Hi,

Is there a way to program the Xino or OpenKontroller by other means then using a FTDI cable, for example through RS232 directly ?

I also have an Arduino Mega2560 but cant take the cpu out so cant use the FTDI route like mentioned on several places..

There are a few other options, however, a cheap FTDI cable (like this one from eBay) is probably the cheapest, easiest, and most useful option. However, you could consider at the following alternatives;

• Use a MAX232 and a few capacitors to do the level shifting between RS232 and logic serial
• Buy an ICSP programmer (Both the Xino and OpenKontrol Gateway have ICSP headers, although there was a batch of Xino PCBs where the pinout was non-standart)
• Plug a URF in to PC serial port and an ERF in to Xino/OKG and program wirelessly
• Add headers to URF to use it as an FTDI adapter

There are probably a few other ways, but those are the ones that spring to mind at the moment.

Spencer

Ooops, sorry, I also missed the easy one that won't cost you any more than 6 jumper cables

Program your 2560 with the ArduinoISP sketch (an 'example' sketch in the IDE), and you can then wire across to a Xino or OpenKontrol Gateway and program away from there.

See arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP for more info.

Spencer

Thanks for your reply.

I have been trying to use the Mega for ISP programming but for some reason it wont work.
I did load the ArduinoISP, even tried the revised one on Adafruits website.
Loadng the ISP goes wel, did wire the Mega reset to +5 with an R110 (actually 2 R220 in parallel) but when trying to program the Xino it says it cant communicate. The bootloader in de Xino works because i did test i by hookup a LED to pin 13 and it blinks 3 times on and off.

Here's the wiring from the mega to xino

Mega pin vs Xino pin
50 (MISO) 12
51 (MOSI) 11
52 (SCK) 13
53 (SS) RST (above 3.3V)

2 * R220 in parallel on the Mega REST and +5V

Using ArduinoIDE 1.0 on Linux (Ubuntu)

- loading ArduinoISP to Mega
- setting programmer to "Arduino as ISP"
- setting board to Arduino Uno
- load "Examples->Basics->Blink"
- upload

On the Mega I see three blinks on the RX led (receiving data from PC) but nothing happens on TX
The I get error: avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

it's not possible to use the ArduinoISP in this manor to just upload a sketch to another micro.
from within the arduino IDE its only usefully to uploaded the boot loader firmware

ArduinoISP can be used independent of the Arduino IDE to reprogram IC's but that it done directly with avrdude, and before that you need to compile your code into a hex with avr-gcc.

its rather complex route if you have only worked within the ArduinoIDE before, they do a nice job hiding a lot of work behind the upload button

Matt

I finally gave up on using the Arduino as an ISP. Couldnt get it to work.

Luckily I had an old KWS2000 OBD programmer laying around. I had a FT232BL chip on it so i managed to get that part
isolated from the rest of the OBD interface and reused it as a FTDI programmer !

I've got to admit that I've only used the arduinoISP sketch to program ATTiny micros. I assumed that it worked the same for ATMegas, but obviously not. Sorry. Glad that you were able to sort out an FTDI adapter though.

Spencer