I agree that Wis628 is the best programmer to build so far. It is relatively
easy to build and quite stable. It also works across major OSes. The only
issue is that one needs a pre-programmed 12F628A.

And quite interesting that the OP is now planning to build a programmer very
soon after he starts the research. He has done a good research, I should say.
His observation regarding the tutorials and the importance of basic electronics
in the PIC world are quite correct. It seems to me that PIClist has more
people with strong software background and relatively weaker hardware
background. That is why [EE] tag is good to have.

That being said, I will still recommend the OP to buy a PICkit 2 and the
accompanied Low Pin Count demo board. The LPC demo board is quite easy to
built though so it is actually a better exercise than Wisp628. ;-)

If the OP is looking at dsPIC, then an ICD2 should be seriously considered.
The Microchip Forum is a nice place to go with PIC problems related to
dsPIC and PIC18. PIClist is somewhat lack in the discussions in these
topics.

Regards,
Xiaofan

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