Just for future knowledge, can the Arduino bootloader be burned on all AVR microcontrollers, besides the ones used in the Arduino boards? That way, I can program any AVR with the Arduino IDE.
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1 Answers
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Let's split this into multiple questions, shall we?
Can the Arduino bootloader be burned onto all AVR MCUs?
Yes. Even the ATtiny4/5 has enough flash to hold the smallest Arduino bootloader available.
Can the Arduino bootloader work on all AVR MCUs?
No. Not all AVRs support the operations required for the bootloader to be able to write code to the flash. Some don't support a bootloader at all.
And now the one you didn't come close to considering:
Will burning the bootloader to an AVR allow me to use the Arduino ecosystem with it?
NO. The bootloader isn't even required for MCUs that currently use it. What is needed to use the Arduino libraries is a "core", and what is needed for the IDE is a definition in boards.txt. What you need to do is find a core and definition for the MCU you're interested in, and a programmer. Once you do those you can use the MCU with the Arduino libraries and IDE all you like.
