AVR/8051 USB programmer is an in-circuit programmer for Atmel AVR/8051 controllers. The programmer uses a firmware-only USB driver; no special USB controller is needed. It is complete solution for programming popular AVR/8051 series of micro controllers with ease. This is a USB based programmer. Many new computers and almost all laptops doesn't have a serial or parallel port, so hobbyist face a lot of problems because all easy to make programmers are either serial or parallel port based. Moreover, it is faster than those programmers so programming big MCUs is now a whole lot of fun. It can be used with Low Cost ATmega/8051 development board for quick and economical startup with AVR micros.
USBASP is a very useful programmer for AVR/8051 microcontrollers. Though originally this programmer was made to program only AVR microcontrollers, the firmware of this programmer can be modified to program AT89Sxx chips. The AVR USB ASP programmer can be used with other Flashing software like Robosapiens?s AVR LOADER, Robosapiens's 8051 LOADER, AVR dude and several other programming softwares are available.
The huge benefit of this modified programmer is that it works both for AVR and AT89Sxx chips and AVR being a USB based programmer it can be used both with desktop and with laptops. The original code of the USBasp was modified compiled the scattered information at one place for people to use and build this useful programmer. A new feature is introduce in this new programmer you can also program your microcontroller by using FRC cable and also by using 6-Pin female to female connector with the help of 6 Pins(MOSI, MISO, SCK, RESET, VCC, GND) available in your microcontroller AVR/8051.
Features of USBASP Programmer:-
? Works under multiple platforms. Linux, Mac OS X and Windows are tested.
? No special controllers or smd components are needed.
? Programming speed is up to 5 kBytes / sec.
? SCK option to support targets with low clock speed (< 1,5MHz).
? Planned: serial interface to target (e.g. for debugging).