Erik,

There is significant difference between UART-ISP (which is FlasMagic for) and SPI-ISP (a form of the latter is called ICP by Philips for LPC9xx - FlashMagic is not able to handle it directly).

While there is "native support" for UART in PC (PCs do have UARTs), SPI on PC is usually accomplished by bit-banging - most often on LPT, sometimes on COM. "Cables" to support this are IMHO the same "kitchenware" category than the homemade parallel programmers, see my comments in earlier posts. And today, there are too many such "cable" constructions around, failing at various situations because of the given reasons - the same situation than it was with parallel programmers maybe 5 years ago.

The "real stuff" involves conversion from UART/USB to SPI, which involves certain intelligence (mcu). And I refuse to call such device "a cable". Still connected to the target by 3-4 wires (+gnd+vcc), hence ISP. If you refuse to call such "a programmer", please, suggest some better term.

And if such device supports more than one family and chips of more manufacturers, plus some of the features I mentioned, it's value goes up to the $$$ range.

Jan Waclawek

PS. RE standalone programmer: I doubt you will be able to build a "one-button-box" for field upgrades based on FlashMagic for under $100 so what was your point?