Thank-you for the quick reply Andrew.

Yes, I'm an EE (student) working on hobby projects during weekends and
evenings, so I'm trying to avoid the cost of the programmer that would
seriously exceed my budget!

So then it would come down to "I'm trying to build a parallel port
programmer."   I am wondering if anyone can share with me his/her
experiences with parallel port programming specifically related to the
16F876.  Being new to PIC and EE (especially microcontrollers) in general,
I'm just having a bit of trouble sorting through all of the information that
is out there already.

> >Any reccomendations from anyone using this device?  I am having trouble
> >finding information on ICSP, so I am trying to build a parallel port
> >programmer.  Has anyone done this with success?
>
> It appears that your subject header and your actual question have two
> different purposes:
>
> 1) What's the best way to program a 16F876
> and
> 2) I'm trying to build a parallel port programmer.
>
> I guess the "best" way is any way that meets your requirements.  If you're
> an EE working on small hobby projects and you enjoy spending time and
effort
> debugging a "homebrew" setup, then give #2 a go.  This list should be a
good
> place to start for information, or you can check the mailing list archives
> for any previous discussion on building programmers.
>
> If you're working on firmware that is time-critical for development, or
you
> just want to get a piece of hardware working, then the "best" way would
> likely be to use a commercial programmer, I would suggest one from
> Microchip.  The PICStart Plus is ~$200 and works for all (I believe *all*,
> but I could be wrong) of the PICs available.  If you want more, check out
> Microchip's line of programmers.
>
> --Andrew

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