I read the preliminary datasheets more carefully,
it seems to me that PICkit 2 will only support
the ICSP programming of PIC24/dsPIC33 in the future.
That is still good since PICkit 2 will have support
of PIC18/18J/24/dsPIC30/dsPIC33 in the future.

The JTAG may be supported by the on-board 18F4550 
in the future. If they open the code later, that
is still good. It will then make possible of a
JTAG programmer/debugger with the 18LF4550.

Right now MPLAB ICD2 is the only low-cost option to 
debug and program the PIC24 and dsPIC33.

US$130 plus shipment seems not a bad price for the
explorer 16 board but might be too expensive for
hobbyists. 

Regards,
Xiaofan

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu 
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 9:02 PM

The following document is interesting. They have integrated a 
18F4550on the Explorer 16 Demo board.
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/51589a.pdf
Explorer 16 Development Board User's Guide

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