Bus Pirate

The Bus Pirate is a very useful tool when working digital electronics, microcontrollers, etc.

Here are some notes regarding its usage.

SparkFun Variant

If you get the SparkFun variant, the pin outs/ribbon cable colors are different from the ones from Seeedstudio:

+----------------------+-----+
|                      | 1 2 |
|U                     | 3 4 |
|S                     | 5 6 |
|B                     | 7 8 |
|                      | 9 0 |
| sparkfun.com         +-----+
| Bus Pirate                 |
+----------------------------+

See Hardware Overview.

UART Mode for BeagleBone Black

  • Pin 1 -> GND -> Bus Pirate Black
  • Pin 4 -> RX -> Orange (MOSI)
  • Pin 5 -> TX -> Brown (MISO)

Bus Pirate Serial Bridge

Connect to the bus pirate with your favorite serial terminal, then:

HiZ>m
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
3. UART
4. I2C
5. SPI
6. 2WIRE
7. 3WIRE
8. LCD
9. DIO
x. exit(without change)

(1)>3
Set serial port speed: (bps)
    1. 300
    2. 1200
    3. 2400
    4. 4800
    5. 9600
    6. 19200
    7. 38400
    8. 57600
    9. 115200
10. BRG raw value

(1)>9
Data bits and parity:
    1. 8, NONE *default
    2. 8, EVEN
    3. 8, ODD
    4. 9, NONE
(1)>
Stop bits:
    1. 1 *default
    2. 2
(1)>
Receive polarity:
    1. Idle 1 *default
    2. Idle 0
(1)>
Select output type:
    1. Open drain (H=Hi-Z, L=GND)
    2. Normal (H=3.3V, L=GND)

(1)>2
Ready
UART>(1)
UART bridge
Reset to exit
Are you sure? y