I have a very old STK-500 (sticker says 2002! It has an AT90S8535 as the main CPU)
Is there any hope of getting this to talk to ... anything?
My understanding so far is that if it's running STK500v1 firmware (which is likely), I'd need to run AVR Studio 4.x to upgrade it to at least STK500v2, and thereafter it should be recognizable by things up to MS7, as long as it's added manually.
But so far, my attempts to get it recognized have not been successful at all. AS4.18 says "can't connect", the stk500 upgrade utility say "not found."
Now, these attempts HAVE involved VBox Windows XP images of perhaps questionable vintage, and a Prolific USB/Serial converter (IBM - so probably authentic) that needed special "older drivers" to be recognized as usable, and - you know: rs232 cabling is involved, so there is quite a lot that could go wrong. The lights behave "as expected" (different when actuating the PROGRAM button during poweron.)
The AT90S1200 should "always" be able to re-program the AT90S8535, right? Should I try to dig up a real XP-or-earlier PC with a real RS232 port, or just give up?
Did anyone ever write "alternative" STK500 firmware, or figure out how to talk to the 90S1200 to reprogram the 8535?
I don't suppose that Microchip has gotten generous and open-sourced the code for such legacy products?