Navigating the process of interfacing a new microchip can be a real headache. You've got to breadboard a circuit, write code, dig out the programmer, or perhaps even prototype a PCB. And more often than not, we don't get it right on the first go. Enter the 'Bus Pirate', a top - notch universal bus interface. It lets you communicate with most chips directly from a PC serial terminal. This means you can cut out a huge amount of early prototyping work when dealing with new or unknown chips. It supports a wide range of serial protocols at 0 - 5.5 volts, and there's always room to add more. Adafruit is the official US distributor of Ian Lesnet's Bus Pirate. Every purchase you make directly supports Dangerous Prototypes! You might also want to grab a probe set. Protocols supported include 1 - Wire, I2C, SPI, JTAG, asynchronous serial (UART), MIDI, PC keyboard, HD44780 LCDs, and generic 2 - and 3 - wire libraries for custom protocols. The Bus Pirate comes with some amazing features. It has a USB interface and is USB - powered. The pins can tolerate 0 - 5.5 volts, and there's a 0 - 6 volt measurement probe. It can measure frequencies from 1Hz to 40MHz and has a 1kHz - 4MHz pulse - width modulator and frequency generator. There are on - board multi - voltage pull - up resistors and 3.3 volt and 5 volt power supplies with software reset. It has macros for common operations, bus traffic sniffers for SPI and I2C, a bootloader for easy USB firmware updates, a transparent USB - to - serial bridge mode, a 10Hz - 1MHz low - speed logic analyzer. It also has custom support in AVRDUDE and Flashrom, is an AVR STK500 v2 programmer clone, can be scripted from Perl, Python, etc., and has translations in Spanish and Italian.
Using the Bus Pirate is quite straightforward. First, connect it to your PC via the USB interface. Once it's powered up, you can start communicating with chips from the PC serial terminal. When using it, make sure the voltage of the chips you're working with is within the 0 - 5.5 volts tolerance range of the pins. If you need to measure voltage, use the 0 - 6 volt measurement probe. For frequency measurement, you can rely on its 1Hz - 40MHz frequency measurement capability. To keep it in good shape, avoid exposing it to extreme temperatures or humidity. When not in use, store it in a dry and cool place. If you want to update the firmware, use the on - board bootloader. Just follow the instructions provided in the software. Also, be careful when using the power supplies. Don't short - circuit them. If you encounter any issues, refer to the custom support in AVRDUDE and Flashrom, or use the scriptable features from Perl, Python to troubleshoot.
