[Oshpark] HQ ProgKey - Universal Driver Programming Key

Well… I dunno exactly when I’ll get around to porting the code, but I made a development board for the attiny816 (or 1616 / 3216). Basically the same at the 817 except it’s 20 pin instead of 24; I don’t plan on need 24 pins anytime soon. Instead of running through regulators or FETs, I’m just using the MCU output to run the LED (limited with resistors). Since this is just for testing, I don’t need it bright… actually, bright is bad because I’d just be blinding myself. :sunglasses:

Andúril and NarsilM, here we come!

PS… sorry for the threadjacking

gchart, I’m not knocking you for threadjacking, because I’m just glad to see this development come to light. :sunglasses: But this is very big news. It actually does deserve its own thread, if you can find the time. :smiley:

I just cross-posted in my AVR Series-1 thread. I’ll try to continue posting updates over there. I just ordered the boards today, so it’ll be a little bit before they’re fully assembled. I guess I could start pulling code down and converting in the meantime… (like I really needed another thing to do :person_facepalming: )

That’s what FSM does. There’s a hardware interface on the back end, plus a UI toolkit on the front end. That way, the UI code is portable and doesn’t have to care (much) about the hardware it runs on.

However, it’s not exactly the cleanest code. It’s a spaghetti monster. It doesn’t do a great job of isolating the hardware-level parts from the library logic, so that gets kinda mixed in sometimes and could use cleaner abstractions. There’s probably a lot of stuff which doesn’t really make sense, but needs a fresh pair of eyes to notice the mess.

Thanks. I’ve been meaning to check on that project again, but I get distracted easily by other shiny things. It’s great to see that the code is available now, and published under GPLv3. There’s nothing wrong with arduino code though… I even used a couple arduino-isms while designing FSM’s interface. Anyway, it looks like loneoceans made things pretty clean.

That was just a lame attempt at making you smile, I didn’t mean to infer anything negative.

Lone Oceans is so damn smart. The I2c temp sensor code looks so clean, although a lot of code could be hidden in a library.

You should check out his website if you haven’t already, he really likes his Tesla coils.

I really like the flexibility of HQ’s programming key. There’s no reason you couldn’t adapt nearly any PCB design to use it (or some variation of it). I picked up 6ea from oshpark and can’t wait to try my hand at designing my own driver boards with integrated programming ports.

Thanks for open sourcing the design. I’ll probably try using kicad, so I’ll see if I can release some definitions for the footprint.

Are you already a user of KiCAD? I’d like to learn it, but the learning curve is steep for me. There is an Eagle tutorial around here from years ago, which helped a lot of us get started in PCB design. If you know how to use KiCAD, it would be helpful to at least some of us if you could help out with a quick-start tutorial of sorts. :innocent:

Never used kicad, I’ve used eagle a bit in the past. This is mainly a good excuse and project for me to get back into embedded electronics. I’ve been meaning to learn kicad for a while (not a huge fan of eagle since auto CAD bought them). I’ll definitely try to document my descent into the abyss!

Yeah, since AutoCAD bought Eagle, it has gone to junk. That’s why I’d like to learn KiCAD now. But it just isn’t very intuitive to me. :weary:

I still use diptrace for PCB design and find it does everything I need.

Hmm, I might have to check out diptrace. Heard of it, never tried it. I’ve been using eagle.

I tried eagle at first but did not like it and found diptrace to be better personally.

Can I buy a ready assembled key with pogo pins attached?

Can someone tell me what this part is called:

Alternatively if there is another inexpensive part that allows me to go from the key to the USB ASP let me know. I have small gauge wires and extra jumper wires but nothing else.

2.54mm(0.1inch) pitch 4x2 pin header

Thank you that helped a lot. Ended up getting this one from DigiKey.

Anyone?

Looked everywhere for a pre assembled key.

@contractor
You could also use any of the break away or loose 2.54mm header pins soldered to the key and wire straight to it like I did with the loneoceans key.
Pololu - 0.100" (2.54 mm) Breakaway Male Header: 1×40-Pin, Straight, Black They can be found in alot of different places online.
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Thanks I bet I could snip the ones I got shorter if the pads line up right. I got extras. If not I guess the wires may help with the flexing.

On a related note, DigiKey has outdone themselves and they are now competing with Arrow packaging (RIP Free Shipping).

FW3A for scale.

Why such a big box you ask? To protect the 4 feet of heatshrink tube of course. Other items included a few LEDs, resistors, and those jumpers. :person_facepalming:

Yea Mouser has been doing that too for years… I think they are concerned you will call it ‘damaged’ if it arrives kinked.
The “fix” is to include a note on the order that says “Please fold the heat-shrink to reduce shipping costs.” That has been working for me.