[avrdude-dev] avrdude >= 5.4, butterfly protocol and byte mode devices

[Jens Wilhelm Wulf]

Hi,

some time ago I implemented a programmer based on the one of Klaus Leidinger.
It uses block transfers (butterfly style) in any case, even if a byte mode
device is connected. It is described (including firmware, hardware, special
features, software and the current problems with avrdude) on

     http://kisocd.sourceforge.net/en/progelec/avrdev/readme.htm

Since version 5.4, avrdude refuses to do block transfers for byte mode
devices -- for my programmer, consequences are:

  - byte mode devices can't be programmed anymore, as it does not support
    byte transfer ('c' command)
  - even if it would support byte transfer, that would be much slower than
    block transfer (because of usb<->serial converter)
  - I have to stick to version <=5.2 or work around the problem by patching
    avr.c or avrdude.conf

Now version 5.6 added block mode to avr910, but as far as I understand that,
it will still refuse to use block mode on byte mode devices. Why?

Are there plans to allow block mode transfers for any device? 

Best regards,
Jens