1. A programmable device assembly, comprising: a programmable device; a nonvolatile serial configuration memory storing at least two types of information including programmable device configuration data and central processing unit (CPU) instructions, the CPU instructions including a set of packets appended to the programmable device configuration data; and a booting mechanism including a serial memory access component and a boot read only memory (ROM) configured to store a boot copier operable to issue a command to the serial memory access component to copy the CPU instructions from the nonvolatile serial configuration memory to a volatile memory, wherein the booting mechanism is operable to serially access upon occurrence of a predetermined condition the programmable device configuration data and CPU instructions stored in the nonvolatile serial configuration memory such that the programmable device configuration data and CPU instructions are usable by the programmable device.