How To Program ATmega Microcontrollers Using Parallel Port In Linux

Parallel Port Programmer for ATmega8 is a simple circuit that can be made at home. Parallel Port Programmer Circuit is as shown below. 

Circuit Diagram

Components Required
9V Battery                     - 1
7805 Voltage Regulator   - 1
ATmega8                       - 1
DB-25 Female                - 1
Crystal Oscillator 4MHz  - 1
Resistor 10K                  - 1
Resistor 1K                    - 8
Capacitor 27pF               - 2
Capacitor 10uf                - 1
Capacitor 1 uf                 - 1

Softwares To Be Installed

1. avr-libc
2. binutils-avr
3. avrdude
4. gcc
5. gcc-avr
6. uisp

Software Installation
Now open your terminal and execute the following commands to install the softwares.
          
sudo apt-get install avr-libc binutils-avr avrdude gcc gcc-avr
sudo apt-get install uisp

Now create your first program.

Execute the following command to create the program file.

nano first.c

Now copy the following code to this file.

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <util/delay.h>

void sleep(uint8_t millisec)
{
while(millisec)
{
_delay_ms(1);/* 1 ms delay */
millisec--;
}
}

int main()
{
DDRC |=0b11111111;   //Declare PORT C as an output
while(1)
        
{
PORTC |=0b11111111;
PORTC &=0b00000000;  //turn off PORT C 
sleep(1000);

PORTC |=0b11111111;
PORTC &=0b11111111; //turn on PORT C
sleep(1000);
  }
return 1;
}

Next is to save the file. Press CTRL + O  to save the file. Now exit from the file. Press CTRL + X to exit from the file.

Next is to compile the code. Execute the following command to compile the code. Compiling will generate an object file.

avr-gcc -mmcu=atmega8 first.c -o first

Now generate the hex file from the object file. Execute the following command to generate the hex file.

avr-objcopy -O ihex first first.hex

Now upload the hex file to your microcontroller using the following command. Before executing the following command connect the programmer circuit to your parallel port.

sudo uisp -dprog=dapa -dpart=ATmega8 if=first.hex -dlpt=0x378 --erase --upload

Now you will get the following result in terminal. Then programming ATmega8 is successfull.