Electronic – Hardware and software to program AT89S52 chips with linux

Seeing that the ATMEL AT89S52 chips are so cheap (8 usd for 5 with free shipping from ebay!), are supposed to have a simple architecture and a lot of documentation available online, I would like to use them to learn microcontrollers at a lower level than the Arduino.

I have already learned how to compile simple programs with sdcc and convert the resulting ihx file to hex with packihx, ready to be loaded into the chip.

I don't understand what hardware and software is needed to transfer the file from my laptop via a usb port. From what I've read avrdude doesn't work for these chips, what should I use instead? Also, what hardware should I buy to do the programming?

Can someone provide a simple guide for a beginner?

Thanks

EDIT: If I understand correctly, the circuit provided by Sandun only converts the RS-232 voltages down to 5V. If this is correct, and since I'll be using a USB port instead of a serial one, can I just use a USB – serial cable which outputs 5V like this one? Or am I missing something?