Gear / Flash & chips / Bus Pirate
BP

Bus Pirate

One tool that speaks UART, SPI, I2C and more. Great for poking an unknown bus interactively.
30–40€ Flash & chips
Bus Pirate

What it does

The Bus Pirate is a compact, scriptable interface that speaks many low-level protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, 1-Wire, JTAG), letting you interrogate and dump chips from one device. Instead of carrying separate adapters, you switch protocols from a serial terminal - ideal for fast recon and one-off dumps on hardware you don't recognise yet.

Use cases

01
Probe an unknown bus

Switch modes from a terminal to try SPI, then I2C, against the same header until one talks back.

02
Dump an SPI flash without a dedicated programmer

Drive flashrom straight over the Bus Pirate's serial connection.

03
Scan an I2C bus for devices

Enumerate addresses to find sensors or EEPROMs you didn't know were there.

How you use it

Connect over USB, open a terminal, pick a mode, then hand it to flashrom or use its own I2C scan:

screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200
# type 'm' to pick a mode (e.g. SPI), set speed and pull-ups
flashrom -p buspirate_spi:dev=/dev/ttyUSB0 -r dump.bin

Wiring

Probe cable
MOSI brown
CLK red
MISO orange
CS yellow
AUX green
ADC blue
VPU purple
+3.3V grey
+5V white
GND black
The probe cable, by wire color.
Variants & pitfalls

Set pull-ups for I2C. I2C needs pull-up resistors; the Bus Pirate can supply its own, but forgetting them reads as a dead bus.

Slower than a dedicated programmer. Its SPI dumps run slower than a CH341A - fine for recon, less fun for a large flash chip.