AC.programmer
AC.programmer
AC.programmer is simply an Arduino as an ISP (In System Programmer) with some added bells and whistles.
ISP programming does not use the serial interface of the Arduino and does not require a pre-installed boat loader. Instead, it uses the SPI interface which is switched into programming mode on reset. Freeing up the serial interface for communications with the ESP8266 WLAN chip was the main reason for me to use an ISP. SoftwareSerial is slow, and even at slow speeds it means asking for trouble (lost characters, in example). Another advantage of SPI programming is that it frees up the 2kB of flash memory that the boot loader occupies, all yours to use! This is the only way to get to access all the 32kB of flash mem the smaller Arduinos have to offer.
There is one disadvantage, though: Without having the serial interface connected to your computer, you loose that option for logging. I developed a logging facility called "Logsury" that, amongst other channels, can log via I2C. AC.programmer relays log information received via I2C to its own serial interface (connected to the computer), or displays it on its large LCD display, or logs it to a file store on a SD Card (or any combination thereof).