At 23:39 8/10/99 CDT, you wrote:
>I am a newby to PIC's,the last processor I used was the 6502. I have a
>project which I need a 10 bit A/D and some number crunching. I have
>tentatively picked the 16F873/4/6/7 as it has flash program memory.
>1. Do I need a programmer or can I just program it in circuit?

You need a programmer to program it in circuit at least for the first time
You can write your own downloader and then get the chip to self program.
I have this idea working very well over a RS232 link.

Jim



>2. I am tying on a ISD Voice Chip onto it and I notice some come with a
>SPI/Microwire interface. What is this and is it messy to program?
>
>3. I have downloaded MPlab. What else do I need to program? I would prefer
>to program in Basic rather than assembler, is there a shareware or
>inexpensive compiler on the net.
>
>I would appreciate any help with the above. Thank you in advance
>
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Regards,

Jim Robertson
NEWFOUND ELECTRONICS
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Email: newfound@pipeline.com.au
http://www.new-elect.com
MPLAB compatible PIC programmers.
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