Bus Pirate - v3.6a

The Bus Pirate v3.6a, a brainchild of Ian Lesnet, is a versatile troubleshooting tool that facilitates communication between a PC and any embedded device using various protocols including 1-wire, 2-wire, 3-wire, UART, I²C, SPI, and HD44780 LCD, all at voltages ranging from 0-5.5VDC. This product is a game-changer for early prototyping, especially when dealing with new or unfamiliar chips.

Using the Bus Pirate is straightforward and efficient. Simply type commands into a terminal on your computer, which are then interpreted by the Bus Pirate and sent via the appropriate protocol. The Bus Pirate also interprets data sent from your embedded device back to your computer terminal. A significant advantage is the bootloader installed on the PIC, which simplifies firmware updates and changes to the board's functionality.

The Bus Pirate primarily comprises the PIC24FJ64 processor and a FT232RL USB-to-Serial chip. Power supply and interaction with your PC is enabled by a Mini-B USB connector that is also situated on the board. This version of the Bus Pirate is distinguished by its shrouded 2.54mm pitch 2x5 pin header, which has been reoriented to standardize the board. Moreover, every pin on this header is labeled, eliminating the need for a separate I/O pin description document as with earlier versions.

Note: Sparkfun offers a convenient cable to connect the Bus Pirate to the system you are developing, debugging, or reverse engineering.

Note: This product is a result of a collaboration with Ian Lesnet. A portion of each sale is directed back to them for product support and continued development.

Key features of the Bus Pirate include support for a multitude of protocols, 5.5V tolerant pins, a 6V measurement probe, frequency measurement from 1Hz - 40MHz, pulse-width modulator, frequency generator from 1kHz - 4MHz, on-board multi-voltage pull-up resistors, on-board 3.3volt and 5volt power supplies with software reset, macros for common operations, bus traffic sniffers (SPI, I²C), a bootloader for easy firmware updates, transparent USB->serial mode, low-speed logic analyzer from 10Hz - 1MHz, and scriptability from Perl, Python, etc. It also provides access to PIC24FJ64 ICSP programming port.

Supporting documents include a schematic, Eagle Files, a hookup guide, official documentation, a Bus Pirate forum, and GitHub.