Re: [avr-chat] ATmega164P/324P/644P and Dragon Rider (was JTAG Debug)

[David VanHorn]

> No, I'm afraid not.  The AVR ICE-Cube is possible because the design of the
> Atmel Mk I was (intentionally or not) open.  That is, you can find
> schematics for it on the Web and its manner of operation is well known. This
> is not true of the Mk II.  To "clone" the Mk II would require a lot of
> reverse engineering and the result would be of dubious legality unless this
> was done "double blind".  With the cost of parts for the Mk II, this would
> put the price of the clone up around half the cost of the real thing, so the
> savings would not be so compelling.  Finally, a lot of the ground covered by
> the Mk II is covered by the $52 AVR Dragon.  So, to repeat myself, no, I
> don't have any such plans.

It's a pity they've chosen this path.

The price of the MkII is unfortunate, but the profits (if any) on
sales of dev tools are hardly a pinprick in Atmels bottom line.
The more important thing, is to get those tools into as many hands as possible.
If they were to open up there, motivated parties could produce clones
as was done with the MK1 and Atmel would gain far more from that than
they do in selling onesies of dev tools.

Many companies have demo boards and similar dev support items that
have a "list price" that seems kinda high, but if the FAE thinks
you're working on something worthwhile, they will just give you the
items.  Atmel, IMHO, should follow that path, and fix studio so it's
useful again. The existing path is penny-wise, and kilopound-foolish.

But, they didn't ask me... :)