Sponsor AVRDUDE

[kristofmulier]

The work done for AVRDUDE is of utmost importance for millions of developers. Therefore, I think you should consider adding the GitHub sponsor option. I think it's a pretty new feature, it looks like this:

I'll be happy to make the first donation :-)

[dl8dtl]

Well, the question then is: what to do with the money?
Personally: it won't be able to buy me more time for the project.

[kristofmulier]

@dl8dtl ,
I know that donations for opensource projects typically don't make a lot of difference. Most people (and companies) just use opensource without giving any reward to the makers. However, it could be a way for those that care, to show their care.

[dl8dtl]

I do understand that part, but the question remains, what to do with the money …

[MCUdude]

what to do with the money …

I'd argue that spending donated money to buy hardware to resolve reported issues is the way to go. For instance, there are lots of unresolved Xmega-related issues that can't really be fixed until we have the hardware to test with. In #435 @mcuee has done a great job and linked related issues.

[dl8dtl]

If anyone wants to tackle those issues, I guess it's easy enough to convince Microchip to donate a devboard.

IMHO, the project lacks man power rather than money.

[mcuee]

If anyone wants to tackle those issues, I guess it's easy enough to convince Microchip to donate a devboard.

I will agree with that. Last time (around 2011) when Travis and I were working on libusb-win32 and libusbk projects, For Microchip I had good connection at the time and I got them to donate MPLAB ICD3 and some other tools to Travis. I got PICkit 2 and mnay PIC chip samples from Microchip for my help on Microchip's pk2cmd tool.

And for Atmel it was just some mailing list contact (Atmel was using libusb-win32). And both companies were very helpful. For example, Atmel provides AVR Dragon, AT90USBKey and UC3-A3 Xplained (the projects are USB centric).

Now Atmel is under Microchip and I think Microchip is pretty good in terms of supporting open source community.

IMHO, the project lacks man power rather than money.

I will tend to agree as well. That is what we are facing in libusb, libusb-win32 and libusbk as well (I am the non-developer admin of these projects). For example, libusb has quite many issues and pull requests pending the involvement of developers/reviewers, especially on Windows side.

We did collect two rounds of donation for libusb-win32/libusbk project previously in 2011 and 2014. That was to get the digital signature necessary for the kernel driver signing. Without the digital signature for libusb0.sys and libusbk.sys, you will not be able to use Zadig to install the driver necessary for libusb/avrdude/openocd/etc.

I think it is still okay to have some donation to help some developers to get the necessary tools.

[mcuee]

what to do with the money …

I'd argue that spending donated money to buy hardware to resolve reported issues is the way to go. For instance, there are lots of unresolved Xmega-related issues that can't really be fixed until we have the hardware to test with. In #435 @mcuee has done a great job and linked related issues.

I think it is still okay to have some donation to help some developers to get the necessary tools. Some tools are not provided by Microchip (eg: FTDI2232H/FTDI232H based tool) and some people may not want to get the help from Microchip.

My original intention was to use avrdude as a tool to help testing libusb/libftdi/hidapi (just like OpenOCD). But then I got more interested in avrdude as it seems the codes are easier to try to understand than libusb and OpenOCD. So I will at least try to understand the root cause of the issue and try to understand the patches (not to come out with patches).

I do not want to bother with Microchip this time so I am buying cheaper tools myself -- the more expensive will be two STK500 (programmer portion only) clones and one AVRISP MKII clone on order. I also bought the ATmega4809 Curiosity Nano board, ATmega328PB xPlained Mini board and the original Arduino Nano Every from Mouser. I am reluctant to buy the ATxmega related xPlained board (eg: A1U, A3BU and E5) as of now since they cost about US$55 each. So I choose to order a cheaper ATxmega32D4 breakout board. The other tools like Arduino clones and USBASP/USBispTiny are not that expensive to get.

[mcuee]

@dl8dtl
Other than testing (not a developer so usually I can not come out with patches, but I can mess with Linux/macOS/Windows, and also FreeBSD when needed, and I have access to quite some tools), I can help to organize the github issues a bit better (to label them and link them, including closed issues) if you give me the access. I am doing this type of work for libusb, hidapi, pyusb and libusbdotnet.

For example, I think the issues number were not that manageable one month ago -- now it is much more managable at 114.

[dl8dtl]

I can help to organize the github issues a bit better (to label them and link them, including closed issues) if you give me the access.

Offer happily accepted, thanks!

[dl8dtl]

That was to get the digital signature necessary for the kernel driver signing.

That's certainly a good point, although I don't think needed for AVRDUDE right now.

[mcuee]

That was to get the digital signature necessary for the kernel driver signing.

That's certainly a good point, although I don't think needed for AVRDUDE right now.

Indeed. The direction for non-Microchip tools should be to go with WinUSB Driver, using WinUSB Compat ID so that Windows can automatically install the WinUSB driver. Microchip tools are mostly using WinUSB now.

Ref: @mariusgreuel has written it well here. And he has provided alternative FW for USBasp, FabISP/USBtinyISP and micronucleus.

https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/wiki/The-story-on-libusb-for-Windows#recommendation-to-usb-device-vendors

If you require a generic USB driver (i.e. not a class driver, such as HID or CDC), choose WinUSB on Windows. If you choose to use the WinUSB driver, consider adding a Microsoft OS descriptor to your device firmware, so that the WinUSB driver is loaded automatically. You should not require your users to use tools such as Zadig.

BTW, for USBtinyISP, Adafruit has a signed driver package for libusb0.sys and that should still work. They mentioned that their code signing certificate has expired and not planned to renew.
Ref: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Windows_Drivers/releases

Alternative FW with WinUSB Compat ID.

• https://github.com/dioannidis/usbasp (USB Composite Device with WinUSB and HID)
• https://github.com/mariusgreuel/USBasp (WinUSB)
  https://github.com/mariusgreuel/FabISP (WinUSB)
  https://github.com/mariusgreuel/micronucleus (WinUSB)

[mcuee]

I can help to organize the github issues a bit better (to label them and link them, including closed issues) if you give me the access.

Offer happily accepted, thanks!

Thanks. I start to label the current issues and those have just been closed.

[mcuee]

Maybe we can move this to Discussion.

[MCUdude]

@mcuee please do!

[mcuee]

From here: it is probably better to get official Microchip tools from Microchip. But certain tools may not be available from Microchip. So donation may be a way to get some of the more expensive tools.

• Testing facilities Discussions #1021 (comment)

For the xmega, Microchip seems to only offer XMEGA A1U Xplained Pro with ATxmega128A1U and XMEGA-E5 XPLAINED with ATxmega32E5. Probably they are not good enough for #337 and #404. I am not so sure if tey have some in-house boards with ATxmega256A3U or similar (for #337 and #404) and ATxmega128A4U or similar (for #289). Probably we have to buy from places like AliExpress.

Reference: ATxmega256A3U development board, roughly US$56 + Shipment + tax.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166867043.html

BTW, the same shop also has the cheaper ATxmega32A4 breakout board.
https://wildchip.aliexpress.com/store/group/ATXMEGA-mini-Board/5881453_517582356.html

[mcuee]

@dl8dtl

If anyone wants to tackle those issues, I guess it's easy enough to convince Microchip to donate a devboard.

Just wondering if you have good contacts within Microchip. It will be great to get some official tools from Microchip, for @MCUdude and I, and probably @stefanrueger as well if he wants.

Same as @MCUdude, I am not interested in money and I can spend small money on the tools as well. But it is good to have hardware tools for testing.

From @MCUdude
#1143

I don't own an Xplained Pro board, so I can't test this.
Ideally, I'd like to get an ATmega324PB Xplained Pro and an Xmega A1U Xplained Pro for testing, but I can't really justify spending the money.
In #1003 we discussed how one can support the Avrdude project. Personally, I'm not interested in money, but hardware for testing is always helpful.

[mcuee]

@MCUdude and I have documented the tools and boards we have, I think two of us already cover majority of the HW supported by avrdude, but there are still some gaps.

• Testing facilities Discussions #1021 (reply in thread)

[mcuee]

@MCUdude
I contacted local Microchip and managed to borrow the PICkit 4 and ATtiny817 Xplained Pro from them. Unfortunately they do not have ATmega324PB Xplained Pro and the XmegaA1U Xplained Pro board.

[mcuee]

From:

• Support for serial port "touch" functionality using libserialport #1507 (comment)

Hi @mcuee

I think we got the testing devices well covered among @MCUdude, @dl8dtl and me. You can refer to the following discussion. I have most of the lower cost tools (either from Taobao/AliExpress or from Mouser Singapore) but lack those higher end tools from Microchip.

Which higher-end tools from Microchip would you like to add to your collection? I'll see what I can afford financially and send it to you.

BTW, I am located in Singapore (the little red dot in SouthEast Asia), so there will be international shipment cost involved.

That shouldn't be a problem. I have a friend in China who works in an electronics distribution company. Maybe he can send some material to you (and I pay the bill). Or I order it from Mouser Singapore and get it sent directly to you.

Kind regards, Kristof

Thanks. I do not need those higher end Microchip tools as @MCUdude and @dl8dtl cover them well. I do not plan to get the tools like "Microchip AVR JTAGICE MKII (obsolete), JTAG ICE 3 (obsolete), Atmel-ICE, Power Debugger".

But if there are something to be desired from my side, it would be something like those from @MCUdude's Tindie Store. They are well-designed yet not readily available from other places.
https://www.tindie.com/stores/mcudude/

1. microUPDI programmer: US$14.00
2. DIP-40 Arduino compatible development board: US$45
3. SerialUPDI programmer: US$22.00
4. ATtiny Arduino compatible development board: US$25.00

[kristofmulier]

Hi @MCUdude and @mcuee ,

[@mcuee] I think @MCUdude needs are more immediate needs and more important than my requests (which are just nice to have). Please go ahead and help him instead. Thanks.

Okay, will do 👍

[@MCUdude] If you, or anyone else want to donate anything, here's a list of things I with I had [...]

Great. I found the following products on Farnell:

• Arduino Leonardo -> Farnell ordercode: 2133071
• Arduino Micro -> Farnell ordercode: 2285194

And the following one on Microchip Direct:

• PICkit5 -> https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/PG164150

I can't find the following product on Microchip Direct:

• AVR-EB chips

Can you share a purchase link for the AVR-EB chips? Please also verify if the purchase links I found for the Arduino boards and the PICkit5 correspond to what you had in mind. You can then send me your address via mail:

kristof@embeetle.com

It's my pleasure to help the AVRDUDE community this way!

Kind regards,
Kristof

PS: The contributions I can afford right now are rather small, because I pay this out of my own pocket. However, once our startup Embeetle IDE takes off we will certainly contribute more to the two projects that are very important to us - OpenOCD and AVRDUDE.

[mcuee]

AVR EA chip should be available from Microchip Direct. Example is the AVR16EA28-I/SP and AVR16EA28-I/SS.
https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/AVR16EA28

Edit: my mistake -- this is not for AVR EB chip.

[mcuee]

There is also a demo board: AVR64EA48 CURIOSITY NANO EVALUATION KIT at US$24.02
https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/EV66E56A

Edit: my mistake -- this is not for AVR EB chip.

[MCUdude]

@mcuee I already have an AVR-EA board. However, AVR-EB chips are available here:
https://www.microchipdirect.com/product/search/all/AVR16EB

[mcuee]

Sorry my mistake.

[mcuee]

@MCUdude

The following offer is from @kristofmulier.

Hi @stefanrueger , @MCUdude and @mcuee , Thank you very much for all your efforts to fix this issue. If any of you are not having the necessary boards to test, I'm willing to make an order at Farnell, Digikey or Mouser and have it sent over to your address.

Since I'm not familiar with the AVRDUDE source code, I figured that I can contribute something in this way.

Kind regards, Kristof

[mcuee]

I have updated my testing tools here. I got some tools from Microchip/Atmel last time for my involvement in other open source projects like libusb, libusb-win32 and pk2cmd. One old jtag2key is courtesy of Amontec many years ago for my involvement in OpenOCD. Then I got two tools on loan from Microchip Singapore in 2023.

• Testing facilities Discussions #1021 (comment)

@SpenceKonde is also very kind and sent me the following at the end of 2022.

Nice serialupdi adapter with pogo pins and pin headers
AVR64DD32 board
AVR32DD14 breakout board
ATTiny3227 breakout board