USBasp - MV
USBasp designed by Thomas Fischl
is a very nice
and cheap AVR ISP programmer. However the original version
theoretically does not allow to program AVRs powered from voltages
lower than 5V.
Because I wanted to use it to program new AVRs working at c.a. 2V, I had
to modify the original circuit.
To keep design as simple as possible and to avoid using integrated
level converters (which are sometimes difficult to buy), I have decided to use
simple transistor keys with Schottky diodes to convert logic levels.
The schematic diagram of modified USBasp is available as the
kicad project (sorry, I haven't designed
the PCB - my device was finally mounted on an universal PCB).
You can also download it as the PDF file
produced from PostScript generated by kicad.
The transistor keys change polarity of signals, and therefore some changes in the firmware
were necessary. Additionally I have used different AVR (ATmega88) and changed use of some
pins. My firmware was based on the original
usbasp.2009-02-28.tar.gz written by Thomas Fischl.
You can download my modified sources, or just
my patch (which may be usefull if you would like to patch
another version of firmware).
Please note, that due to delay introduced by the transistor keys, you may need to add
the "-B" (e.g. "-B 3") option wen invoking avrdude with this version of USBasp.
wzab
Last modified: Mon Apr 26 21:51:15 CEST 2010