Faster upload time - directory change and modified programmers.txt

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I found that the directory location specified in the Quick Start Guide did not work for me. From researching online, it appears that after using the BoardManager in the IDE (updating boards) it changes the directory it looks in for updates.

So, to get the Blinks Programmer to work, I did the following:

  1. Create a programmers.txt file that only contains the following. This is all that’s needed since the IDE appends this to the programmers.txt found in its Application folder. Only minor name changes to your original “Blinks Programmer” portion (and removing the programmers already specified in the Arduino application programmers.txt file).

​​ blinksprogrammer.name=Blinks Programmer
​​blinksprogrammer.communication=usb
​​blinksprogrammer.protocol=usbtiny
​​blinksprogrammer.program.tool=avrdude
​​blinksprogrammer.program.extra_params=-B3

  1. Move this new programmers.txt (from step 1) to the avr directory where you placed your Move38-Blinks-Library. I.e. <Sketchbook>/hardware/Move38-Blinks-Library/avr

  2. Restart the Arduino IDE and you should see a “Blinks Programmer” in the programmer menu.

  3. Select the “Blinks Programmer” to achieve a dramatically faster load time.
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Awesome, added a link to this in the quick start guide. Your steps are very clear.

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I found another way to add the programmer - and it allows me to modify the USBTiny programmer parameters (for integration with VSCode) AND set the extra params -B3! This avoids the need for exposing the Blinks Programmer in VSCode.

The Arduino app uses the programmers.txt file in your Arduino “Application Data” directory for your platform. On my iMac, it’s in //Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/avr/1.6.21. (Your version numbers may be different)

Edit that file and add the 5 lines for Blinks Programmer to the end. Save and restart the Arduino IDE.

If you’re using VSCode, you can (in addition to or instead of above) add the -B3 to the extra_params of the USBTiny configuration. And, this avoids needing my backdoor method of adding the Blinks Programmer directly to VSCode.

BTW, you can tell if your modification to USBTiny worked by looking for the “Setting bit clk period” line in the verbose output for the Arduino IDE. For the USBTiny extra_params value of -B3, you’d see below. If extra_params was empty you wouldn’t see the line at all.

     Using Port                    : usb
     Using Programmer              : usbtiny
     Setting bit clk period        : 3.0

avrdude: usbdev_open(): Found USBtinyISP, bus:device: 253:008

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