Programming the Seeed Studio Sensors Mezzanine Using a PC

The 96Boards Sensors Mezzanine adapter makes it simple and easy to connect sensors and devices to any 96Boards-compatible base board. With it, you can connect your favorite Grove modules and Arduino-compatible shields and interface to software running on the 96Boards base board.

So it's basically an Arduino Uno that connects to the 96Boards Low-Speed Connector.

However it lacks a USB port to program it; instead the usual way to program it is via UART on the LS as shown here.

Programming it using a PC In case you want to program it using Arduino IDE on your PC in order to test the code separately before attaching the Mezzanine to any 96Board. So let's see how we can achieve this:

Hardware Requirements

• SeeedStudio Sensors Mezzanine
• Arduino ISP Programmer
• Micro-USB to Type-A Cable

Hardware Setup Solder the ISP Programmer to the Mezzanine. The ISP pins on the mezzanine are labeled as P6. Make sure to patch the square pad to ensure its soldered in the correct orientation.

Once its done it should look something like this:

Software Setup

Add the Board Definition by editing the following file: /usr/share/arduino/hardware/arduino/avr/boards.txt and append the following lines:

• Make sure the latest revision of Arduino IDE is installed on your system.

########################################################
usbtinyisp328.name=ATmega328 w/ USBtinyISP
usbtinyisp328.upload.using=usbtinyisp
usbtinyisp328.upload.maximum_size=32768
usbtinyisp328.upload.speed=57600
usbtinyisp328.upload.tool=avrdude
usbtinyisp328.build.mcu=atmega328p
usbtinyisp328.build.f_cpu=16000000L
usbtinyisp328.build.core=arduino
usbtinyisp328.build.variant=standard

Add Linux permissions the ISP Programmer by editing the following file: /etc/udev/rules.d/usbtinyisp.rules:

SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, ATTR{idVendor}==”1781″, ATTR{idProduct}==”0c9f”, GROUP=”adm”, MODE=”0666″

This can vary depending on the version of your Linux distro. However if this doesn’t works you can run the Arduino IDE as root.

Finally test it!

Now you can select ATmega328 w/ USBtinyISP from Tools -> Board and flash a blinky example to verify!