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I would like to know if Atmel microcontrollers come with a bootloader. For example I asked a question earlier where other users were saying that a microcontroller could be used instead of a 555 timer which is old.
I realise you can create a delay by programming the chip using AVRstudio?
Basically do they have a bootloader or libraries installed that run this code or do you need to install it yourself?
Some do.
From personal experience, I can tell you the ATMEGA32U4 has a USB Bootloader from the factory.
Personal experience aside, this list from ATMEL is more complete.
You can use whatever you want to actually compile the code into a hex file. (ie AVR Studio).
You will then need to use ATMEL's FLIP uploader to program your chip.
Fresh from the factory, the chip will be in "programming mode", ready to accept your file.
If you want to change the program after initial programming, you can put the chip back into "programming mode" by grounding the HWB pin and toggling the RESET pin.
In your circuit, the HWB should be "pulled up" via a resistor to VCC. That way, the pin is not left floating and you will not put the chip into programming mode accidentally.
Usually the microcontroller doesn't come with a bootloader. You have to use a programmer (e.g. AVRISP mkII) to program the device.
Microchip (manufacturer of the PIC micros) can deliver the microcontroller preprogrammed. Dont know whether Atmel offers such a service, too.
Another option is to use Atmel Atmegas microcontroller with a Arduino bootloader pregrogrammed. Some suppliers offer theses, so you dont need a programmer anymore.
In general, they don't.
If you want to buy very large amounts of chips, you could have them preprogrammed by the manufacturer, but that's expensive, as far as I know.
The other options would be to find someone who will sell you chips with bootloader installed.
With the popularity of Arduino platform, it's common to find AVR chips with Arduino bootloader installed. Some can for example be obtained from Sparkfun. Some companies also sell AVR chips with their own bootloaders.
If you can't obtain such a chip, the other option is to obtain a programmer. You could buy the official programmer which is AVRISP mkII or make one yourself. There are numerous guides on the Internet on how to make such a programmer and many of them are very simple and work with PC serial ports. This one worked nice for me, but if used with an USB to serial cable, it can be very slow.
Arduino can be used to program AVR chips, so a cheap option could be to obtain one of the microcontrollers with Arduino firmware and then use it as a programmer. There's a guide on how to do that here.
Another option for AVR development that seems popular is the AVR Dragon development board. It is worth noting that in general AVR programmers can't do debugging, that the debuggers are either old (and don't work with new chips) or expensive. The Dragon can be used to debug newer AVR chips too so that makes it an interesting product.
