Larry Dewey wrote:

> The only draw-back to the system that I have now is making mechanically
> sound connections to outside devices such as an lcd module, power supply,
> and db9 connectors.  As my board sprouts more of these, I'm going to have
> to address this problem before long.
>
> Larry
> KG7LO
> 44 years old
> PICing in Port Townsend, Washington

A similar problem was hampering my ability to try different experiments when
I got started learning with PICs.  I soldered a ribbon cable to my LCD, but
found it was too time-consuming having to insert those tiny wires into the
breadboard.
It also wasn't very portable.  Then I came up with this solution:

I took a strip of   0.10" spaced single header and soldered the ribon cable to t
he

header.  I split the ribbon cable into three sections: 8-pin header for the data
lines,
3-pin for the control lines, and 3-pin for the power connections.  I used hot-me
lt

glue over the solder joints to re-inforce the cable so it can be inserted and
removed
quickly.  This arrangement is now quite conveniently inserted and removed and
makes prototyping with a breadboard less labour-intensive.

After reading PIC' up the Pace and author David Benson's suggestion of makiing a
n
84
on a board for experimenting, I made a PC-board with a 16C84, a 4mhz oscillator,
 a

reset button, and an in-circuit programming header that interfaces with my PIC-1
a
programmer.  All the port lines and power connections are brought out to a
90-degree
0.10" header which plugs easily into a breadboard and frees up a lot of breadboa
rd

real-estate for the rest of the circuit.  I call it the '84-Board.

I have a few small breadboards that I can now have different prototypes on, and
it's just a matter of reprogramming the PIC and plugging '84 board into the
circuit
on the breadboard I'm working on.  Debug-test cycle is also much faster.

Steve