Peter Neubert <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> wrote:

> We are currently looking at the PRO-MATE II from Microchip - are
> there any third-party programmers we should consider instead ?
> prisewise cheaper is better however support for the full serie of
> PIC's is essential.

    Peter:

    If you need the programmer only for relatively low-volume
    programming during development, Microchip's Picstart Plus is
    probably a better choice... It's a LOT cheaper than the Pro
    Mate, and it programs all the PICs.

> I have been looking at the Microchip homepage and seen references to
> the windows based development environment MPLAB ? is this for free
> or ??

    It's free; you can download it from Microchip's web page.

> Reg the 16c93 with build in LCD driver ; Is the driver any good ?
> and Can we drive a 20x4 char LCD on it ?

    The 16C93 drives LCD segments DIRECTLY; it's intended for use
    with raw LCD displays like the sort you'd see on a digital
    watch.

    The 20x4 character-based LCD displays contain their own driver
    chips (usually made by Hitachi); they're controlled by sending
    commands and data over a parallel bus, so all PICs are equally
    suited to driving them... The LCD-driver hardware in the 16C9x
    doesn't provide any advantage.

    -Andy

=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California
=== http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499