Hi Detrick.

I am a hobbyist as well. Try to keep things cheap.

I can tell you though, that spending money on a programmer was the 
biggest step forward for me. I strongly recommend something that 
integrates with MPLab. It makes things so much simpler. I chose the OCD2 
because (2 years ago) it was the best value for money. I do not regret 
that decision at all. Since then, the value-for-money thing may have 
changed to the Pickit2, but I have been out of the market for a bit, so 
I am out-of-date. I believe the ICD2 clones from e-bay stores are 
reliable. Seach the piclist for the actual name of the reliable seller.

While Wouter/Olin, and other piclisters have systems available, I 
strongly recommend going the integrated route, especially getting a 
system with Debug capability. Debug saves hours and hours of time. Debug 
linked in to MPLab just makes so much sense.

Rolf

Detrick Merz wrote:
> On 10/29/07, Jan-Erik Soderholm <jan-erik.soderholm@telia.com> wrote:
>   
>> Detrick Merz wrote:
>>     
>>> No local processor.  Barely more than just a parallel cable.
>>>       
>> OK. You will see a few supporters of that kind of
>> "programmer", and many opponents here... :-)
>>     
>
> What's the preferred programmer hardware these days then?  Looking
> through the "beginners" section on piclist.com, most of them seem to
> be "build this one yourself it's cheap and easy and will let you
> program a whole stack of different parts."  Of course, I find some
> more commercial grade ones there, quite beyond my budget (I'm just a
> hobbiest!).  Picall seems the most bang-for-the-buck and still almost
> affordable, but alas I'm in the US, so I would like to be sure before
> having one shipped across the pond, especially as bad as exchange
> rates are.
>
> I know there are many factors, but being able to program many types of
> chips (at least 'F84A, 'F628A and 'F877A) is important.  Being able to
> use software under Linux is a strong point too, but I will bend on
> this if I have to.
>
> -detrick
>   


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