> So, I've got a spoon and am stirring.  Is anybody out there interested
> in creating a forum and discussing how to go about this and trying to
> get a project off the ground.  I've given it a lot of thought lately and
> would be keen to do something, I don't even think it needs to be PIC
> specific, done properly it could work for any programmer and for any
> controller/processor.  It could even work on any UNIX platform.
>
> If necessary I can set up a mailing list and host a web resource.
>
> Reply direct to me as well as to the list in case I miss the list
> postings.  My email is dave@restall.net.  This of course presumes that
> anybody is interested enough to want to reply :-)

You can definitely put me on the list. I use nothing but Linux at home,
and currently have to run things like my programmer software from
DosEmu.
There is already the GnuPic project, but it seems to have stagnated of
late.
I would like to see a full suite of assembler, simulator, c compiler,
disassembler, and progammer software under GPL which will compile under
most POSIX Unixes, and probably DJGPP as well. Quite a few of these
things already exist in limited and incomplete forms but we need
something better if Linux is to become a serious contender for PIC
development. MPASM isn't too bad apart from the fact that the latest
versions only run under Billy's wonderful OS, but without the source
available the only way to fix bugs is to submit an official bug report
and wait. As for compilers, the best ones are far from free, and still
contain bugs which due to the lack of freely distributed source it's
impossible to fix yourself.
Is this off topic? I'm not sure. Perhaps a seperate list would be a good
idea if enough people are interested.

Best wishes, Alex.

* My sig is on holiday *