If you built the "IR Remote Receiver & Display" described last month, this project will allow you to program the microcontroller chip yourself. In fact, that's why we developed this simple circuit but it can also be used for programming almost any Atmel AVR microcontroller in-circuit.

Basically, the device is a simple adapter that sits between the parallel port of your PC and the device to be programmed.

It's alive!

If you're new to microcontrollers, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about. Why do they need to be "programmed"?

Microcontrollers are essentially microcomputers with built-in program memory, as well as other useful interface logic. When you buy one of these little devices from your local electronics outlet, its memory is blank. That is to say, it has no instructions "telling" it what to do.

Before it can be used in project "X", its memory must be programmed before it will perform as the project designer intended.

So grab your blank micro and let's head off to the lab for a memory implant ...