> My idea as well, and i might add to that, a simple logic probe
> available for a couple dollars from radio shack/ tandy usually works
> out great



Before I was able to get an emulater (ICEPIC in my case) I was
stumped as to what was going on inside my PICs.  I built a crude
in-circuit tester consisting of a 1K resistor and an LED connected to
each port pin.  A set of DIP switches connected each LED to the pin,
or not.  I found this to be very usefuil in figgerring out what was
going on inside a circuit.  On simple one and two output designs, I
could use PORTA as the I/O, and the entire PORTB was used as a
diagnostic output.  For instance, you can watch a counter increment
or have the program put a variable out on PORTB to check it's value.

I think this was a great project for a beginner.  After purchasing an
emulator I'd never use it again.
Best Regards,

Lawrence Lile