I have good news. The latest and greatest version of the HV Rescue Shield is now available!
Version 2.1 contains a new and improved 12V switching circuit that resolves an issue reading/writing to parts with certain startup timer settings. This issue affects all previous versions of the Rescue Shield kit.
I have kits in stock and ready to ship this week. If you have been waiting for the new release, you can place an order now.
Note to HV Rescue Shield 2.0 customers: Because the startup timer issue was identified so quickly after version 2.0 was released, I am offering a free upgrade for all customers who purchased a version 2.0 kit. Please contact me to arrange for a replacement. This offer only applies to HV Rescue Shield 2.0 customers.
Agreed.
I started off with an Arduino, and later decided to venture into playing with just the AVR chips.
Made more sense to get your make your own ISP programmer, and later when you mess up the fuses (like I did), it made more sense to get the HV rescue shield since I already own Arduinos.
Lastly, it’s definitely more fun =) and I don’t use Windows.
I don’t get this. You spend $22 on a crippled Adafruit ISP-only (no HVSP or JTAG) programmer, $20 for this rescue thing that requires a $30 arduino – you’re up to $72 (yes you do get an arduino, for what that’s worth). Why not just buy a REAL programmer/debugger – ATMEL’s AVR Dragon for $50. With the Dragon you get ISP/HVSP/JTAG programmer plus in-circuit debug via JTAG and/or D-Wire. Yes the Dragon needs a few small parts to fill it out, some headers, wire and a socket or two, but those are junk-box parts. Also, the Dragon is fully integrated with AVR Studio which automatically keeps the Dragon’s firmware up to date.
Maybe this Rescue Shield is useful for someone that already took the Arduino bait and got saddled with a crippled Adafruit programmer in the process.
Drone,
Thanks for your feedback.
I would like to point out the following:
– Most HV Rescue Shield customers already own an Arduino, so it doesn’t make sense to include the Arduino in the Rescue Shield cost. Who doesn’t have at least one Arduino these days?
– The AVR Dragon has a reputation for being somewhat fragile (search AVRfreaks). I spoke with an AVR enthusiast last week who had just blown up his Dragon.
– If you don’t run Windows (natively or virtualized) you are out of luck, since the Dragon requires AVR Studio.
– The Dragon is not open source. (Neither is AVR Studio.)
The HV Rescue Shield is an inexpensive way to recover several families of AVR parts. It’s a fun kit to build. The Rescue Shield also gives you the opportunity to not only learn about HVPP/HVSP protocol, but also hack it to perform other programming functions.
That said, the Dragon is a useful tool, and I never intended the Rescue Shield to be a replacement for the Dragon. If you need the capabilities the Dragon offers, by all means, buy the Dragon (and spend over twice as much for a closed-source, proprietary tool).
Um, actually the dragon works fine under Linux. AVRDude has all the necessary stuff and you an use the debugging with AVARICE.
I don’t like to unnecessarily bash the Arduino, but it does seem to be the Mac of the embedded systems world. Lots of fan boys, lots of extra cost, flashy interface, and essentially the same as the alternatives.