[SOLVED] understanding USBASP

[nagsaver]

hey guys,
My usbasp has an ATmega8 on it.....I understand that when i am tryin to program my microcontroller(which is also ATmega8) the two microcontrollers(one on the usbasp and the one i am programming) communicate by SPI(serial peripheral Interface).....But my doubt is how is the .hex file transferred to the ATmega8 on the programmer in the first place?????

 

[alexan_e]

The USBasp uses USB to connect to the PC, that is where the data is transfered from.

 

[nagsaver]

Ok if that is the case then why do we have a programmer in the first place ???we can directly use the microcontroller of the programmer right??

 

[alexan_e]

You mean why not have the USB connected directly to the chip being programed?
This wouldn't work unless there is some kind of bootloader that uses USB to self program the chip.
This is how arduino works so that it doesn't need an external programmer but the chips are already using a bootloader.

Another similar project is https://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/usbasploader.html

 

[nagsaver]

Ok fine got it....