We try to keep the Bus Pirate manual updated with the latest command changes and macros, but like many open source projects, documentation lags behind development. If you like to organize information and have a grasp of rudimentary HTML (links, anchors), please consider joining the Bus Pirate project as a manual maintainer. This position comes […]
Category Archives: Bus Pirate
Bus Pirate nightly version 2.7
There’s some major internal changes in the latest nightly firmware. The binary mode features are implemented and nearly complete. Several bug fixes and a new macro went into the UART library. Your help testing this new firmware prior to a final release is greatly appreciated. Please leave a comment if you find bugs, or if […]
UART mode updates
See the latest version in the documentation wiki. UART mode requires special handling compared to the other Bus Pirate modes because data can arrive at any time. Displaying data as it arrives is a unique challenge because it has to be converted to ASCII and sent to the user terminal. Each incoming byte takes about […]
Bus Pirate: Nokia 3310 LCD
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/7139826] blue.zener interfaced a Nokia 3310 LCD using the new Bus Pirate binary mode. He also wrote a general Ruby class for the Bus Pirate binmode. There’s a bit more in the forum, too. The step-by-step overview is excellent, great work! Don’t forget that we want your scripts too. We’re giving away two Bus […]
Bus Pirate: Binary UART mode
See the latest version on the documentation wiki. The Bus Pirate’s new binary modes provide a consistent, logical way to script actions from Python, Perl, etc. We already introduced the new binary bitbang, SPI, and I2C modes. This post outlines the binary UART functions. A UART is like a PC serial port. Binary mode will […]
Self-test in binary mode
See the latest version in the documentation wiki. Since v2 the Bus Pirate firmware has included a self-test that verifies the function of pins and peripherals. The latest v2.6-nightly build adds a self-test to the binary bitbang mode. This is a useful way for applications to test the Bus Pirate, and for manufacturing quality control. […]
Create /dev/bus_pirate on Linux
blue.zener demonstrates some handy Linux UDEV foo that assigns the Bus Pirate to /dev/bus_pirate, instead of the boring /dev/ttyusb. This can be used to give any device a more memorable name under Linux. Thanks for the tip! [Tux image]
Python Bus Pirate binmode library
Audiohacked developed pyBusPirateLite, a Python interface to the new Bus Pirate binmode. It includes libraries that manage each mode (bitbang, SPI, I2C), and an example SPI EEPROM reader built on the libraries. Download a copy from our example scripts folder, or get the latest code at Audiohacked’s git repository. You’ll also need pySerial if you […]
Free probe cables for your binmode scripts
We want your scripts! The Bus Pirate has three new binary access modes that can be scripted from a PC: I2C, SPI, and bitbang. There’s already some basic Perl demos in the example scrips folder. If you script something for any of the new modes, in any language, we’d like to host it with the […]
Bus Pirate: Binary I2C mode
See the latest version in the documentation wiki. The Bus Pirate’s new binary modes provide a consistent, logical way to script actions from Python, Perl, etc. We already introduced the new binary bitbang and SPI modes, today we’ll document the binary I2C mode. Binary I2C will be in the v2.6 firmware release, for now you […]
Bus Pirate firmware v2.5
Firmware v2.5 is a minor fix release. We cleaned up two small bugs in the binary SPI library, and removed an update to the smartcard library to make it more flexible. This should be the last rapid release to correct minor bugs – sorry about that, we want a final release firmware with fully […]
Bus Pirate probe cable, $7.75
Seeed Studio is now listing a Bus Pirate compatible probe cable kit for $4.90. That’s about $7.75 including worldwide shipping. This cable has been a pretty popular item, we’re really glad Seeed is making them available for everyone. The cable is a kit that you solder yourself. It includes a 2×5 connector that mates with […]
Bus Pirate binmode Perl test script
Here’s a Perl script that demonstrates the new Bus Pirate binary bitbang mode. You’ll need Perl with Win32::SerialPort or Device::SerialPort, and a Bus Pirate with firmware v2.4 or later. Edit the script to use the correct serial port number and device. We chose Perl because we had never used it before, and we weren’t in […]
Bus Pirate preorder update
The Bus Pirate v3 preorder has been a great success. Seeed moved to a second preorder because we, once again, exhausted the supply of critical chips available for the Bus Pirate. So much for advanced planning! If you got in on preorder 1, your Bus Pirate is being manufactured at this very moment. It should […]
Bus Pirate firmware v2.4
HiZ>i Bus Pirate v2go http://dangerousprototypes.com Firmware v2.4 DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3042 (B4) HiZ> Download Bus Pirate firmware v2.4. This should fix the ‘dead terminal syndrome’ experienced by some users with the v2.3 firmware. It includes all fixes from v2.3. It looks like some garbage 0x00 bytes were triggering the new binary IO modes accidentally. The binary modes […]
Bus Pirate probe cable
Seeed Studio may put together a Bus Pirate probe cable kit. We’re not involved in this sale, but we encouraged Seeed to offer it as an inexpensive accessory for the Bus Pirate. We get a lot of questions about this cable, this might be your chance to get one. We suggested that Seeed use the […]
Bus Pirate firmware v2.3 problems
There have been several problems reported with the recent Bus Pirate v2.3 firmware release. We believe it’s a problem with some terminals sending NULL characters (0x00) to the Bus Pirate, which causes it to enter the new binary IO mode. This 2.4-nightly for v2go tries to fix that problem by looking for 20 NULL characters […]
Bus Pirate: Binary bitbang mode
See the latest version in the documentation wiki. There’s two new binary I/O libraries in the v2.3 Bus Pirate firmware. Raw bitbang mode provides direct control over the Bus Pirate pins and hardware using a simple single-byte protocol. We discussed the new raw SPI mode yesterday. Hopefully the raw access modes inspire some interesting new […]
Bus Pirate firmware v2.3
Bus Pirate firmware v2.3 is available for download. This version fixes a major bug with the speed settings in all modes, but especially in the UART library. There’s also two new binary IO modes for controlling the Bus Pirate from a PC, which should allow a number of complicated programmer functions that couldn’t fit in […]
Bus Pirate: Raw SPI mode
See the latest version in the documentation wiki. Raw SPI is a new mode that provides high-speed access to the Bus Pirate SPI hardware. It was developed in conjunction with Michal Ludvig, so that AVRDude can use the Bus Pirate to program AVR microcontrollers and EEPROMs. Firmware v2.3 includes two new raw I/O modes that […]