A Very good (relatively) cheap, trusty programmer is a Microchip ICD2 
(about $150), along with a home-made DIP adaptor. This device will 
program absolutely anything Microchip makes.

As far as learning to program in a language other than assembler, I 
recommend PicBasic Pro.  Powerful, easy to learn, etc.

It doesn't support functions or interrupts (at least not easily), but 
you can go a long way before those limitations become problematic.

Charles Linquist


PicDude wrote:
> Not sure if a one-size-programs-all programmer exists, but I bet it wouldn't 
> be cheap.  "Diverse selection" will vary depending on what you want to 
> program.  As a newbie to PICs, my recommendation would be to get an 
> ultra-cheap reliable programmer -- which for me is the trusty ol' Tait 
> classic programmer (parallel port).  Literally a few dollars, but you do put 
> it together yourself, and very popular (ie: supported).  If you classify 
> US$100-$150 as cheap, then the price of this would make it "disposable" :-)
> 
> I've got a board layout for this in Eagle if you want, and it's setup to use a 
> simple jumper to select the type/class of chip to be programmed.
> 
> I program with Odyssey under Linux, or ICProg under Win2k.  When you figure 
> out later what PICs you'll be using, you can look for a programmer that 
> covers that set.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Neil.
> 
> 
> 
> On Saturday 21 May 2005 12:46 am, Joseph Pantoga scribbled:
> 
>>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
>>could program a diverse selection of microchips, but was supported
>>often and had excellent support.  I am not looking for a kit, unless
>>it comes from a trustworthy vendor.  I have seen a lot of programmers
>>on the net, but many seem out of date (even the ones reccamended by
>>the list) or they just dont have the capabilities to program many
>>PIC's.  Does such a programmer exist in my price range?  I just want
>>to get a product that I know will be worth the money I am spending for
>>it.  Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
>>
>>                               Joseph
> 
> 
> 


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