AVR-Chat

--- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "Philip Hahn" <everphilski@...> 
wrote:

> What would you guys recommend
> as a "starter kit" ...

I think you should look in the tools section of AVRFreaks, where you 
will find a wide variety of programmers, debuggers and development 
boards.  Many of them work as well or better than the Atmel tools.

You should make two decisions soon.  Maybe three.  Will you want to 
perform on-chip debugging, or will just a programming interface be 
enough?  Do you think your projects will fit in devices with 32 KiB 
of program memory or will you need the larger devices?  Also, how 
much money are you willing to spend.

If you won't need debugging, you have a very wide choice of 
programmers available to you.

If you will need debugging and you wont need devices over 32 KiB, the 
AVR Dragon gives you a lot of bang for the buck.

If you need debugging and you will need devices over 32 KiB but you 
can't spend a lot of money, consider a clone of the Atmel JTAGICE Mk 
I.

If you can spend a bunch of money, you might as well get an Atmel 
JTAGICE Mk II.

Graham.