ptillisch,
Again many thanks for a thorough reply.
I can confirm that a.) I have tried 2 ATtiny85 chips in the programmer, both failed to programme and b.) yes I have successfully programmed one of these with my UNO R3 after failure in the programmer. The Tiny AVR Programmer is plugged directly into the laptop USB port, the laptop is running Arduino IDE V1.8.19
My desktop has Arduino V2.2.1 and if I try to use the Tiny AVR programmer (again plugged into the PC USB port) I get the following verbose error message (both compiling and uploading ticked verbose):-
FQBN: attiny:avr:ATtinyX5:cpu=attiny85
Using board 'ATtinyX5' from platform in folder: C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\attiny\hardware\avr\1.0.2
Using core 'arduino' from platform in folder: C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\hardware\avr\1.8.6
Detecting libraries used...
C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avr-gcc\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-g++ -c -g -Os -w -std=gnu++11 -fpermissive -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-threadsafe-statics -Wno-error=narrowing -flto -w -x c++ -E -CC -mmcu=attiny85 -DF_CPU=1000000L -DARDUINO=10607 -DARDUINO_attiny -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR -IC:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\hardware\avr\1.8.6\cores\arduino -IC:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\attiny\hardware\avr\1.0.2\variants\tiny8 C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino\sketches\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91\sketch\Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.cpp -o nul
Generating function prototypes...
C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avr-gcc\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-g++ -c -g -Os -w -std=gnu++11 -fpermissive -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-threadsafe-statics -Wno-error=narrowing -flto -w -x c++ -E -CC -mmcu=attiny85 -DF_CPU=1000000L -DARDUINO=10607 -DARDUINO_attiny -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR -IC:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\hardware\avr\1.8.6\cores\arduino -IC:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\attiny\hardware\avr\1.0.2\variants\tiny8 C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino\sketches\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91\sketch\Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.cpp -o C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\1176363074\sketch_merged.cpp
C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\builtin\tools\ctags\5.8-arduino11/ctags -u --language-force=c++ -f - --c++-kinds=svpf --fields=KSTtzns --line-directives C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\1176363074\sketch_merged.cpp
Compiling sketch...
"C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\tools\\avr-gcc\\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-g++" -c -g -Os -w -std=gnu++11 -fpermissive -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-threadsafe-statics -Wno-error=narrowing -MMD -flto -mmcu=attiny85 -DF_CPU=1000000L -DARDUINO=10607 -DARDUINO_attiny -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR "-IC:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\hardware\\avr\\1.8.6\\cores\\arduino" "-IC:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\attiny\\hardware\\avr\\1.0.2\\variants\\tiny8" "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91\\sketch\\Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.cpp" -o "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91\\sketch\\Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.cpp.o"
Compiling libraries...
Compiling core...
Using precompiled core: C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino\cores\attiny_avr_ATtinyX5_cpu_attiny85,clock_internal1_ef9d0690eb7676428f5dbc9d61b13d0a\core.a
Linking everything together...
"C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\tools\\avr-gcc\\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-gcc" -w -Os -g -flto -fuse-linker-plugin -Wl,--gc-sections -mmcu=attiny85 -o "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.elf" "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91\\sketch\\Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.cpp.o" "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/..\\..\\cores\\attiny_avr_ATtinyX5_cpu_attiny85,clock_internal1_ef9d0690eb7676428f5dbc9d61b13d0a\\core.a" "-LC:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91" -lm
"C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\tools\\avr-gcc\\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-objcopy" -O ihex -j .eeprom --set-section-flags=.eeprom=alloc,load --no-change-warnings --change-section-lma .eeprom=0 "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.elf" "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.eep"
"C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\tools\\avr-gcc\\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-objcopy" -O ihex -R .eeprom "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.elf" "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.hex"
"C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\arduino\\tools\\avr-gcc\\7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7/bin/avr-size" -A "C:\\Users\\David\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\arduino\\sketches\\96BC33D880D5F1258333ABAC5CEDEF91/Vac_pump_delay_control_V5b.ino.elf"
Sketch uses 1062 bytes (12%) of program storage space. Maximum is 8192 bytes.
Global variables use 15 bytes (2%) of dynamic memory, leaving 497 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 512 bytes.
A programmer is required to upload
So it compiles OK, but no board detected.
Maybe I should just buy a new programmer!
Thank you