: [AVR-Chat] AVRDUDE 5.0 BETA Release

[Mike Perks]

Brian,

I sometimes like to use AVRDude as an alternative to AVRProg. However I
have found the following problems continue to exist in even the AVRDude
5.0 Beta. This is frank input that I hope will spur you to improve AVRDude.

1. I tried building my own version from source and found the makefile
schema impenetrable. I understand why some of the complexity is there
but unless you have the environment setup correctly, it doesn't work. In
the end I fudged the makefile and did build a Windows version with GCC.
I am a software engineer so I'm not a newbieat this type of thing.

2. Just like version 4.4, there is no Windows binary available. In the
end I went to Klaus Leidinger's site to download a Windows version of 4.4.

3. Klaus and others have made a number of improvements to their version
that I didn't see in 4.4 and I use his version instead as it supports
115,200 baud download. I would to see the code reconverged if possible,
or at minimum have their changes added to the 5.0 release.

4. Because I don't use AVRDude on a daily basis, I always end up
reaching for the manual to remember the names for the chip I'm using and
other parameters. I know there is some command line prompting but even
so its rare that I can get AVRDude to run like I want first time. I'm
aware of the GUI version and have tried that as well. I think what's
missing is the simplicity of AVRProg auto-discovery with the flexibility
of AVRDude.

5. It's not clear to me why I (or anyone else) would need to upgrade to
5.0 if we didn't need the two functions listed below. In fact what does
it mean that you have JTAGICE support and which ones did you test it
with? Instead of saying STK500 V2 firmware may be you should also point
to application note AVR068
(http://atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2591.pdf).

6. The AVRDude website is not helpful as it doesn't even mention the 5.0
beta. I would to see some effort applied to the website to make it
better. I didn't create sr #103514
(http://savannah.nongnu.org/support/?func=detailitem&item_id=103514) but
it pretty much sums up my feelings as well. If the website is in poor
shape and I can't even find a Windows version of 4.4, what does this say
about the authors.

Few people are going to bother testing AVRDude 5.0 if there is no
Windows version and no documentation on exactly what it does.

Mike

> Hi,
>
> We have just released version 5.0-BETA of AVRDUDE.  AVRDUDE is open
> source software for programming the flash, eeprom, fuse and lock bits
> of AVR microcontrollers.
>
> The highlights of this release include support for the STK500 Version
> 2 firmware, and JTAGICE MkII programming support.
>
> Please download and test the new beta release.  Any feedback is
> welcome and will contributing to making 5.0 release even better.
>
> The AVRDUDE project can be found here:
>
>      http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/
>
> The source code for this release can be found here:
>
>      http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/avrdude/
>
> The 5.0-BETA release is the file:
>
>      avrdude-5.0-BETA.tar.gz      14-May-2005 18:09   419k 
>
> Please report any problems or other feedback to the AVRDUDE mailing
> list:
>
>      address@hidden
>
> Cheers!
> -Brian
> --
> Brian Dean
> BDMICRO - ATmega128 Based MAVRIC Controllers
> http://www.bdmicro.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> **