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**ISPHIDIUS** logo

ISPHIDIUS™ Firmware

ISPHIDIUS™ Firmware is an open-source USB ISP programmer implementation for AVR microcontrollers. It provides a compact HID-based interface designed for driverless operation and integration with modern WebHID tools.

The firmware powers official ISPHIDIUS hardware devices developed by Tinusaur®.

Prebuilt Binaries

Download: Latest firmware isphidius-firmware.hex — pre-built for flashing with avrdude or any AVR ISP programmer. The WebHID app requires firmware v0.8.3 or newer (command protocol; older versions are incompatible).

Prebuilt binaries

Updating the Firmware

To upload or update the firmware on the programmer you want to use with ISPHIDIUS, you will need another AVR ISP programmer. This can be the popular USBasp programmer with its standard firmware, another ISPHIDIUS programmer, or any other compatible AVR ISP programmer.

This is a common requirement when working with AVR-based devices: a programmer is needed once to install or update the firmware on the target device.

There are already many excellent step-by-step tutorials online explaining this process. We will also publish our own guide for ISPHIDIUS very soon. Stay tuned.

Upload firmware

What It Does

The firmware makes the board act like a simple, reliable link between your browser and the AVR chip you’re programming. When you click “Read Flash” or “Write EEPROM” in the WebHID app, the firmware receives those commands over USB and performs the actual read or write on the target chip.

Benefits:

  • No drivers — The board appears as a standard USB device. Your browser connects to it directly.
  • Works everywhere — Same firmware works on any computer and any operating system.
  • Secure — Communication happens through the browser’s WebHID API, with no background services or kernel drivers.

For Developers

The firmware runs on an ATmega8 and uses V-USB for USB. The source code and full technical documentation (protocol spec, build instructions, hardware reference) are in the isphidius-firmware project.

  • Root: README.md, CHANGELOG.md
  • docs/: COMMANDS-AND-REPORTS.md, IMPLEMENTATION.md, DEVELOPMENT.md, DEVICE-INFO.md, VUSB_README.md
  • releases/: isphidius-firmware.hex (always latest); versioned files (e.g. isphidius-firmware-v0.8.3.hex)

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).

You may use, study, modify, and redistribute this software under the terms of GPLv3. Derivative works must remain open source and licensed under GPLv3.

The ISPHIDIUS project is a work in progress. Some features may be missing or not working as expected. We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to improve it.

ISPHIDIUS™ is a trademark of Tinusaur®. The name, logo, and branding are not covered by the GPLv3 license. Derivative works may not use the ISPHIDIUS name or branding without permission.