Programmer Firmware

[hahalcs]

Hi all, I came across few programmer schematics and noticed that the microcontroller used to store firmware is the same product as the microcontroller that is intended to programmer.

My question is, how are we going to do the 1st time programming to the firmware microcontroller?

Thank you.

[oldvan]

Find a friend who has a programmer already.

Many of us here wouldn't mind burning a chip and mailing it to someone to get them started.

[DarkClover]

Which kind of Microcontroller do you use ?
Maybe there is a simple programmer without any special components.

[adrian]

Hi,
First depends on which port and which PIC u need to burn.
Maybe FD-ART2003http://www.foxdelta.com/products/art2003.htm
or easypic http://www.jdm.homepage.dk/easypic.htm
Can get u started. Good luck. I've built one of the most reliable so far. EPIC prog.
But i've made an ICD2 Clone, and ICD-U40. Stil i'm using EPIC 98%. I dont know
why, but i just love it. Happy learning PIC'n.

[sacoroxo]

If you will use the AVR family (like ATMEGA8, ATMEGA168, etc), you should try this circuit (attached), it works fine with PonyProg.

[pickit2]

or for a Pic chip see.
http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys/

[phasetek]

It depends on which type of programmer you are referring to, for a PIC, you need a pic programmer, there are some really basic/cheap ones for one off use, espeically if you don't need it to work in mplab (just to build the programmer).  Other types have loader in rom.  i.e. if you are building a J-Link that uses an Atmel ARM, uses SAM-BA boot assistant which is in ROM on every new device, does not require a programmer, just a USB cable.  Atmel AVR can use ponyprog, and there are a few that work direct through parallel port.