The dongle is equipped with a micro-controller together with the code for ST’s classic programmer and emulator for STM8 and STM32 bit processors. Adafruit explains : ...

So he tried his hand with some really small SMD parts by building this USB to serial Arduino programmer. The chip he went with isn’t the FTDI part we’re used to.

This Arduino ICSP programmer has been made from Alumide, a strong plastic with aluminum fibers. The cover is made from translucent POM, illuminated by three rings of in total 27 LEDs.

[Kirill] wrote in to share his Arduino-based PIC programmer. It is capable of writing to the 18F family of chips, including 18F2XXX and 18F4XXX. We think that’s pretty exciting because this l… ...