Bus Pirate

[SuperMiguel]

Any of you guys use the Bus Pirate? whats the point of it? i know it can be use as a very slow scope, a programmer and a logic analizer... But the documentation states that is not good at any of this 3.. So whats the point of it?  what can you do with it

[alm]

I use it mainly for serial interfaces like 1-wire, I2C, SPI. For example, I recently used it to read and program an I2C EEPROM. Sure, I could have hooked up a micro and spend some time writing a program and debugging it, but a finished product is nicer and faster. I believe the original intent was to allow quick prototyping and experimentation with new devices/sensors. The terminal-like interface is much faster than re-programming a micro each time you want to change some setting like speed or polarity.

[gonnafail]

I have one and it is one of my favorite pieces of kit. When ever I am working with a new IC I will connect it to the bus pirate and use that to step through initialization sequence and get the chip up and running. I find that datasheets are always lacking a section that simply and clearly states that to get the IC working do X then Y followed by Z. Some trial and error is always needed and so I do this trial and error with the bus pirate. Then when I am confident about the operation programming the micro is easy as I have an understanding of what needs to be done. It is also really nice for troubleshooting circuits, if you are having problems with a circuit not working quite right you can connect it up to sections of the circuit and use it in place of the micro. So you can connect it up and verify that the circuit is good then you know the issue is in the micro. For I think was $30, it is the most bang for buck device I own.
I have no affiliation with the product just a very happy customer.

[SuperMiguel]

I have one and it is one of my favorite pieces of kit. When ever I am working with a new IC I will connect it to the bus pirate and use that to step through initialization sequence and get the chip up and running. I find that datasheets are always lacking a section that simply and clearly states that to get the IC working do X then Y followed by Z. Some trial and error is always needed and so I do this trial and error with the bus pirate. Then when I am confident about the operation programming the micro is easy as I have an understanding of what needs to be done. It is also really nice for troubleshooting circuits, if you are having problems with a circuit not working quite right you can connect it up to sections of the circuit and use it in place of the micro. So you can connect it up and verify that the circuit is good then you know the issue is in the micro. For I think was $30, it is the most bang for buck device I own.
I have no affiliation with the product just a very happy customer.

is there a guide on how to actually do that?

[gonnafail]

http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate

That is the link to Bus Pirate section of Dangerous Prototypes. They design the Bus Pirate. From that page you can get to the manual, tutorials, examples, anything you would need to know.

[Time]

Doesn't hackaday have something similar to this?  or I am confused?

[EEVblog]

As the name implies, I believe it's primarily a bus sniffer/decoder. I2C, SPI, RS232, that kind of stuff.

Dave.

[Time]

This is what I am thinking of:  http://code.google.com/p/the-bus-pirate/

Its the same thing that gonnafail posted.  It comes from the guys over at HackADay.  If I am wrong I am sure someone here won't be slow to correct me.

Browse these hackaday posts: http://hackaday.com/author/ianlesnet/

[gonnafail]

As the name implies, I believe it's primarily a bus sniffer/decoder. I2C, SPI, RS232, that kind of stuff.

That is exactly its use. It is nothing revolutionary. At my work we use the Aardvark which is another product that is similar, has a much nicer user interface but costs a lot more and the functionality is limited compared to the bus pirate. I am sure there are others products like this out there as well.

Doesn't hackaday have something similar to this?  or I am confused?

I do not really know the details on this but I believe it was Ian Lesnet who created the bus pirate. Ian Lesnet was formerly a blogger for Hackaday and so there were posts on that site about the product. Dangerous prototypes is possibly Ian's own site? or at least one where he is the main contributer. The development and information on the Bus Pirate are on that site.

[Time]

Ah, well he says "we" made the bus pirate or "our" bus pirate so I figured it was a group effort. 

[cybergibbons]

I find it a very useful piece of kit. It isn't too flashy, but it is only $28 assembled, which is a bargain.

It natively works with I2C, SPI etc. which is very useful for quickly getting up to speed with hardware. The 2-wire and 3-wire binary mode is really handy to quickly implement non-standard debug/programming interfaces.

[cybergibbons]

This is the kind of thing a Bus Pirate is useful for - I'm trying to access the debug port in a consumer device with a CC1110 RF SoC inside it. Although I've only had limited success so far, it hasn't taken much effort...