Timonel is an I2C bootloader for ATtiny85 microcontrollers. The aim is to enable AVR firmware updates in scenarios where there is a more powerful MCU (ESP8266, Arduino, RPi, BeagleBone, etc.) acting as I2C master and one or more Tiny85 as I2C slave performing peripheral functions.

Some possible cases:

• A small robot controlled by Raspberry Pi where the specific functions of each limb are delegated to several Tiny85 through an I2C bus.
• Multi-sensor systems, where each Tiny85 is a node that handles one or more sensors.
• etc ...

In these examples, it's handy to have the chance of updating the AVRs firmware straight from the I2C master. But, so far, I haven't found an I2C bootloader that fits directly the Tiny85, addressing its limitations:

• It doesn't have a specific hardware for I2C, only the USI.
• It lacks a protected memory area for the bootloader.
• It is not possible to redirect the interruption vectors to the bootloader.

That's why I started writing this one.

• Install "timonel-bootloader" on the Tiny85 (bare chips or Digisparks).
• Compile your program and convert the generated .hex into an array of bytes to be included in "timonel-I2Cmaster". (e.g. const uint8_t payload[size] = { 0xaa, 0xbb, ...}; ). Use "tml-hexparser" for helping to create the array.
• Install "timonel-I2Cmaster" containing the generated payload in an arduino-compatible MCU (It has been tested with ESP8266 ESP01 and NodeMCU).
• Connect both chips by I2C.
• Open an asynchronous terminal (e.g. MobaXterm) connected to the serial port of the I2C master (9600 N 8 1).
• Run the commands shown on screen for erasing and flashing new firmware on the Tiny85 (more details on the steps necessary will be published later).
• It is also possible to update the bootloader itself thanks to the micronucleus' upgrade program.

Contributions are welcome! If you want to add a new feature, please feel free to create a pull request or open an issue :o)

v1.1 - 2018-10-29: Functional Release (Optional ReadFlash command added. Minor tweaks for running Timonel @ 8 MHz).

v1.0 - 2018-10-05: Functional Release (Optional features implemented. See it working).

v0.9 - 2018-09-29: Functional pre-release (Temporary page buffer and other minor issues solved).

v0.8 - 2018-09-16: First functional pre-release.

v0.7 - 2018-09-07: Non-functional.

v0.4 - 2018-08-10: Non-functional.

I would like to thank the guys @ AVRFreaks.net, specially joeymorin, clawson and donblake) for sharing their vast knowledge and technical advice in general. Also to the micronucleus developers, for showing us the way to go regarding Tiny85 bootloaders. Many thanks also to Donald Papp @ Hackaday for posting about this.