In looking at the interconnections connections for the Arduino ISP http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP I notice that they are simply connecting one ISP connector to another, Source to Target... is there any reason why I can't just use a 6 pin 2 X 3 cable jumper directly with the ArduinoISP sketch and these instructions slightly modified. I just completed a programmer shield for 20 pin 2313's and 8 pin 85's. This shield also has a 6 pin ISP programming connector and it sure would be good to to be able to upload hex files with the ASP from XLoader or Arduino Builder as another option. Usually when I finish with a chip I put the blink sketch back with a hex loader so I know the chip is still 'OK'.
Thank You, I didn't see any good reason and i bought one of those Evil... little cards and it would be perfect for 328's.. Thank's for verifying it. I do wonder though, why I haven't seen the mention before ? regarding interconnecting the boards in that manner. Do I need to do anything special with the reset beyond the obligatory pull-up?. What was that cable that Nick Gammon made with a wire broken out to a jumper wire and pin?... I think this was why I asked the question because I just couldn't remember.. I got the tiny cores installed, a shield to program 2313's and I wired the last 8 pins of the 28 pin zif socket for the 45's & 85's so for 6 extra wires I have 2 programmers...
You cannot connect one ICSP connector to the other. 5 of the lines do go straight through, but Reset on the target MCU must be connected to pin 10 of the Arduino being used as ISP.
What you can do is start with a 6-pin to 6-pin cable, split out the wire that connects the reset lines, cut it and solder it to a wire that you plug into pin 10.
First Thank All of You that responded, Your help in jogging my memory was useful too.
I made a really nice adapter from one of the 6 to 10 pin programmer adapter boards from Electrodragon. My PCB has holes for a 6 Pin straight, a 2 X 3 and 2 X 5 dual row connectors. I installed a 6 pin straight female a 2 X 3 female connector for the programmer board/Arduino and a 2 X 5 pin male for the programmer. I cut the trace between the Arduino programmer connector and the 2 6 pin connectors leaving the programmer reset connected to the straight connector. I plug a male to male jumper into the reset pin on the straight connector and connect it to Pin 10 on my programming board and the same thing can be done with a "regular" 6/10 pin adapter and 1/2 a male jumper wire. I used the adapter because I wanted an SPI 'connector for interfacing various SPI devices... Radio's Etc as much as I wanted a programmer cable and this does what I want, is very neat looking and not nearly as fragile as the cable is alone, and replaceable first.. Even with strain relief those cables have a very limited life and are most difficult to find when 'gone bad'.