Neil Baylis wrote:

> --> Fourth, after reading a good deal, it seems clear that building a
> programmer, rather than buying one, is a good idea for a newbie like
> me. <--
> 
> Well, I agree with you on this one. It's exactly what I did. 

Me, OTOH, I'm with Olin on this one. I kind of do this for a living
(switching between mainly software and mainly firmware/hardware back and
forth), I have used probably a dozen or more programmers in different
environments, but I've never built one. Not a single one... As Olin said,
there's more to a good programmer than I care to know about it :)

I'd rather spend the time building something that does with the PIC what I
want it to do, than spend the time learning the finer details of what's
necessary to get it programmed. IMO this is a task more suited for the few
who chose building programmers and selling them as their line of business.

OTOH... it may be a satisfaction to have a set of tools all self-made. Not
quite 100% possible (you probably need some sort of multimeter to start
with, and few will make their screw drivers :) but still...

Gerhard

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