Today is and Arduino programming and Arduino. The Arduino as an ISP, but the spin off is I am using the FTDI cable and an on board master IC to program a target IC, this is to reduce the price to under $5 for my student going on to college, and must work with USB and any platform.
I wanted a way for my students to continue on burning the Arduino bootloader to blank IC's and to cut the cost down. Instead of buying the preprogrammed IC or having to buy a "Uno" board or even have to use an "Uno" board, I used a preprogrammed IC as an ISP, however this is a major what came first chicken or egg thing. As long as the don't erase the bootloader from the Master IC, they should be able to produce there own bootloaders indefinitely. (already burned 300 myself just on the breadboard)
Here is the breadboard, Notice the FTDI cable end. the IC marked "ISP" is an ATMEGA328 with the Arduino Bootloader and the program "ArduinoISP" burned in.
Schematic
Board Layout
All that is need to do is load the Ardunio IDE
* Select the appropriate Serial Port
* Select Tools
* Programmer - Set to Arduino as ISP
* Click Burn Bootloader
TaDa no need for 9 pin serial ports, parallel ports, chip burners, bit bangs, etc. and platform independent (Ubuntu/Windows)
