From: "Wouter van Ooijen" Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:43 AM > If you like working ex-circuit (plugging your chips back and forth) the > upgrade would be a good idea. If you prefer ICSP I would consider and > ICD2 clone (or, if you can afford it, the real thing). If you know now > which PICs you will be using there are programmers that support less > chips than an ICD2 but are a lot cheaper, like pickit2, Wisp628, > EasyProg, DIY150, etc. Of one of these fits your needs it might be a > cheaper alternative. So far I've had no problem working ex-circuit. Though my current project is a pain because it uses the PC's only serial port as does the PS+. For the SOT-23 device though ex-circuit is not possible, even if I buy a socket for the PS+, I won't be able to test the chip before soldering it into the project. That's the only reason I'm looking into ICSP, and I probably won't use ICSP for larger DIP chips. I have some idea what PIC's I use now, but since I have the PS+ it's probably best to update it and keep my options open. From: "Jinx" Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:48 AM > You can buy pogo pins (http://www.mouser.com/catalog/628/1770.pdf) > or get some of the brass-based or solderable "tin" (have to experiment to > find which ones they are) spring-loaded pins used to hold watch straps > to the watch. > > Take a piece of Vero/stripboard or PCB and solder them in a line I'm somewhat familiar with pogo pins from earlier threads here. So I just need to solder them to a PCB/perfboard to make a connector and then I use a clamp to hold it against the matching points on my project PCB? I thought I needed a more complex holder to hold the pins in place. > Mine was upgraded some time ago with a PUM, and at the time > it was worth it to keep the old girl going. Plus as more PICs come > out and you need programming support it would be just too expensive > to put new 17C44s in. The decision to move to PUM was pretty > much on future costs Right now I'm mainly looking at the upgrade so I can use the cheaper 16F628A instead of the 628's I've been using. At a price difference of 60 cents it will take a long time for the PUM to pay for itself. Being able to use the 10F's will be nice but I'm still not convinced I want to move to SMT. I don't even know the difference between the 628 and 628A except the A is cheaper and my PS+ firmware can't program it. > What you'll have to decide is whether you're in PICs for the long > haul and/or have a keen enough interest in and use for them to make > any expense worth it. In the bigger scheme of things though a PUM > isn't going to poor-house you True enough that $30 isn't a major expense, but for me it's a hobby not a profession, so I try to keep costs down. I don't really want to upgrade this programmer and buy another programmer because right now I don't see the point in doing both. If I do buy the rail of 25 chips, it's a long-haul investment for me :). -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist