Tindie

It took about 30 days to deliver to Poland (due to lazy PocztaPolska ) but finally arrives and working as expected :) Big Thanks MCUDude :).

Jonathan | July 7, 2024

Excellent solution for MegaCoreX + Arduino + ATmega4809

Exactly what I needed to program ATmega4809 chips from Arduino IDE using a Mac and MegaCoreX. Plugged it in, selected the target, uploaded, and it just worked. So far the serial terminal has been 100% reliable for me too. I've now designed a couple of boards with the 6-pin header with the extra serial pins included, with total success. I've been a fan of MCUDude's work since using MightyCore on ATmega1284P many years ago, and this is more of the same high quality as before.

Now I'm just waiting for the SerialUPDI to be available for purchase again so I can buy a few more!

Stefan | May 27, 2024

Amazing high-quality board, works out of the box

I am a bare-metal AVR programmer, not using platforms etc. This SerialUPDI hardware interfaces between the host PC and the modern AVR microprocessors (which all use the UPDI interface for flashing), and it works like a charm. I just connected Vcc, Gnd and UPDI to the target with three wires and used a fairly recent avrdude version for uploading/downloading. Works even on one of the most recent Microchip MCUs (AVR16EB28). It's a joy to program hassle-free, it's a haptic joy to handle (microswitches instead of jumpers!), and the hardware looks great, too. The labels look crisp and clear. I can tell that a lot of thought went into the design. I love all the little details, eg, the white mask around the top UPDI header, so I can mark Vcc with a big red dot and Gnd with a big black one. UPDI is Pin 1, so has a visible corner: great for attaching free-flying wires on experimental boards without a header. I only needed a programmer, and was pleasantly surprised to see it doubles up as USB/USART interface. The 6-pin header is well thought through, and I will defo use that header for any new board designs of my own. Worth every penny, as they say in good old Blighty.

Taylor | March 31, 2024

This SerialUPDI programmer is absolutely awesome!

Thank you MCUdude for this programmer board. Not only was the shipping surprisingly quick for Norway to the USA, but the board looks very high quality and a great deal of care was clearly put into the design of this device. I highly recommend.

Travis | Jan. 29, 2024

Documentation for this project is seriously lacking.

I can't actually speak for the programmer. I received my programmer, proceeded to follow the GitHub directions for uploading the firmware to my Arduino Pro Micro.

I first ran into issues because I was using the newest Arduino IDE (2.2.1). Apparently the creator hasn't tested with that so I had to downgrade to Arduino 1.8.19.

I tried flashing the firmware and bricked the Pro Micro without much for an error. I grabbed another Pro Micro, bricked it as well. Now the creator tells me that I'm using the wrong version of his microUPDIcore. I was using v1.0.1 and he suggested v1.0.2. I got this version from the Arduino Board Manager from his documentation.

I have run into issue after issue and while the creator has attempted to help, I'm now stuck with purchasing another piece just to reflash the 2 bricked Arduino Pro Micros (creator's suggestion) just to hope this works. I'm cutting my loses.

Maybe it's me or maybe things have been updated since 2021.

Response from MCUdude | Feb. 25, 2024

I'm sorry you had issues flashing the Pro Micro with the correct firmware. When uploading for some reason fails, you can either manually enter "extended bootloader mode" by shorting the reset line to ground two times. This will make the Pro Micro stay in bootloader mode longer than usual, but it will still time out within 8 seconds. A few attempts may be necessary to get it going. Another alternative is to use an ISP programmer to flash the firmware.
Please contact me if you still having issues getting it to work, and I'm sure we'll figure out something.

Stanislav | Oct. 10, 2023

Hi MCUDude, my SerialUPDI seams not working

Using Arduino IDE or directly from the command line avrdude, this is what spits out:

C:\updi>avrdude -c jtag2updi -P COM8 -p m3208 -U flash:w:ELS_A.hex
avrdude: jtagmkII_getsync(): bad response to sign-on command: Unknown JTAG ICE mkII result code 0x01

USB cable checked, power LED on, set as UPDI programmer.

Any idea why?

When using your commands:

avrdude error: cannot find programmer id serialUPDI
or
avrdude error: no AVR part has been specified; use -p part
(Averdude 7.2)

After adding some comments, this seems to search for the target:
C:\updi7>avrdude.exe -C /updi7/avrdude.conf -c serialUPDI -P COM8 -x rtsdtr=high -p m3208 -U flash:w:ELS_A.hex:i -U eeprom:w:ELS_A.eep:i

I am sure the device is ok, your work shows top-notch. My assumption is that I am doing something not in the right way. Anyway, you can develop a bit the guidelines on how to use the device.

(Update) All working now. Thanks, Hans.

Response from MCUdude | Oct. 11, 2023

Hi, and thanks for the review!
I test each and every programmer before I ship them, so the issue may be something else, probably on the Avrdude side.
Try using -p serialupdi (non-capital letters).
Regardless, I'll send you a PM to see if we can sort out the issue.

Honver | May 10, 2023

It works great with Arduino IDE

It was a bit annoying to get started because the 6 pin interface on the Serial UPDI didn't match the 3 pin UPDI programming header of my target board. I didn't have any double female Dupont cables, and the male to male cables kept on falling out of the header holes, so I had to solder female-to-male cables to the 3-pin UPDI header.

Usage with Arduino IDE is great, but the amount of research needed to get it to work with PlatformIO is rather tragic. But in the end it all works.

I also tried out the UART function with a Linux development board. It works but keeps on disconnecting the COM port at a high baud rate of 1500000 probably because of the CH340 chip.

Response from MCUdude | May 10, 2023

Hi Honver, and thank you for the review!

It's great to hear that the SerialUPDI works fine with Arduino IDE, but I'm sorry to hear that it was difficult to get it working with PlatformIO.
There is a PlatformIO template for SerialUPDI over at the MegaCoreX Arduino repo, but it may be a bit hidden. I'd love to hear from you if you have a suggestion on how the PlatformIO documentation could be improved!

Regarding the pinout, Both the 3 and 6-pin headers have their pros and cons. I decided to stick with the typical 6-pin pinout because this is directly compatible with official Microchip programmers. The PICkit 4 and the MPLAB SNAP programmers also provide a virtual COM port, so with the right connection the experience will be very similar to a SerialUPDI.

Chris | March 23, 2023

Great little UPDI programmer

Works perfectly for programming newer AVR chips. Compact yet concise, I have had no issues using it for projects utilizing 4808 and AVR-DA chips.

I ended up utilizing a right angle 2x3 female header to allow the programmer to be perpendicular to the board being programmed. This also allows access to the mode switch on the bottom since, as documented, the auto serial functionality is not consistent with MacOS and the Arduino IDE; it seems to work immediately after programming but not always on normal startup.

Shipping from Norway was quite acceptable, 7 days from Norway to the US.

Chris | Feb. 2, 2023

Perfect solution

I had no experience with programming embedded chips before this. I purchased and built another project a while back that I wanted to reprogram with new features, and UPDI was the only supported method for doing so. I purchased this kit and a knockoff of the board it works with; the price was right, and even with my incredibly limited skills I was able to get it working without difficulty. This worked so well and I was able to figure it out in an evening. Thank you!

Johannes | Sept. 29, 2022

Great in all perspectives

As an electronics hobbyist i wanted something a little bigger than the usual Arduino Uno and the Mega 2560 only comes in a SMD package. So the 1284 is my choice for a current project which would barely into Uno even with many optimizations.
I came across this board and after some time of consideration i ordered it here. Shipping from Norway to Germany was just 7 days.
What can i say: even as a non-professional user this thing is plug and play. I am using a Diamex ISP Programmer with the Arduino IDE under Linux Mint and burning the bootloader or sketches just took seconds from the first start.
One of my favorite features is the removable crystal in order to tinker with different clock speeds.
This thing probably is, what the Uno should be (but of course the Uno aims at different topics such as HATs and super easy start for beginners).
Can recommend although with the current weak EUR it's a little pricey and i had to pay like 10 EUR import tax.
Anyway, thanks to the maker for the great work in both, board and core !

Marle | Aug. 19, 2022

Cool and straightforward dev board

I picked up this board so that I could tinker with the ATmega1284P MCU, and coming off of frustrations with an Arduino Uno clone, the MightyCore board was a huge breath of fresh air! I appreciate the use of mini USB as opposed to micro USB which in my experience has been more prone to mechanical failures. When working with a breadboard, I strongly recommend making your own jumper wires, as premade jumpers may have trouble reaching between the dev board's headers and your breadboard holes.

Oliver | May 25, 2022

Works like a charm

I've been using this for a while now to work with ATtiny3216s and it just works perfectly well. Works fine with ArduinoIDE as well as PlatformIO and avrdude.

Michael | March 12, 2022

excellent

Works great. MCUDude's cores, hardware, and instructions are all great. I have used one of these programmers for a little while now and it has become essential to my work. I bought this one as a backup (though there is no indication of any need for concern with my first one!).

Arthur | Feb. 10, 2022

worked great

Used it to program ATtiny chips with the arduino IDE. Only snag I hit was I had to use version 1.8.13 of the IDE but that has more to do with the megatiny core library. I plan to replace the pin header with a box header and use a ribbon cable to connect to the programming header on the boards. Serial communication was seamless.

Zsolt | Jan. 29, 2022

awesome

Coming fro ESP32 world it was a bit new to me, but the sellers is a great guy, helped me to get things going. The board is amazing!

Luka | Dec. 5, 2021

A great product from a great engineer!

Fast delivery, excellent design, precise and extremely well-written instructions - perfect.

I use it with ATmega4809 and MegaCoreX, which is (among many other things) also a work from MCUdude.

The engineering world needs more people like MCUdude, because everything he does is very well documented and always works as published.

A real tribute!

Christos | Dec. 5, 2021

Πατάτα

Δεν κάνει αυτά που λέει άρα δεν αξίζει τα χρήματα !! Μπορεί να επικοινωνήσει μόνο με atmega 8535,16,32,164 για τα υπόλοιπα χρειάζεται ενδιάμεσο προγραμματιστή δηλαδή τίποτα

Response from MCUdude | Jan. 19, 2022

We had a long discussion about this, and I'm sorry you weren't able to get it working with other chips than the ATmega32 that came with the board. In order to use a different chip and upload programs using the onboard USB connector, you need an ISP programmer to set the fuses and burn the bootloader to the new chip. Without a working ISP programmer, you won't be able to communicate with a chip that doesn't already have a bootloader installed. That's not the board's fault, but just how AVR microcontrollers are.

Guus | Oct. 3, 2021

Very nice board, works as it should

Board is well designed and works.
Changing the crystals is also good.
Improvement tip: Consider delivery option without socket, so a ZIF-socket can be installed.

Erwin | Aug. 31, 2021

One programmer to rule them all.

I have been using a simple UPDI programmer (made from a serial converter and a 4k7 resistor) for a while, but since I fell in love with the new AVR series microprocessors, it was time for a more robust one. MCUdude is well-known for his work on Arduino support for the new AVR series, so I tried his programmer first. And have had no need whatsoever to look at other programmers.
He created a nice pin-layout with the programmer for vcc (5v or 3v3), gnd, tx, rx and updi which can withstand inverted polarity. I use this layout for my UPDI connector on my boards as default.

Highly recommended!

PS. I made a printable case for it that can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4943607

Christopher | June 20, 2021

Best cheap tool for UPDI program and debug

A great little cheap tool, I am using this to debug an ATtiny814 and it works excellently, with full Atmel Studio integration.

The inbuilt level shifted serial interface works great as well, and is very handy for debugging the capacitive touch interface using Atmel's "datastreamer" built into the IDE. Theres some helpful status LEDs as well, and the whole thing is nicely compact.

I previously used pyupdi based usb-serial options, and while these program fine they lack any form of debugging or a seperate UART interface. This tool instead is recognised immediately by Atmel Studio, and includes a neat hack so it works with any UPDI AVR rather than being device locked like the Atmel Xplain boards.

The added "32U4 ISP" header on the underside is handy to reprogram the Arduino if you (like me) fiddle around enough to accidently brick it.

An option for a few more dollars with level shifting of the UPDI line and some input protection would be nice, as well as maybe changing the UDPI VCC pin from an output to a VCC "sense" input instead which is more commmon on dedicated programmers (e.g. J-Link or STLink). Given how expensive the official ATMEL-ICE tool is at $100 without a case, there is definately more room for something in between.

Ray | Nov. 2, 2020

Really well designed

I've used for developing programs and (with a bootloader) programming chips. It's a really well made and designed board, I prefer it to official ones like the Uno.

The only improvement I can think of is if it had a ZIF but the same thing is true of the official boards.

Response from MCUdude | Nov. 2, 2020

Thanks for the kind words!

There are a few reasons why I left out a ZIF socket on purpose. The board would be a little thicker, so I wouldn't be able to use the cheapest airmail option anymore. It would also bring up the cost. If you want to use a ZIF socket you can actually insert it straight into the existing DIP-40 socket!

Jonathan | Oct. 4, 2020

Excellent development board

It features everything one could desire, in a small succinct package. This is the perfect board for testing and debugging your protos that involve DIP40 AVR's.

Bartosz | Sept. 2, 2020

Perfect little programmer

I am very happy that I've found your programmer. I've successfully programmed my board with it and now I am using it as USB to UART bridge.

I've got one issue, that is, the programmer "times out" frequently from Atmel Studio 7 and when that happens, I have to reboot my PC for it to work again. Other than that, great tool!

Steffen | July 28, 2020

Works good with other Firmware

For ATtiny Arduino compatible development board

Thats a very good shield to generate a UPDI programmer from a chiep Arduino Pro Micro Bord. But it works only 1 time with documented firmware. I progammed the Pro Micro Bord with original firmware from Atmel Studio7 (medbgupdi.hex) and MCUdude's modified EEPROM file. Now it works well

Matthew | July 23, 2020

There is a lot packed into this.

Came from Norway to Australia before I was expecting it, outstanding.
Very pleasant having UART to USB matching MicroCore pins. It just goes straight in. Saves a whole port .
It is clearly leaning towards t13 work with socketed crystal. Eliminates the need for the 4 pin can.
You will need more than 5v for the dc jack. 9 or 12 say.
Pins and sockets enough, although no reset button, I don't miss it.
Note that RTS# will reset for you upon serial connection, so if you have serial out, say, it just works.
Standard USB mini - same as "Nano".
A good little testbed even if you build on a breadboard, this is great for "what if?".
The only downside is that this is so well put together in the available space your own PCB design may now be depressing.

Response from MCUdude | July 23, 2020

Thanks for the kind review! Shipping times are all over the place at the moment, so I'm glad to hear it arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

The board is packed, indeed. So packed I couldn't fit a reset switch. But the reset line is broken out, so you could always add it if you ever need it. I always like to include a small potmeter on the dev board I make, because you never know when you need an analog reference voltage (for LCD contrast etc.).

The reason why I've connected the RTS# signal to the reset line (through the usual 10k and 100n auto-reset circuity) is so that the board will work perfectly if you ever decide to put an ATtiny25/45/85 in there and use a bootloader. If you do, the board will act exactly as you would expect from an Arduino board with serial uploads. Neat!

A fun little quirk I don't think many have realized; with a little transistor magic, I made it so that the RX/TX LEDs will only light up if the board is powered through the USB connector. They can, however, be changed to "always enabled" if you solder the tiny jumper on the bottom side of the PCB, under the USB connector. I thought some would find the inverted LEDs to be a little annoying when they aren't even using serial communication.

If you like the style of this board you should check out the similar DIP-40 development board I sell!

Steve | July 10, 2020

Solid.

For ATtiny Arduino compatible development board

A great assist for those finicky 13A projects that till now have been held together with fishing line and staples. All the pins and all the options in one package. Much enjoyed!

Kurt | May 23, 2020

Do what it's supposed to do.

Do what it's supposed to do. Is also displayed in ATMEL Studio 7.*********************************************************

Joshua | Oct. 30, 2019

Awesome ATMega1284p development board

I am so glad I found this development board. I just received it today and already I have the bootloader burned into one of my atmega 1284p. The documentation is amazing too. Found one problem with the board, on the ISP header, the silkscreen incorrectly labels MOSI as MISO (MISO is listed twice in the pinout on the underside of the ISP header). Other than that, really awesome design :D

Response from MCUdude | Oct. 31, 2019

Great to hear you like the board! Together with MightyCore, it's a great development board indeed.
Thank you for pointing out the incorrect labeling on the ISP connector. I will fix it in the next board revision.

Cory | Oct. 29, 2019

good looking board

Haven't had much time to work with it, but looks very well made and is as described. Shipping to the US was in a reasonable amount of time for the distance, and very well priced

Martin | Sept. 14, 2019

Great dev board with great support!

I was looking for a development board for DIP40 packages and this is exactly what I needed.
The documentation is sufficient and furthermore the developer MCUdude was super helpful with any problems I encountered, replies to my messages within few hours.

Highly recommended product with great support, 10/10.

Martin

Randal | Sept. 10, 2019

Awesome adapter board for UPDI programming and Serial USB

Works great! Great board design. I am able to program a ATtiny1617 (and other Series 0/1 chips) and do serial communications from the Arduino IDE, all from the same USB connection.

Themistoklis | April 2, 2019

quality, solid, construction; clearly oriented to developers

Overall:
quality, solid, construction
clearly oriented to developers

Benefits:
A. MCU is socketed allowing easy replacement; so (a) can be used to re-program MCU IC's and then relocate them to another target board, (b) once the MCU is corrupted it may be easily replaced, (c) different AVR ATmega DIP40 MCU may be used (in my case used ATmega1284P).
B. Beyong ISP has also JTAG header connection, allowing professional debugging, subject to debugger device availability (in my case used Atmel-ICE device).
C. Has switchable 3.3 and 5V selection
D. Is already equipped with external 16MHz crystal (no need for upgrade)
E. The GND and Vcc pins are accessible via separate multiple pin headers allowing the developer to connect more than one jumper wires (typically required in projects)
F. The pins allow connectivity with both female and male jumper wires. Very convenient, accelerating development process.
G. On board annotations are rich (every single component and pin is annotated) and easily readable without ambiguities (almost, there is no need to resort to the schematic diagram)
H. The on board diagnostic LEDs allow the developer to observe all basic signals, as PWR, diagnostic-LED, Rx and Tx.
I. There is an on-board trimmer, to allow easy/direct development of "adjustable" funcionality (e.g. externally adjust a program value based on ADC port input)

Congratulations to the board designer.

Nicolas | March 17, 2019

Perfect, nice board, well documented & super communication

Shipping was long but looks like Christmas time was really a bad period. Santa Claus was probably too busy ;-) to send something from Norway to France.
What can I say about the board ? It's perfect, easy to use and well documented by its creator. Even for a dummies like I am it works perfectly. In few hours I have been able to play around with 684 and 1284P processors.
And if you are facing problem, or need some additional explanation, just send an email to Hans and you will get a great and clear support.
To conclude I would say that everything is close from perfection ! Thanks Hans.

Canlas | Jan. 25, 2019

Welcome to Rockin' Overdrived Arduino Mighty arduino core !!