Bare in-circuit programmers

• David Tait's reference

Example specialized circuits which include a PIC with in-circuit programmability

• Universal IR Transceiver
• Universal IR Remote

"hands off" program, run, communicate cycle

• TOPIC (webified here) (used with prog84 linux software)
• WISP
• goals:
  • Be able to reprogram the microcontroller, reset it, run it, and communicate with it all via the computer without touching the circuit.
  • Have a communicate-only version that's trivial to build. This is so that others can replicate the final version trivially.
• Wisp628, a 16F628 chip that allows in-circuit high-voltage programming
• Any number of bootloaders combined with a 16f877 chip. The kit can be bought here.

Official docs

• Microchip Tech: In-Circuit Serial Programming