----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Pantoga" Subject: [PIC] cheap, trusty programmer? > I have recently gained an interest in PIC programming, and I was > wondering if there was a cheap (under $100-150 US) PIC programmer that You do have a problem. No matter what you buy, you need to consider it "throw-away". You can build a serial or parallel port programmer for next to nothing that will program a wide variety of parts. However, serial and parallel ports are getting scarcer and scarcer, and these programmers do not work with USB to serial converters, so at some point, you will no longer have a computer that works with them. The USB programmers all require proprietary software, and at some point the vendor will loose interest in the product and your choice of PICs or operating systems will move along so your programmer will be useless. We've seen Microchip's business model obsolete some programmers, and we have seen scores of small suppliers leave the market for whatever reason. For these reasons, you need to consider carefully whether you want to spend a ton of money to get the widest range possible. Simple Tait-style programmers are widely supported by all sorts of open-source programs, and there are probably hundreds of people supplying this software. Support for a particular chip, of course, depends on someone getting interested or rolling your own. There is a lot of hassle to this approach, but a lot of flexibility, too. Small suppliers like Olin and Wouter provide nice, inexpensive programmers that are supported pretty well. These are small guys, though, and although they provide quite good support, you are dependent on them taking interest in a particular part, and they are probably at fairly high risk of going out of business tomorrow. Microchip's ICD2 does seem to have support for a large number of parts and a price that isn't really obscene, and it adds in-circuit debugging. But clearly, at some point Microchip will decide that the latest, greatest, more expensive thing supercedes it. So, keep in mind that it's a limited life investment when you decide. --McD -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist