User`s guide

5.d. Programming in Linux or Windows using AVRDUDE

AVRDUDE [http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/] is a free program for Windows and Linux that allows

you to program your Orangutan SVP’s on-board ATmega324PA or ATmega1284P microcontroller. You can

compile an Intel Hex (.hex) file using avr-gcc, and then program the hex file on to your Orangutan SVP using

AVRDUDE. AVRDUDE accomplishes this by sending serial commands to the Orangutan SVP’s built-in AVR

ISP programmer.

Linux users can get AVRDUDE by installing the avrdude package. You will also need to install these packages:

• gcc-avr: the GNU C compiler, ported to the AVR architecture

• avr-libc: a library giving access to special functions of the AVR

• binutils-avr: tools for converting object code into hex files

These packages can be downloaded from their respective websites. Under Ubuntu Linux, these packages are

provided in the “Universe” repository and can be installed with apt-get.

Windows users can get AVRDUDE as part of the WinAVR [http://winavr.sourceforge.net/] package (which also

includes avr-gcc and other utilities you will need for programming AVRs). Note that most Windows users do not

use AVRDUDE because AVR Studio has its own built-in AVR ISP programming software which can be more

convenient.

AVRDUDE does not yet support the ATmega324PA. If you have an SVP-324, you should use the -p m324p

option to specify the ATmega324P and the -F to override the device signature check.

AVRDUDE has incorrect chip erase delay settings for the ATmega324P and ATmega1284P. This means that

when you try to erase the flash on your AVR (which is the first step whenever you are loading a new program), the

erase operation will take longer than AVRDUDE expects and AVRDUDE will interpret this as an error. This error

causes problems in the latest version of AVRDUDE (version 5.10 which is included with WinAVR-20100110)

because that version will not attempt to program flash if the erase step has failed.

There are three alternative workarounds to this problem:

Option 1 (recommended): In the AVRDUDE configuration file, avrdude.conf, change the chip erase delay for

the m1284p and m324p both to 55000. The file is located in C:\WinAVR-20100110\bin\ in Windows or /etc/ in

Linux.

Option 2: Use AVRDUDE version 5.6 (which is included in WinAVR-20090313). This version works fine for

the ATmega324p and ATmega1284p despite the incorrect chip erase delay in avrdude.conf, because it was

programmed to continue with the flash programming even if the chip erase operation timed out. (AVRDUDE

versions 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9 might work also but we have not tested them.)

Option 3: Whenever you want to program flash with AVRDUDE, first issue a command with the -e option to

erase the chip, and then issue a command to program the flash which uses the -D option so AVRDUDE does not

try to erase the chip again. The first command will time out and print an error message but nevertheless succeed

in erasing the chip.

We have several example projects that will let you get started compiling programs using avr-gcc and load them

on to the SVP using AVRDUDE. As a first step, we recommend you try to program your Orangutan with a simple

program that blinks the red user LED on pin PD1. Download the file below that corresponds to your particular

Orangutan SVP model:

5. Getting Started Page 22 of 41