Sorry I would love to do my own research, but I haven't got much time this week. Apologies in advance.
Question: Do I need a special programmer to flash the binary? In other words, how do I load the firmware onto the MCU??
Thanks!
use the ISP header on the frosty flake. just after the reset pin goes high, the ISP can be driven to load firmware into the boot and program on-chip eeprom. the ISP basically speaks tx/rx, and can be run USB with an FTDI header; adafruit sells a couple different kinds. one of them has the atmel header on the end, which works when the header run out from the MCU has the pinout given by the datasheet. they also carry an FTDI adapter that runs the serial wires out to individual female pins. lastly, it's possible to use a soarer, an id innovations adapter (in windows only, with the driver from the id site), or an rs-232 connector if you have one, to the MCU ISP pins. oh, atmel also sells a couple of different programmers for external programming that will either speak to the ISP on the MCU, or bypass it completely, to write to the MCU EEPROM and set lockbits.
oh, and word from the wise. DO NOT SET ANY LOCKBITS. the fastest way to brick an atmel is to lock the eeprom down. some MCUs support high voltage programming, but it's far from orderly. the last time i had to do this, i had to hook up a signal generator shooting 12v into the reset pin and simultaneously strobe the ISP header until i managed to reset the lockbit fuses. gigantic pain in the behind.