EEVblog #448 - New PICkit 4 & AVR Dragon

[EEVblog]

Dave programs a PIC 24F chip on his uCalc with the new official AVR Dragon firmware.
Part of the new Microchip-Atmel tool collaboration agreement.
Also, news on the new PICkit 4 which will have official support for all Atmel parts.

[BravoV]

 

[nuhamind2]

What !!
All the war is now all useless...

[free_electron]

don't be surprised .... Microchip has tried to borg atmel before !

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/02/10/us-atmel-takeover-microchip-idUSTRE5197X120090210

[bxs]

haha  deletting posts, why ? 

No one will believe in the video anyway 

[dimlow]

Its a special day for google too https://www.google.com/intl/en-GB/landing/nose/

!

I wonder how well Dave has done in this comp !

Guardian Goggles http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2013/apr/01/guardian-goggles-video

[EEVblog]

I wonder how well Dave has done in this comp !

I'm in with a chance.

[dimlow]

I wonder how well Dave has done in this comp !

I'm in with a chance.

Thats how i found it

[exp1]

  Thumbs up!

[Mindlesscoolguy]

Well, I prefered the 555 trick. you actually got me to check the microchip forums. it would have been great though...

[maor]

Very nice dave, very nice...

[hans]

You got me until I read "Mar 31, 2013" and opened my own calendar (Europe)
 

[afho]

Great! You vor me first too, but this sounds so uncredible that this coudn't be true! Thanks. And here in Europe, as hans sad, it was 31.03. ... :-)

[Phantomix]

I'd really like if this was true!

The problem is, Atmel isn't even able to support all their programming standards in one product; if Microchip would achieve this, i'd say - hats off!

Thanks Dave, ymmd!

[herctrap]

what about the green led on the avr dragon?

[Alana]

Found this sometime ago on EEblog forum. Havent tested yet
http://elena-march.narod.ru/

[firewalker]

It doesn't work under GNU/Linux. I flashed AVR Dragon with the new firmware but MplabX has issues. Works under Win7 though.

Alexander.

[olsenn]

Atmel is working on a new firmware; hahaha, Atmel is working, lol, that's a good one

[elgonzo]

Dave, you smart sonofabitch, you got me fooled!
Hehehe, i always fall for these jokes, perhaps because secretly i wish for them becoming true.

[elgonzo]

It doesn't work under GNU/Linux. I flashed AVR Dragon with the new firmware but MplabX has issues. Works under Win7 though.

Alexander.

How did you do it on Windows 7?
It did not run for me on Win7. Atmel support told me to try Windows 8, which i did (in a VM), and it is now working fine...

[John Larsen]

 

[firewalker]

It doesn't work under GNU/Linux. I flashed AVR Dragon with the new firmware but MplabX has issues. Works under Win7 though.

Alexander.

How did you do it on Windows 7?
It did not run for me on Win7. Atmel support told me to try Windows 8, which i did (in a VM), and it is now working fine...

I don't know it, worked out of the box for me. Try to run it as admin or with WinXp compatibility mode.

Alexander.

[komet]

Even with the new firmware I still can't get my AVR dragon to work with my AS/400. Don't Atmel care about their customers?

[nitro2k01]

I'm looking forward to the PICKit 4. The AVR programming is nice and all, but I'm personally looking forward to finally getting brighter LEDs. For those of us who work in dark rooms, this is a big deal. I'm just worried that I might wear out the flash memory on the PIC chip if I repeatedly reprogram the chip so I can get the increased illumination from the status LED.

[cidcorp]

Totally feel like a dumbass.  Forgot what day it was.  If you had provided links on the video page, I would have never seen the comments about the links being missing...and I might have been confused for several more hours.

Nice job.

[xenocide702]

you actually got me to check the microchip forums.

Same, well played Dave.

[JoeAAI]

Had me fooled... just like last year...  I even knew what day it was.

[M0BSW]

It maybe OK for all of you who know about this stuff, but I am even more confused now, I want to build some Amateur radio project that use  PIC chips, and I don't have a clue where to start, if this is the same pic, I'm completely bewildered, and need a darkened room to lye down in.

[TheCrazyRichard]

 

Almost got fooled as well 

Awesome. Anyway, Dave, why don't you finish the uCalc?
It looks like a nice interesting project, I might even maybe buy one too 

[margrove]

You got me there, fair & square

[M0BSW]

 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you big numpty you  trying to confuse a already confused radio ham, I'd let your tyres down if I lived over there.

[olsenn]

I still think the 555-timer bit was your best

[Ferroto]

Programming PIC chips with an AVR Dragon. What is this sorcery.

Looks at date. Well played Dave well played.

[oPossum]

This has been in the works for quite a while and there is more to it than what Dave has revealed.

The PIC firmware for the Dragon is just a temporary hack. The Dragon has been an unreliable POS and will be EOL soon. The new low cost programmer will the the PICKit4 - and it will program everything.

Microchip will soon announce (along with the PK4) a line of 8 and 16 bit PIC chips that are pin compatible with the AVR atTiny atMega and XMega chips. They will assist current Atmel customers with the transition to these new superior PIC chips. When the transition is complete, all AVR chips will go EOL and no longer be manufactured.

The AVR never met sales expectations, and this is Atmel's way out of a money losing microcontroller product segment.

[armandas]

Microchip will soon announce (along with the PK4) a line of 8 and 16 bit PIC chips that are pin compatible with the AVR atTiny atMega and XMega chips.

Sounds legit. Everybody knows that pinout is the only difference between PICs and AVRs

[oPossum]

Microchip will soon announce (along with the PK4) a line of 8 and 16 bit PIC chips that are pin compatible with the AVR atTiny atMega and XMega chips.

Sounds legit. Everybody knows that pinout is the only difference between PICs and AVRs

There are some minor firmware differences. They have developed tools to deal with that. Source code will be automagically converted for you. The tools are currently a bit buggy - but I am sure it will be perfected by release time.

[8086]

Not even close 

But nice try.

[JTR]

Hey Dave, you've found your calling. You should get a job for a Sydney radio station. 

[6502Dude]

Wow, this is pretty cool advancement. 
Just ordered a AVR Dragon Programmer online.
Can't wait to try this, once new firmware is released.

[mizi]

It even "leaked" to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICKit)

[olsenn]

Dave, you should see how many companies add you to their shitlist, haha. Keep it up!

[A Hellene]

Ah, this is old news!

Atmel development tools could always handle Microchip products.

For example, check out what chip is plugged in at the target programming socket of the AVR MCU00100 Starter Kit, which is a vintage AVR programmer initially released in 1997!


-George

<EDIT>
Image added:

[shashwatratan]

 
Hi Dave thats a great April fools prank. You totally got me by your 555 easter egg video, may be 2 years ago. So I know how convincing you are!

but would it not be great if both companies support each others products? I am not a fanboy of  atmel or microchip i use parts from both. Still I use Atmel's MCUs more often. For the contrary the atmel parts are cheaper here then microchip! Go wonder

Regards
Shashwat

[Metalcrowe]

First, you had me.
But then I took a look at the calendar and realized it.

[ben_r_]

So when is that PICKit 4 coming out then? Shame they wont be upgrading the PICKit 3 to support it, but Ill still have plenty of use for that and it was certainly cheap enough. However theyd better update the PM3 to support it because I am NOT buying a new stand alone programmer from them just to get AMTEL support!

[DebboR]

Omg... I watched this video this morning (in Europe), and only just found out it was a joke :p.
Nice one Dave (except for giving me bad hope for a full day...)!

DebboR

[Towz]

Nice one  
Anyway... It's be nice if someday it happened...

[oshaker]

God knows how many hits guys made seeking for PICKit4 :- )

[EEVblog]

It even "leaked" to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICKit)

  indeed!
Quickly removed by the Wiki nazi's of course.

[6502Dude]

what about the green led on the avr dragon?

Perhaps he used same hole through work bench that was used for 555 trick, to power the green led?
My guess is another (off camera) USB port was used on notebook to produce the read/write results to screen on notebook.

[Fozzy]

How did you manage to keep composure, or did you do this in a few takes? Nice one Dave, keep up the top work!!

[EEVblog]

How did you manage to keep composure, or did you do this in a few takes? Nice one Dave, keep up the top work!!

It took a few takes, but not for composure, just the usual reason that I have no idea what I'm going to say until I hit record.

[fLuXx]

Hey, just registered now to comment on the clip. Good one, you actually got me. Mostly because it is actually partially true. There is a way to program AVR's via Pickit. I tried it with pickit2 and it worked. Just google it and try. Be careful though, as not all AVR's are supported/tested. I managed to brick an Atmega128, because the programmer wrote the wrong fuse configuration, disabling the serial programming. I had to unbrick it using the parallel programmer. Anyway, at least we know they are actually hardware compatible, it's just not supported by firmware.

[ivan747]

Atmel is working on a new firmware; hahaha, Atmel is working, lol, that's a good one

 

[FenderBender]

You bastard!

You got me good Dave. The whole video I was just like "Wow this is crazy. Weird but..hey whatever". I didn't think anything of it.

[BravoV]

Just rewatched and found out it has subtitle now, I assumed its done by Sen, thanks Sen ! 

Boo..hooo...    I guess few fan boys from both sides must be offended watching this video, nice job Dave. 

[c4757p]

There is a way to program AVR's via Pickit. I tried it with pickit2 and it worked. Just google it and try.

Thought so! The electrical interface is nearly identical, it's just protocol differences.

I managed to brick an Atmega128, because the programmer wrote the wrong fuse configuration, disabling the serial programming. I had to unbrick it using the parallel programmer.

There's just something about AVR fuses... I've done that to so many AVR chips - somehow I always manage to pick something completely retarded for the fuse settings. Either they have more ways to brick them, or I'm just an ignoramus.

[CBenghi]

Bingo! It works like a treat!

[Dennis]

Do you think Microchip will do a video response this time??

[notsob]

I can only imagine someone at microchip going what the f*^% are these pickit4 enquiries, oh no it's that bastard jones again.

[free_electron]

i heard that using PIckit5 and Atmel Dragon 7 you will be able to program 555 timers and 741 opamps ! 

[Jon Chandler]

i heard that using PIckit5 and Atmel Dragon 7 you will be able to program 555 timers and 741 opamps ! 

Great.  I was looking for a way to program the CSS555C Programmable Timer.

[bitwelder]

And luckily Wikipedia "Nazi admins" removed the joke, otherwise you'd see hordes of microchip fans going after their #1 firm with "what sir? no pickit4? You must be misinformed, it's on Wikipedia, it MUST be true!" 

[manu]

Hello,
I've been fooled as I just saw the video this morning, then I realized...
I wish this would be true that a pickit4 were released as I'm working with a pickit3 (in fact, several of them) and they sometime brick if I change the microcontroller device (I often switch between PIC18 and PIC32 micros). I cannot get a repeatable way of un-bricking it, I try different tricks and I finally get it work again...
So, it would have been great to see a new version of the low-cost debugger more reliable as the pickit2 was.

[nitro2k01]

And luckily Wikipedia "Nazi admins" removed the joke, otherwise you'd see hordes of microchip fans going after their #1 firm with "what sir? no pickit4? You must be misinformed, it's on Wikipedia, it MUST be true!" 

[delfinom]

This has been in the works for quite a while and there is more to it than what Dave has revealed.

The PIC firmware for the Dragon is just a temporary hack. The Dragon has been an unreliable POS and will be EOL soon. The new low cost programmer will the the PICKit4 - and it will program everything.

Microchip will soon announce (along with the PK4) a line of 8 and 16 bit PIC chips that are pin compatible with the AVR atTiny atMega and XMega chips. They will assist current Atmel customers with the transition to these new superior PIC chips. When the transition is complete, all AVR chips will go EOL and no longer be manufactured.

The AVR never met sales expectations, and this is Atmel's way out of a money losing microcontroller product segment.

I hope not, AVRs are wonderful for their modern assembly and architecture while the 8-bit PICs are seriously lagging behind in many aspects.

[grummund]

what about the green led on the avr dragon?

Could be custom firmware to fake a PicKit3 - mimics the protocol to the PC but then does nothing except operate the LED.

Nice trick however it was done. 

[BAM5]

Aw dang it!  D:<

I watched this video in May and have been putting off getting the PICKit because I thought the 4th one was going to come out!
Had me fooled for like a week or two.
Good job. 

[ilanko]

Where's the calc video ? 

[vysakhpillai]

And now when they have actually announced PICKIT4 with support for Atmel devices, this page shows up in the front page of Google search   

http://www.microchip.com/Developmenttools/ProductDetails.aspx?PartNO=PG164140

[MauriceS]

Dave was a great visionary in 2013...

[FrankBuss]

BTW, instead of the useless silkscreen, I glued a more useful paper on top:
https://twitter.com/frank_buss/status/1326153906871803904