Looking for a device programmer that doesn't require Weendoze

Fred N. van Kempen wrote: If you want a device that programs generic parts, not difficult. But many manufacturers do not release the programming algorithms except to companies that are in the business. I can just imagine the support issues. What *I* want is for programmers to stop releasing their own software interfaces. For instance, the Needhams DOS programming software absolutely sucks. The interface is so retarded as to be nearly unscriptable. The BP Microsystems stuff isn't bad at all, but it's not perfect. The old stand-alone Data IO were a crime against nature. What the need to do is provide a common programming API, and let third parties develop the UI software. That way, they'd get support across more OS's, you could use the same UI on different models, and they still can keep their programming algorithms proprietary. I once wrote an open letter to BP, Needhams, DataIO and Tribal about this. They could have focussed their efforts on devices and algorithms and hardware, where their expertice is, not in Windows requirements, or DOS weirdness, etc. To the best of my knowledge (from 6 months ago) no one has a GUI interface for a non-Windows platform. There's no excuse for this, if they would adopt a open API for device selection, programming, verfication, etc. --jc