Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.


Option Descriptions

AVRDUDE is a command line tool, used as follows:

avrdude -p partno options ...

Command line options are used to control AVRDUDE's behaviour. The following options are recognized:

-p partno
This is the only mandatory option and it tells AVRDUDE what type of part (MCU) that is connected to the programmer. The partno parameter is the part's id listed in the configuration file. Specify -p ? to list all parts in the configuration file. If a part is unknown to AVRDUDE, it means that there is no config file entry for that part, but it can be added to the configuration file if you have the Atmel datasheet so that you can enter the programming specifications. Currently, the following MCU types are understood:
t15
ATtiny15
1200
AT90S1200
2313
AT90S2313
2333
AT90S2333
2343
AT90S2343 (*)
4414
AT90S4414
4433
AT90S4433
4434
AT90S4434
8515
AT90S8515
8535
AT90S8535
m163
ATMEGA163
m169
ATMEGA169
m128
ATMEGA128
m103
ATMEGA103
m16
ATMEGA16
m8
ATMEGA8
(*) The AT90S2323 uses the same algorithm.
-c programmer-id
Specify the programmer to be used. AVRDUDE knows about several common programmers. Use this option to specify which one to use. The programmer-id parameter is the programmer's id listed in the configuration file. Specify -c ? to list all programmers in the configuration file. If you have a programmer that is unknown to AVRDUDE, and the programmer is controlled via the PC parallel port, there's a good chance that it can be easily added to the configuration file without any code changes to AVRDUDE. Simply copy an existing entry and change the pin definitions to match that of the unknown programmer.
-C config-file
Use the specified config file for configuration data. This file contains all programmer and part definitions that AVRDUDE knows about. If you have a programmer or part that AVRDUDE does not know about, you can add it to the config file (be sure and submit a patch back to the author so that it can be incorporated for the next version). If not specified, AVRDUDE reads the configuration file from /usr/local/etc/avrdude.conf (FreeBSD and Linux). See Appendix A for the method of searching for the configuration file for Windows.
-e
Causes a chip erase to be executed. This will reset the contents of the flash ROM and EEPROM to the value `0xff', and is basically a prerequisite command before the flash ROM can be reprogrammed again. The only exception would be if the new contents would exclusively cause bits to be pro- grammed from the value `1' to `0'. Note that in order to reprogram EERPOM cells, no explicit prior chip erase is required since the MCU provides an auto-erase cycle in that case before programming the cell.
-E exitspec[,...]
By default, AVRDUDE leaves the parallel port in the same state at exit as it has been found at startup. This option modifies the state of the `/RESET' and `Vcc' lines the par- allel port is left at, according to the exitspec arguments provided, as follows:
reset
The `/RESET' signal will be left activated at pro- gram exit, that is it will be held low, in order to keep the MCU in reset state afterwards. Note in particular that the programming algorithm for the AT90S1200 device mandates that the `/RESET' signal is active before powering up the MCU, so in case an external power supply is used for this MCU type, a previous invocation of AVRDUDE with this option specified is one of the possible ways to guarantee this condition.
noreset
The `/RESET' line will be deactivated at program exit, thus allowing the MCU target program to run while the programming hardware remains connected.
vcc
This option will leave those parallel port pins active (i. e. high) that can be used to supply `Vcc' power to the MCU.
novcc
This option will pull the `Vcc' pins of the paral- lel port down at program exit.
Multiple exitspec arguments can be separated with commas.
-f format
This option specifies the file format for the input or out- put files to be processed. Format can be one of:
i
Intel Hex
s
Motorola S-record
r
raw binary; little-endian byte order, in the case of the flash ROM data
a
auto detect; valid for input only, and only if the input is not provided at stdin.
The default is to use auto detection for input files, and raw binary format for output files.
-F
Normally, AVRDUDE tries to verify that the device signature read from the part is reasonable before continuing. Since it can happen from time to time that a device has a broken (erased or overwritten) device signature but is otherwise operating normally, this options is provided to override the check.
-i filename
Specifies the input file to be programmed into the MCU. Can be specified as `-' to use stdin as the input.
-m memtype
Specifies which program area of the MCU to read or write; allowable values depend on the MCU being programmed, but most support at least eeprom for the EEPROM, and flash for the flash ROM. Use the @option{-v} option on the command line or the part command from terminal mode to display all the memory types supported by a particular device. The default is flash.
-n
No-write - disables actually writing data to the MCU (useful for debugging AVRDUDE).
-o filename
Specifies the name of the output file to write, and causes the respective memory area to be read from the MCU. Can be specified as `-' to write to stdout.
-P port
Use port to identify the device to which the programmer is attached. By default the /dev/ppi0 port is used, but if the programmer type normally connects to the serial port, the /dev/cuaa0 port is the default. If you need to use a different parallel or serial port, use this option to spec- ify the alternate port name.
-t
Tells AVRDUDE to enter the interactive "terminal" mode instead of up- or downloading files. See below for a detailed description of the terminal mode.
-v
Enable verbose output.
-V
Disable automatic verify check when uploading data.
-y
Tells AVRDUDE to use the last four bytes of the connected parts' EEPROM memory to track the number of times the device has been erased. When this option is used and the @option{-e} flag is specified to generate a chip erase, the previous counter will be saved before the chip erase, it is then incremented, and written back after the erase cycle com- pletes. Presumably, the device would only be erased just before being programmed, and thus, this can be utilized to give an indication of how many erase-rewrite cycles the part has undergone. Since the FLASH memory can only endure a finite number of erase-rewrite cycles, one can use this option to track when a part is nearing the limit. The typ- ical limit for Atmel AVR FLASH is 1000 cycles. Of course, if the application needs the last four bytes of EEPROM mem- ory, this option should not be used.
-Y cycles
Instructs AVRDUDE to initialize the erase-rewrite cycle counter residing at the last four bytes of EEPROM memory to the specified value. If the application needs the last four bytes of EEPROM memory, this option should not be used.


Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.