Not yet, it is only available as a kit
There are very clear instructions availble in the "Make it!" link. Its a simple kit and should be fairly easy for anyone with proper tools even if its their first soldering project.
Yes. We have tested it with linux (Ubuntu 7.04) and it didn't require anything strange so it should work with any distribution. If you're having problems make sure you are running as root to have permissions on the device
USBtiny is not a USB-Serial dervice, it is its own USB protocol which is understood by Avrdude. You will not see a COM port or Serial port created when you plug it in
No, the USBtiny does not create a serial port and cannot do that. It programs chips directly, using the ISP connection, not Serial. Arduinos are not AVR programmers, they are an AVR with a bootloader that runs over a serial port.
Yes, this is what an AVR programmer can do. We suggest using the 'built in' bootloader-burner in the IDE to do it
- Put a fresh AVR chip (such as an Atmega328) into the Arduino in the correct orientation
- Remove the jumper from the USBtinyISP
- Plug in the USBtiny to USB
- Plug the Arduino into DC or USB so it is powered
- Plug the 6 pin cable from the USBtinyISP into the Arduino so that pin 1 mark is lined up with the red wire on the cable
- Start up Arduino IDE
- Select the chip/Arduino you are using in the Tools->Board menu
- Do not select a COM/Serial port
- Select Tools->Burn Bootloader->w/USBtinyISP
- The USBtinyISP red LED should light up. It will take a minute or two to program the chip
- When it is done, the IDE will tell you it has completed and the red LED will be off.
Check the HELP! page
The USBtinyISP design as-is only works with the AVR core chips (ATtiny/ATmega/etc). However Lucas Chiesa and his peers have done an excellent job porting this version to support 8051-core chips.