simon wrote:
Am I on the right lines???
I use one of these. Not the cheapest but it's totally compatible with studio6 and it's just a matter of re-plugging the jumper wires to program different chips. I had to solder the 40pin zif(zero insertion force) socket on the right hand side, but its easily the best method of plugging in the patient. There are no lcds or buttons on this one though.
http://www.atmel.com/tools/AVRDRAGON.aspx
you can get usb programmers for as little as £5 if you want to save money, as you've already found out....just put in attiny or atmega programmer to your browser....choices, choices.
be aware that some of the new avr xmega chips are surface mount only.....puts them out of reach of the casual fiddler.
your £4.50 programmer is comprehensive...you just have to build the board with the socket for the patient and the jumper pins to connect the 6 pins on the £4.50 unit to the 6 pins that are used on the patient chip....its more resilient to use jumpers because the different chips are programmed through different pins....hope that makes some sense. The 6 pin programming method is called ISP. Some older technologies may refer to this with 10 pin connection, so don't be alarmed.
most of the stuff I've done recently I've managed to do with attiny461, which are 20 pin and £1 each from RS. This pre-amp project which I resurrected was originally with tiny461 and worked ok but I needed more pins so I moved to atmega48, which are still only £1.50 from RS. They're not going to break the bank....and they are re-usable if you're penny pinching.
It's a quarter of the price so I can't help wonder what it doesn't do that the more expensive one does?
The more expensive programmers like the dragon allow communication with studio so that you can simulate stuff in a test environment....it's harder to do this with the basic units.