I just tried it. This is a serious bug in the 1.5x IDE.
It requires a serial port before it even starts up avrdude even if avrdude is not going
to use a serial port.
This needs to be bugged.
It is serious enough that is should get fixed in the next release.
pico:
Note: Hitting the normal "Build and Upload" button won't work if you are using an ISP programmer. You need to use "File|Upload Using Programmer" instead.
It can be made to work.
You have to create a new board type that specifies the ISP programmer.
Here is one I use on an UNO for with an USBasp programmer.
unoUSBASP.name=Arduino Uno w/USBASP
unoUSBASP.upload.using=usbasp
unoUSBASP.upload.maximum_size=32768
unoUSBASP.bootloader.low_fuses=0xff
unoUSBASP.bootloader.high_fuses=0xde
unoUSBASP.bootloader.extended_fuses=0x05
unoUSBASP.bootloader.path=optiboot
unoUSBASP.bootloader.file=optiboot_atmega328.hex
unoUSBASP.bootloader.unlock_bits=0x3F
unoUSBASP.bootloader.lock_bits=0x0F
unoUSBASP.build.mcu=atmega328p
unoUSBASP.build.f_cpu=16000000L
unoUSBASP.build.core=arduino
unoUSBASP.build.variant=standard
Note also that if you don't create a separate board type for use with the ISP
programmer, and use the "Upload Using Programmer"
that you will not be able to use the full flash since the board type data
specifies the maximum flash size and the entries that come with the IDE
have reduced the flash size by the bootloader size.
You can see in my entry above that I specify the full 32k flash size
since no bootloader is being used.
--- bill