USBasp AVR Programmer

Model : PRG-00008

Being an Open source hardware (OSHW) project, released under the GNU General Public License, you are free to download the schematic and firmware from Thomas's website, but then you have a chicken and egg problem. In order to load the USBASP firmware onto the atmega8 on the programmer, yes you guessed it, you need an AVR programmer. Much easier to buy one fully built and programmed.

Some of the features include:

Allows you to read or write the microcontroller EEPROM, firmware, fuse bits and lock bits

Support for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (will work on Windows 8.1)

5 KB/sec maximum write speed

Software controlled SCK option to support targets with low clock speed (< 1.5MHz)

10 pin ISP interface (conforms to standard ISP 10-pin pinout