Jaakko Hyvatti wrote :

> Building the JDM style serial port programmer and using
> either dos/win software or (my) 'picprog' linux/freebsd
> software to program it to do something blinkenlicht style
> would give the kids...

They are 16-19 years. Kids ?

> ...a lot of skills from ground up and also
> would leave them with a working programmer to take home.

My primary concern is to find something that works *reliable*,
not something that is cheap. And the HW/SW setup would probably
belong to the school anyway.

> Maybe use 12f675 for extra points and wow factor on
> how small can a programmable computer be and how any
> hobbyist can still work with it.

This is an educational environment, not hobbyists. But
you are more or less right anyway :-) And besides, a 40-pin
PIC "computer" is still rather small compared with a standard
PC :-)

Jan-Erik.

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