How to program GamerKey V1 via ISP

STEP 1: Download and install Arduino MiniCore core library:

• Download the Arduino software, Install the Arduino software, following the instructions for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux

• Follow these instructions to install MiniCore: In Arduino, you can install the MiniCore support using the built-in boards manager,

• Open the preferences dialog in the Arduino software.

• Find the “Additional Boards Manager URLs” field near the bottom of the dialog.

• Paste the following URL into the field https://mcudude.github.io/MiniCore/package_MCUdude_MiniCore_index.json

• Click the OK button to save your updated preferences.

• Open the boards manager in the “Tools > Board” menu.

• Select “MiniCore by MCUdude” and click “Install”.

• Close the boards manager. You should now see an entry for MiniCore in the “Tools > Board” menu.

STEP 2: Turning the Arduino board into a ISP programmer:

We’re going to use the Arduino board to program GamerKey. First, we’ll need to turn the Arduino board into an ISP

• Open the ArduinoISP sketch from the examples menu.

• Select the board (on Tools > Board menu) and serial port (on Tools > Serial Port) that correspond to your Arduino board.

• Upload the ArduinoISP sketch to the Arduino UNO board.

STEP 3: Connecting the Arduino UNO board to GamerKey

NOTE: You don’t need to solder the connector to GamerKey, you can just insert the 6 pin header on GamerKey and hold gently bent during uploading of program.

We’ll connect the Arduino UNO board to the GamerKey as shown in the following diagram:

STEP 4: Burn Bootloader on GamerKey:

We can use the Arduino as an ISP to upload the bootloader to GamerKey:

NOTE: GamerKey comes with bootloader installed already.

• Select “ATmega328” from the Tools > Board menu

• Select “8Mhz (internal)” from Tools > Clock

• Select “BOD: disabled” from Tools > BOD

• Select “LTO disabled” from Tools > Compiler LTO

• Select “328P / 328PA” from Tools > Variant

• Select “No bootloader” from Tools > Bootloader

• Leave the serial port set to your Arduino UNO board

• Select “Arduino as ISP” from the Tools > Programmer menu.

Be sure that you have removed the battery from GamerKey.

• Burn Bootloader from the Tools menu.

• You should see “Done burning bootloader.” in the Arduino software and no error messages. Now you can upload the sketch.

STEP 5: Upload Sketch to GamerKey:

we can use the Arduino as an ISP to upload a program to GamerKey

• Download the Game Sketch from here

• Open the Game sketch with Arduino IDE

• Check the Board (ATmega328), the Clock (8Mhz (internal)), the BOD (BOD: disabled), the Compiler LTO (LTO disabled), the Variant (328P / 328PA), the Bootloader (No bootloader) from Tools > Board menu and leave the serial port set to that of your Arduino UNO board.

• Select “Arduino as ISP” from the Tools > Programmer menu.

• Be sure that you have removed the battery from GamerKey.

• Upload the sketch.

You should see “Done uploading.” in the Arduino software and no error messages.

Insert the battery on GamerKey and start to play!

Note: Repeat only step 5 every time you want to upload a different sketch on GamerKey. It’s not necessary to burn the bootloader every time. You just need to burn it the first time.