AVR-Chat

Hi All,

I have been reviewing the archives to get an idea of a simple way to 
program some chips.

As it is now, I am just getting started and an not looking for the 
most universal, but the best cheap unit, even if it limits my chip 
selections.

I'm hoping there is some simple programmer that can be assembeled by 
the average parts bin we typically have.  (some scattered on the 
bench, others still in boards yet to be sacrificed and others in 
those neat little baggies from the suppliers) 

As you probably know, I'm doing a little reading on the C language 
and have considdered dabbling with FastAVR or Basicom as a way to get 
things happening faster.

From the little that I could really understand about programmers, 
there are serial, parallel and USB, with USB being rare.

Then there is ISP which is fine with me as I would rather make a 
board for testing than to move chips around.

But to get started, I'm hoping to put together a simple board with a 
uC a couple outputs and a couple inputs and a serial cable for use 
with I2C or SPI as the case may be.

At this point, I don't need to worry about programming any other 
chips like e-proms or the like.

Any suggestions ?

Dave