There have been multiple reports of dead MODE LEDs in Bus Pirate v3, preorder 2. The cause seems to be a dirty contact on the LED. Most can be repaired by reheating the joint, and possibly adding a bit more solder. In response to this problem, Seeed Studio has changed LED suppliers. We also implemented […]
Category Archives: Bus Pirate
Bus Pirate bootloader v4 upgrade release candidate
Update: Thanks to our testers we caught an early bug, a new update is now available for testing. Last week we identified a shortcoming in the Bus Pirate bootloader. We’ve been working on an upgrade that will free space for more features, eliminate verify errors in the last page of memory, and fix the bootloader […]
Ingenious shrink tube Bus Pirate case
pppd wanted an quick case for the Bus Pirate, and decided to entomb it in heat shrink tube using a hair dryer. Fantastic idea, thanks for the tip! More photos on Flickr.
Bus Pirate firmware v3.6 released
Bus Pirate firmware v3.6 is available for download, this is a minor bug fix release. Update using the normal firmware upgrade procedure. This release does not reach into the upper memory page, so there shouldn’t be any upgrade issues. Changes include: Fixed version string. v3.5 displayed ‘Firmware 3.5’ instead of ‘Firmware v3.5’. This caused issues […]
Laser cut Bus Pirate v3 cases now available
Lots of us have been waiting for an update on Ril3y’s laser cut Bus Pirate case. Synthetos Laboratories (Ril3y’s store) now lists them in clear ($12.99), translucent red, and translucent black (both $14.99). Up to three cases can be shipped within the US for $5.95, international shipping is $13.95. Good luck with this project Ril3y, […]
LPKF EasyContac rivets for vias
Charlie made his own Bus Pirate PCB and used LPKF EasyContac rivets (warning, page denies non-US IPs) to connect the front and back sides. He had to enlarge the vias to 31mils to fit the rivets, and suggests going even bigger if possible. There’s more discussion on Charlie’s blog and at CNC Zone. The LPKF […]
Bus Pirate support in Windows Flashrom port
Flashrom is an open source utility for working with flash storage chips. It supports a bunch of flash chips commonly used on motherboards to hold the system BIOS. biosflasher (Carl-Daniel Hailfinger) recently added Bus Pirate support to Flashrom. Now pgeorgi has released a Windows port of Flashrom with Bus Pirate support, and biosflasher committed the […]
Bus Pirate case from DS/Maxim sample box
Maff^ posted some pictures of a Bus Pirate case made from a Dallas/Maxim sample box in the forum. Lots of people have a few of these little boxes, this is a great way to recycle one. I decided to create my own housing. I had a small transparent box laying around where the BPv3 fitted […]
Bus Pirate firmware v3.5 released
Bus Pirate firmware v3.5 is available for download. Update using the normal firmware upgrade procedure. This release does not reach into the upper memory page, so there shouldn’t be any upgrade issues. Changes include: All bitbang libraries updated to include 100kHz and 400kHz speeds (I2C, raw2wire, raw3wire). Updated self-test, includes over voltage check. Transparent UART […]
DIY Bus Pirate PCBs
s3c posted this home-etched Bus Pirate v3 PCB in the forum. Nice work! Do you etch your own PCBs? We send double-sided PCBs to the board house, but still etch simple single-sided designs. Bus Pirate v0, va, and v1 were all etched on the stove in Ian’s kitchen. If you don’t want to etch your […]
Bus Pirate bootloader v3 testers, help needed
ds30 Loader is the new bootloader we’ve chosen to replace the broken AN1157 bootloader currently in the Bus Pirate. It has a bunch of benefits: Takes less than 10 seconds to update the firmware Fixes the ‘slow’ bootloader problem effecting some PICs Opens 6KB of program space for more features Applications for Windows, Linux, and […]
Bus Pirate bootloader bug
There is nothing wrong with the Bus Pirate, this will only effect future firmware upgrades. There’s an erase issue with the AN1157 bootloader used in all Bus Pirate versions. So far it’s not been a problem because it only effects an unused section of memory, but the next firmware release might require that space. The […]
Having Bus Pirate Tera Term issues?
The most recent shipments of Bus Pirate v3 are starting to arrive worldwide. Some users are having a problem with the Tera Term terminal program. First, please test your Bus Pirate with a terminal prior to upgrading. It’s harder to troubleshoot if we can’t immediately eliminate factory defect as the cause. Second, make sure you […]
Bus Pirate: OpenOCD (JTAG) firmware port v00
A Bus Pirate v2go/v3 port of the OpenOCD JTAG debugger source code from USBPROG is complete. You can download the source and latest compile from the OpenOCD folder in the project SVN. Firmware is only half of the equation though, OpenOCD doesn’t yet support the USBPROG protocol over a (virtual) serial port like the Bus […]
Bus Pirate OpenOCD (JTAG) support update
OpenOCD is a popular open source JTAG utility. Zach Welch, a regular contributor to the project, has offered to help add Bus Pirate support.You can follow the progress in his git repository. The current plan is to port the excellent work done by the USBPROG project to the Bus Pirate. Here are some tentative goals: […]
Bus Pirate feature requests?
Firmware version 3.3 for the Bus Pirate will be released in a few weeks. Are there any bug fixes or features you’d like to see in the next firmware release? We’ve made these updates since the last release: Self-test now checks for voltage regulator over range, as well as under. UART macro 3: transparent bridge […]
SparkFun's Bus Pirate
Months ago SparkFun mentioned that they were working on something similar to the Bus Pirate. We asked them to please consider using the Bus Pirate design because it already has a bunch of features, and it’s in the public domain. Today we received a prototype of the SparkFun Bus Pirate. SparkFun is the fourth company […]
Annotated Bus Pirate photo
Gerard Braad made a fully annotated photo of the Bus Pirate on Flickr. Each pin, chip, and passive component is described in photo notes as you move your mouse over the image. Bus Pirate v3 is available for immediate delivery from Seeed Studio for $30, including worldwide shipping. Each Bus Pirate purchased at Seeed Studio […]
Bus Pirate firmware v3.1
Version 3.1 of the Bus Pirate firmware is now on the project Google Code page. This release includes a few bug fixes, and updates to the Spanish and Italian translations. The biggest bug fix corrects a problem with frozen hardware when using the live UART monitor. The main Bus Pirate firmware now occupies almost all […]
Bus Pirate AVR programmer update
EGHM confirmed that the Bus Pirate will program ATMega8s at 3.3volts from AVR Studio. Thanks for the update. Public domain image by DustyDingo.