Hi,

Thanks for the help. You've given me a lot to consider.

I was not aware the PIC18's were CLK/4 mips. As you mentioned the dsPIC30F's
are faster, up to 30mips. Although there seems to be considerably less forum
talk & info for the dsPIC's, so I'll probably start with a PIC18F.

I almost decided to build a ICD2 programmer such as :
http://home.vrweb.de/~lotharstolz/stolz.de.be/icd/main.html

but the programmer has a pic chip itself so I'd need to also build a basic
programmer to program the ICD2 programmer, lol. Keeping things simple for
now being a newbie I'll stick to something real simple such as one
recommended by PICPgm:

http://www.members.aon.at/electronics/pic/picpgm/hardware/index.html
then click on Hardware, and see the Low-Voltgage, In-System Programmer
Schematic: picpgm_cable.pdf  
http://www.members.aon.at/electronics/pic/picpgm/download/picpgm_cable.pdf

How much simpler does it get? OK, perhaps some hotshot could replace the
open-collector resisters with something like 74HC04's or some inverter
buffer and an adjustable regulator. Also if you click on "Supported PICs" it
seems PicPgm supports a lot of devices. The home page claims dsPIC30F will
soon be supported. Best of all, besides being free, if you click on the
Download page you see the history shows the guy updates the software quite
often.

Please let know if I've missed something.
Paul
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