> I'd still really like to find a good, home build-able, JDM like
> programmer.

Why does it have to be JDM-like?  Your requirements for "good" and "JDM"
conflict.

> Something that will take a 40 pin ZIF socket, program
> nearly all PIC's, something that I can build without having to drive
> 3 hours to "Bob's rare European electronics emporium" to get parts
> for.

My EasyProg (http://www.embedinc.com/easyprog) satisfies these requirements
except maybe the "nearly all PICs" part.  It does support all the reasonable
hobby PICs.

Microchip has a very broad product line, which is important for finding a
tight fit for high volume designs where a extra $.05/unit makes a
difference.  Only a small set of PICs make sense for hobby use.  Except for
special peripherals like CAN or USB, you should just get the biggest bestest
available in the footprint.  Unless space is really really a concern,
hobbyists are probably best off considering the 28 pin the "standard"
package.  Go to 40 pins only when you need the extra pins, and maybe down to
18 or 8 pins on occasion you really need the small size.  Buy enough of the
main part you use to get the first price break, then use that for all
projects.  You probably won't use the chip's full capability for most
projects, but now you have a bunch of chips you can re-use and interchange.

Given the view above, here is the list of reasonable hobby PICs:

  28 pin: 18F2620  (get 10 of these and use for everything)
  40 pin: 18F4620  (only when you need more pins}
  18 pin: 18F1330  (do you really really need the smaller package?)

If you've gotten good with PICs and you know what you're getting into, you
could possibly try a 12F675 for 8 pins, but then you have to get into the
quirks of the PIC 16 family.

> Something that has good software or better, MPLab support, and to
> really add to my wish-list, has software support on Linux.

I like to think my software is pretty good.  You're not going to find a
hobby programmer with MPLAB support.  It's too much work to hook into MPLAB,
and the slim margins on hobby products don't support that.  As for support
on minority operating systems, all I can offer is the protocol
specification.  Wouter's software uses Python, so it should work accross
systems.  If this is important you could hook up a ZIF socket to a Wisp and
you will most of what you want.


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