AVR Freaks

Brilliant, Cliff! If I get the time I will test this in the evening. I have a SAMD20 board and the STK600 with the 2560 in the top drawer ATM - so this should (at least in theory) be a simple test.

And sorry, but no tests with the EDBG on the SAMD20 board this evening. I had the things out and realized that I needed that tiny flat cable w those tiny connectors. Dug deeper, and got the JTAGICE3 out, and its cables where the thing needed. Right about then I needed some food, and had a micro/TV meal.

Us Swedes are in the extremely pleasant situation that the third season of "Sherlock" is soon to be aired, and we are currently getting seasons 1 & 2 retransmits to up the interest (as if that would be necessary!).

Anyway, the "Irene Adler" episode came on, and I was stuck.

Bloody brilliant. Them Brits sure can make really good TV series. And this episode it marvelous! Intellectual challenges, drama, passion, really intelligent humor, spectator left in doubt, not everything being black or white, suspense, unexpected turnovers, well thought-out humor (Lestrade: "How many times did he fell out of the window?" Sherlock: "I don't know. I lost count") etc. And extremely good acting by all!

And yet to come is i) the last episode of the same second season - "The Final Solution". And then the new season starts - I am extremely curious how they have solved the resurrection. (If anyone already having seen this leaks anything or drops any spoiler I will have to kill you...)

If you haven't seen any of this and it comes up in any network near you - DO NOT MISS IT! More or less the best thing on the telly since the seminal Jeremy Brett interpretations circa 1980.

If you know your Sherlock Holmes (i.e. have read short stories and novels by Conan Doyle, or have seen the Jeremy Brett interpretations) you WILL enjoy this TV series extremely much!

Sorry for the OT..

Can't do. I'm a contractor, and currently sitting in a house with a few hundred engineers, on a site with many hundred employees incl the blue collars. It would not be popular if a lousy contrator started utilizing the posh entrance reception of the site.

I'll just have a look at Mouser. Its more than five years I ordered anything from them the previous time - but at that time their service/handling/delivery was very good, swift and correct.

I did a few tests:

1. Set up a mega2560 project with the D20 Xplained board plugged in. No tool available to select except for Simulator. Only possible to change device to other 8-bit AVRs - quite expected.

2. Set up a SAMD20J18 project, with the D20 Xplained board plugged in.

2b. Can change to another D20 and EDBG tool still seems available in Studio. No possibility to select devices other than SAMs.

3. Set up a SAMD20J17 project with the D20 Xplained board plugged in. No tool available to select (drop down is empty).

4. Changed the project in 3. to have SAMD20J18 as device. Still no tool available.

5. Reopened the project in 1. Still the same.

6. Reopened the project from 2b and there is no tool available.

6b. Changed back to D20J18. Still no tool available.

6c. Closed the project and reopened it. Tool available.

So it seems the EDBG is varied/configured when being used on different boards. Or Studio also asks about Xplained board type. Or some such.

It is also clear that Studio checks/sets available tools upon opening the project. So to debug anything but the same device as on the Xplained board you'd have to start and save the project with that device selected, and then every time change the device to what you're actually wanting to debug.

Also, I had no possibility to test if Studio checks available tools also on starting a debug session. I had no other SAMD20 available. (And I will not have in the foreseeable future.

Whatever. Using a "SAMD20 EDBG" to debug an AVR is not straight forward, likely requires a lot of tinkering, and might be toppled by Atmel with any new version of Studio.

Using the "ATMega256RFR2 EDBG" to debug another AVR model will likely be just as awkward, if at all possible.

I will not dig further ATM.

Dedicated post offices where abolished in Sweden 10 years ago or so. Swedish Post pickup places are mostly in ordinary grocery store/supermarkets. I have seldom been queuing for more than a few minutes to get a parcel or insured letter. And I need to go there anyway to get the bread, milk, cheese, sausage, eggs, bacon... Depending on where I'm based it's a 1 km / 5 min bike ride or a 10 km / 10 minute drive. Most often open until 8 or 9 in the evening. In most cases you get an SMS when the parcel is available at the pickup place.

Pickup places for courier services are 25 to 30 km drives from work (next town, or the nearest international airport in one case), and I have experienced waiting for an hour while someone goes looking for a 2x8x12 inch parcel in a 100x50x10 metre high-stack warehouse. And you need to pick a timing sweet-spot bracketed by when the delivery truck that failed to deliver because I was not at home at 11 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon has returned the parcel to the distribution centre, and when the place closes. In my world, parcel services are just not for private persons. It is totally designed for companies. This makes sense, so I'm not whining. It's just not for me - if I can avoid it.

Perhaps, but do note that my experiments also suggest/hint that with some tricks you can enable debugging of a(marginally) different device.

And that the EDBG platform seems to talk to Studio about what kind of system it supports.

OK, one more experiment: I will create a ATmega256RFR2 project and see if the SAMD20 EDBG platform is available.

EDIT: Nope. I'm done with this for the time being.

OMCD! (Thats "[...]copulating deity").

It looks like a JTAGICE3 with an extra connector (and new firmware), and at 85% the price of it (45% of the original price for those who paid that)!

I hope my money has made someone happy.

Anyway there is more of it coming Atmels way it seems. Needless to say, I absolutely need one of these debuggers although I do't really need one. Just need to get a total on the shopping list large enough so that it outweighs the shipping cost doubled or so.

Rant: You know the realtively small boxes that the Xplained cards come in? Order one and the shipping is $43 to Sweden. Order two and the shipping jumps to $50. Seve n bucks extra for a few grams extra?!? Two of those would easily fit in a largeish padded envelope and would reach me just as fast by air mail as the courier service they use - since it will take at least three days extra for me and the courier to agree on that the parcel should be at the pickup point at a certain evening, the pickup point should be open, and I should be prepared for the 50-75 km round trip drive. (No I'm not at home when the courier van is at my home, no I can not direct the delivery to my workplace.) Add the possibility to get stuck in customs, pay a few bucks for the actual customs duty, but perhaps $>20 for the handling/paperwork. Don't get lured in by the relatively low prices at Atmels web-shop.

The pricing of the different Atmel-ICE is also a good lesson that it is the perceived market value etc, rather than the actual cost that determines prices. The cost of a casing (same quality is the JTAGICE3, which is not impressive), a flat cable with connectors, a squid cable (again with the same quality as the one coming with JTAGICE3, which is not impressive), one USB cable and an adaptor PCB is not $53.

I don't think Atmel really gets it all the way yet. For that they should have priced the case-with-cables variant even lower, not offered the bare one at all and retracted the Dragon from market.

Will I buy one (the boxed-with-cables)? Hell, yeah!

:D