Peter van Hoof wrote:
>
> [snip]
> > > 2. support for 3rd party programmers, esp. the direct from
> > > parallel port kind.
> > This is a possibility.  Whoever makes these, contact me at
> > darrel.johansen@microchip.com and we can discuss.  I know
> > the PICSTART Plus interface has been hacked --with that data,
> > just about anyone could hook into the interface.
> [snip]
>
> most(all?) parallel port programmers are based on AN589 with some
> variations:
>
> inverters instead of buffers (so you would need the option to be able to set
> normal or inverted outputs.
>
> different lines used for outputs and inputs, a nice example of what
> parameters you would need and how to present this to the user is written by
> Nigel Goodwin "wpicprog" that you can download from
> http://www.lpilsley.demon.co.uk/programs.htm
>
> Peter van Hoof

Just as an aside, this is going to be pretty hard for some programmers
(Example:  The Needham's EMP-20 here), I suspect it doesn't use anything
like the example you mention <G>  Some others (The Parallax unit here)
are pretty do-able (though easy enough to move to a serial port based
unit.)

  Mark