I was looking at the new arduino and the api and noticing a few things that should have been implemented a long time in the new board. Not the least of which is the reset being hooked up to the fdti chip so that you dont have to intervene to download your code. There are still a few things that I am missing. Not the least of which is the necessity of using a serial boot loader. If the boot loader uses the stk500 then you would be best off with a cheep clone like one of these.
- http://www.serasidis.gr/circuits/avr_isp/avr_isp.htm
- (reference on work computer and not yet on my del.icio.us)
This would pull the expenses off of the board while achieving the same convenience of not needing to reset the board every time you needed to download. I am looking at adding this to my usb serial serial thingy. Its like a 1.25 part. There are a couple of single sided board designs which use the ftdi 232RL chip. I will have some sketches up soon.
…. to be continued …