The programmer described in this article has been designed for the well-known P87LPC76x family of microcontrollers manufactured by Philips. These are 8-bit devices with an 8051-derived core and serial programming capability. The hardware we’ve in mind excels in simplicity and the programmer software may be obtained free of charge from our website.The popularity of the 8-bit microcontrollers from the P87LPC76x series is mainly due to their versatility and ease of use. On the pros and cons of these devices, we are informed that programmers seem to value the limited complexity, the large number of outputs, the ample output current specification and (last but not least) the presence of an I2C bus. The chip can be programmed using a serial link, which means that in-system programming (ISP) is within easy reach. Having ISP on a microcontroller is a clear advantage to equipment manufacturers because it allows them to blow the very latest version of the firmware into the controller, just before shipping the complete product.