I had an idea for a project that doesn’t require a full Arduino: a small 8 pin processor would work just fine. But how to program them? It turns out you can use an Arduino as a programmer. Check out the instructions:

High-Low Tech – Programming an ATtiny w/ Arduino

Sadly, I only have the ATtiny13’s lying around: you need a bit more flash space to use the Tiny Arduino library. Still, pretty neat, and getting the slightly larger devices only costs about $2.25 each, quantity one from digikey.

Addendum: Here is another sketch that turns the Arduino into a programmer that can be used with AVRdude. I’ve written some simple programs using avra: perhaps it is time to dust off those skills…