The Arduino bootloader is a small program burnt into the ATmega’s flash memory, which enables sketches to be uploaded without the use of an external programming board. Any new ATmega8/168/328p microprocessor needs to be programmed with a version of the Arduino bootloader firmware before it can be used with the Arduino IDE.
Many places sell ATmega chips with the Arduino bootloader pre-loaded. To actually burn the bootloader yourself, you do need an external programmer. Fear not though – in a previous post, I discovered how to use an Arduino board (together with the mega-isp project) as a make-shift external programmer -> see this post for details.
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An oscillosope is a pretty useful thing to own when working with microprocessors; so I was super happy when I was given an old Kenwood ’scope earlier this week. At the moment it switches on and produces a trace – but only intermittently. The trace intensity varies – and eventually fades. I’m hoping that bringing it back to life won’t be too difficult; to help equip me, I’m trying to get hold of a service manual for the scope
Kenwood CS-1575a Oscilloscope
I haven’t had any luck yet – so far I managed to source a service manual for a Trio CS-1560a.
If anyone has a copy of the manual for the CS-1575a (that they’re willing to share), please get in contact.
To be honest though, I’m a bit worried about killing myself via the high voltage on the board. Whatever I do – I will proceed with caution!
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Well, in my quest to be able to build self-contained devices I decided that it was worth looking at ways to power my microprocessor and attached devices. Up until now I’ve been powering everything using the power supplied from my laptop’s USB supply – but in the future it’s going to be useful to be able to power my arduino (or ATmega micro) independently.
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