> I thought I had settled on the Parallax one, but I found out that there's a
> Microchip seminar coming to town (Vancouver), and that I can get the
> "PICSTART development system" for $79US there. The seminar costs $99US, so
> that puts my total cost at about the same as the Parallax programmer.  They
> tell me that the seminar is very informative (5.5 hrs), and that you get
> books and _product_samples_ with the PICSTART package.  That part sounds
> good to me, but, as I am a beginner, I think the seminar may be way over my
> head...

I attended the PIC seminar in Chicago and thought it was pretty
worthwhile.  Actually, it is pretty much targeted toward people who
know little or nothing about PICs.  So, if that's what you mean by "beginner"
I wouldnt' let that worry you.  It probably would be helpful to have some
experience with other microcontrollers (such as the 8051), but if you have
a whole ot of PIC experience, you would probably find the seminar a little
slow.

I can't say too much about the PICSTART since I haven't used it for any
real projects yet.  I did put it together and verify that it works.

Peter Fales                       AT&T, Room 9C-242
N9IYJ                             2000 N. Naperville Rd.
UUCP:   ...att!intgp1!psfales     Naperville, IL 60566
Internet: peter.fales@att.com     work: (708) 979-8031