Unix Tiny Boot Loader Loader, or UTB2L , means what it's name means, an unix loader for the Tiny Boot Loader.
"One of the tasks in circuits where microcontrollers are used, is the programming of the device, in this proccess you must to program the flash memory of the microcontroller with the binary code generated in the compilation proccess ( from assembly, C, or whatever)".
If you have used a microcontroller before you know what I am talking about. The development tasks are tedious and slow:
- Remove the chip from the circuit
- Put it in the programmer
- Load your code in the programmer application
- Flash up the microcontroller
- Remove from the programmer
- And finally install it in your circuit
Each step each time you modify your code and want to test it, imagine a silly bad conditional instruction, or something stupid inside your code, you must make all the steps.
One of the best capabilities for mitigating this is the ability of the microcontroller in reprograming itself, so installing an special boot program inside the microcontroller it can be reprogrammed without removing it from the circuit, and the steps become:
- Load your code into the loader application (which is connected to the target circuit using the serial port) (this application)
- Power Up or Reset the circuit
- Nothing more.
This will give you an idea of the speed gain and flexibility using this method.
Well, after that spagetti introduciton, this program is the software that take your compiled code and send it to the microcontroller, following the protocol implemented in the Tiny Boot Loader, made by Claudiu Chiculita (http://www.etc.ugal.ro/cchiculita/software/picbootloader.htm). This is a very good bootloader that it's only 100 bytes long (one of the smallest I ever see and use), and the best charasteristic I found in it, is that it works well, have a high write speed, work in so many microcontrollers, and last but not less important Claudiu gives the assembly source code of the bootloader, letting you adapt the bootloader for an unsupported model, change the serial port speed, microcontroller frequency, fuses, and learn how this kind of things are made. This piece of code exists thanks to him.
Ummm I forget something, ahhh yes, it is called Unix ..., because it works only in unix or compatible operating systems, for windows check Claudiu website.