"I suspect the ages of simple programmers has reach the end. Serial and parallel ports are now very rare in modern computers but USB ports are everywhere. Next generation of programmers use a USB connection to the computer. Operation is very easy: A USB-Serial converter is used to send commands to a microcontroller inside the programmer (The USB-Serial converter works nicely in this way) and that microcontroller interacts with the target device. This system works everywhere. The main disadvantage for the home electronic hobbyist, is you need a programmed PIC to build your programmer... So, if you don't have a programmer, you can't program the PIC for your programmer... I guess you get the idea. Miguel A. Vallejo, EA4EOZ"