Arduino Pro mini programmer

Amber,

               The visiport will only program genuine Pro Mini's in the manner shown on the Tindie website.  I know this because I went through the process of checking after I ordered two visiports.  On the clone versions of the Pro Mini the programming pins are reversed such that the Gnd connection is at the bottom when viewed from the top of the board with the processor chip on the left.  The DTR connection is at the top.  The 'official' Pro Mini pin out is available on the Arduino website.  However I suspect the vast majority of Pro Mini's in use are cloned because they can be bought for less than $3.  There are plenty of diagrams of the clones on the net.  Just Google Pro Mini pin out.

If you used the visport upside down it would connect properly or you could use link wires between the visiport and the pro mini but to my mind this rather defeats the objective.  I was rather disapointed because I wanted to use the visiport as a neat plug in field programmer with extra wires / cables.

If you are going to use a wire link between the programmer and the Pro Mini then you might just as well use the CP2102 based USB to serial devices.  The latest ones break out all the pins you need and a 3.3 volt pin.

In conclusion you could use the visiport to program a clone Pro Mini but not as per the information on Tindie.  I am waiting for my visiports to arrive, as I live in the UK it will take a few days.

The support from Tindie is very good.  The parts are actually dispatched by Earth People Technology.

Hope that helps but if not please ask and I'll try and help further.

Bob

Amber,

               The visiport will only program genuine Pro Mini's in the manner shown on the Tindie website.  I know this because I went through the process of checking after I ordered two visiports.  On the clone versions of the Pro Mini the programming pins are reversed such that the Gnd connection is at the bottom when viewed from the top of the board with the processor chip on the left.  The DTR connection is at the top.  The 'official' Pro Mini pin out is available on the Arduino website.  However I suspect the vast majority of Pro Mini's in use are cloned because they can be bought for less than $3.  There are plenty of diagrams of the clones on the net.  Just Google Pro Mini pin out.

If you used the visport upside down it would connect properly or you could use link wires between the visiport and the pro mini but to my mind this rather defeats the objective.  I was rather disapointed because I wanted to use the visiport as a neat plug in field programmer with extra wires / cables.

If you are going to use a wire link between the programmer and the Pro Mini then you might just as well use the CP2102 based USB to serial devices.  The latest ones break out all the pins you need and a 3.3 volt pin.

In conclusion you could use the visiport to program a clone Pro Mini but not as per the information on Tindie.  I am waiting for my visiports to arrive, as I live in the UK it will take a few days.

The support from Tindie is very good.  The parts are actually dispatched by Earth People Technology.

Hope that helps but if not please ask and I'll try and help further.

Bob