[Robotgroup] chip programmers - which one?

[Gray Mack]

Anyone know of a good universal programmer that supports most of the current pic, atmel, eeprom, and fpga devices for under $150? Ideally something that has both windows and linux support with usb interface? 

If not universal then perhaps lower cost products that support one of the famalies, mainly pic. 
My homemade pic programmer doesnt seem to be reliable enough for continued use and if I could also get atmel support that would be great.

I was looking into the ASIX Presto USB which has big claims for $133.
The XELTEK superpro-z (parallel port) for $250
And several Microchip.com approved pic programmers.
The more open standard the better since you can sometimes use free linux and windows software, winpic, etc, and for some, you can provide your own definitions for new devices as they come out and not be at the mercy of the tool manufacturers. Also a Jtag interface is a good option since it allows you to debug embedded chips that support the jtag interface at a hardware level.


-Gray


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